Last Saturday I made plans with a friend to go and see the Spot-bellied Eagle-Owl in Pak Chong. I had seen it earlier in the week but was willing to go again under certain conditions. It emerges at 6pm, so I turned it into a day, with 3 main stops. First was a new area that I have been exploring. Our second location was planned last minute, Sakaerat Biosphere, an hour east of Pak Chong. Followed by the Eagle Owl before heading back to Bangkok.
Arriving at the first spot at around 07:30, it was a dark cloudy morning. Something we haven’t had for a long time! It even drizzled not long before arrival. Unfortunately, for the birds, it was pretty windy but it made it incredibly pleasant. A stark contrast to the sweltering heat in the past few days experienced in Bangkok. It was a decent morning for birds regardless with the main highlight being Gray-faced Buzzard.
Then we drove to Sakaerat Biosphere Reserve, which took about an hour. The roads around here were pretty poorly surfaced in sections, but the scenery was very beautiful – passing through the rolling hills with a backdrop of the larger mountain range of Khao Yai. Main target was the Siamese Fireback. I really enjoyed birding here, it’s very quiet and rarely anyone else around. Complete opposite to the tourist magnet of Khao Yai National Park. One of the first birds that greeted me was an Asian Emerald Cuckoo. Brown Prinia seems extremely easy here, too.
For it being midday, I was pleasantly surprised with the amount of birds we saw and heard. After some walking around, we walked back down and found the friendly flock of Siamese Fireback. They say they don’t feed them too much so they stay ‘wild’ but this small flock of 5 were clearly very accustomed to humans feeding them. When we were walking off they even followed us. The 6th member was a male that was very cautious and only was seen initially.
They are amazingly beautiful birds and they sound even cooler! I made a recording which you can find here. The following picture also was chosen as iNaturalist’s Observation of the Day, a first for me! I had been sharing my observations on a daily basis for the past two-years on the site, so it was a nice feeling for them to pick it.
Next we had an appointment with Spot-bellied Eagle-Owl. It should be renamed Heart-spotted Eagle-Owl. On the way out of Sakaerat we had a few more species including Heart-spotted Woodpecker!
After just over an hour we were in Mu Si, Pakchong. Being Saturday, it was packed with people at the Owl. I even met the person I showed a few spots around Bangkok earlier in the week with his tour group. The increased disturbance did change the behaviour of the bird. After emerging it flew off to a tree further back in 1 minute. Earlier in the week this was not the case.
I finally understood why this was a hotspot before this Owl was reported. It is a good spot to observe some other nocturnal species, too. I wasn’t prepared for any night-birding but thankfully the group there was fully prepared with spotlight, and I snagged an image of the Brown Boobook after it settled down after being truly disturbed by a lot of things. We also heard Great-eared Nightjar & Large-tailed Nightjar.
The day totalled 7 hours of driving but plenty of birding to split it up. Overall it was a great success. I’m working on something new for the website, so stay tuned. It will be the new focus.
All images and video © 2024 Sam Hambly.
All your support is greatly appreciated, you can contact me at cmagnirostris@gmail.com
Large Blue Flycatcher 