Bangkok Big Year 2023

Last year, I focused mainly on Bangkok birds and in the end, I managed a total of 253 species which is a new record on eBird surpassing the previous record by around 40 species. There were lots of exciting birds and I will try to recall the highlights as I write this post.

One of a handful of lifer birds that were new for the Bangkok list and province as a whole, was the Red-necked Phalarope in September at Lat Krabang. It was the 2nd of September and this was the day all the Autumn migrants really started kicking off after the long quiet period of mid-year.

Sticking to Lat Krabang theme, the other extremely notable pick-up came later in the year in the form of Small Pratincole found by Peter Ericsson, this was on the 3rd of November and a new bird for the Bangkok provincial list on eBird.

Speaking of long-quiet-period of mid-year, there were lots to still be had in Bangkok during this time. At my favourite patch in Nong Chok, I found Singing Bushlark & Golden-headed Cisticola which both seem to come to the area to breed. These quiet months were also the time I had one of my most magical, if not most magical, encounter of the year. Finding a Barn Owl during the day. I spent many days photographing Barred Buttonquail here too.

Continuing with Nong Chok, I finally found the super-rare in Bangkok Long-tailed Shrike on the 29th of September. This species went under huge decline in the last couple of decades and the last sighting had been 3 years prior. It could be seen for a few weeks after the initial sighting but hasn’t been seen since.

Raptors were a huge part of the year and also some of my favourite sightings. And I learnt a lot about their timings, before, according to eBird data too, I thought Grey-faced Buzzard would be incredibly hard in Bangkok but I had 5 sightings with around 10 individuals in late October. I also secured a Jerdon’s Baza the day after Wichyanan added it to the Bangkok provincial list. Also, I had 3 sightings of Crested Serpent-Eagle in the captial, 2 inner-city records from Sathon and Benjakitti park from early November and one in Nong Chok early December. When I had the GFBs at benjakitti, one of 3 locations I saw them, I also had an inner-city Rufous-winged Buzzard.

A resident bird I had been trying to add to the Bangkok list for a long while was Sooty-headed Bulbul and I finally found it on the 16th of November in Thawi Watthana district – it’s extremely challenging for Bangkok. Another memorable bird, and remembering now, it was also a lifer, was Pacific Swift which I first had in Thawi Watthana in late September and one more in late October in Nong Chok.

Before I forget, some very exciting migrants (lifers) I now remember were Daurian Starling and Tiger Shrike, and I saw plenty of the latter and a flock of Daurian which stayed in one tree for a week or more! And how could I forget… I found 3 Brown-breasted Flycatchers, with only one previous sighting from 3 years prior in Bangkok. A paper could be written about that due to its significance. And also, I found 2 Brown-chested Jungle-Flycatcher.

Due to finding some pictures for this post I remember a lot more birds, another was Indian Thick-Knee in Nong Chok which Peter also found on 10th of November, the same day I added Ashy-headed Green-Pigeon to my provincial list from Sathon. This paragraph is for remembering birds I would’ve somehow forgotten to add to the post, so another was Gray-backed Shrike, seen at Benjakitti Park on November 6th. I also remember finding Green-backed Flycatcher in Sathon on 15th of November!

Wrapping up the year, I managed to add the Chestnut-winged Cuckoo & Large Hawk-Cuckoo in Nong Chok. All sighting’s photographs can be found on eBird.

In the end, 2023 was a very great year for birds around Bangkok. I’ve definitely left out a few interesting reports, including one female Large Blue Flycatcher we had at the end of October at the department of public relations, but now I’ve mentioned it I will go ahead and talk about it! I was going out to Nong Chok but at a red-light I received a message from David Gandy. His battery ran out on his camera and had a suspected Large Blue Flycatcher, I went and got photos and we secured the identification.

Continuing on with the outro, I don’t have any solid plans or goals for 2024 but let’s see what happens. Hopefully there will be something interesting to read about here. Thanks to all those who supported and helped me in 2023. And thanks to anyone who made it to here. Have a nice 2024. And to anyone wanting to beat the Bangkok year-list record:

All images and video © 2023 Sam Hambly.

All your support is greatly appreciated!