All
This report is for Thailand so if you only care about WI birds read no further.
I just got back from 20 days in Thailand where I met up with Tom and Carol
Sykes (Wisbirdn ex pats), a couple of current Wisbirders, and folks from CO,
FL, Montana, and the NE....a total of 12 of us...to bird central and N
Thailand. In the "it's a small world department", our senior guide was Laurie
Ross who guided my wife and I when we were in Australia. In it's a small world
part two, the Thai guide for the extension to the Thai peninsula (which I
didn't go on), spent a year at Burlington HS. I went on this trip because I
hadn't ever birded in Asia and Thailand is one of the best destinations in this
part of the world. The Thai people were very nice and it's interesting to see
a part of the world where manual labor still rules. I saw thousands of people
in the fields growing every fruit and veggie imaginable and never saw a single
tractor.
The group list was 431 birds. My list was 395. Don't worry, I'm not going to
list them all or give a day by day account. Instead, I'll give an overview.
The most diverse group was the shorebirds....we saw 40 spp. Next was
flycatchers with 32 spp. As opposed to the FC we see in WI, many of the FC we
saw were brightly colored....e.g., check out Ultramarine FC....it's stunning.
Other diverse groups were warblers (17 spp), raptors (15), pigeons/doves (13),
and bulbuls (18). The bulbuls were the most widespread and one of the most
well represented groups. We saw many brightly colored spp...sort of like some
of the warblers we see but on steroids.
We also saw some very rare birds such as Baer's pochard, Nordmann's
greenshank...both with <1000 estimated left...and, best (for me anyway) was
spoon-billed sandpiper whose estimated population is around 200. At the end of
each trip folks typically list their 5 favorite birds. The spooned-billed SP
won as the favorite bird of the trip. Another rare bird we saw was
coral-billed ground cuckoo. It might not be as rare as the aforementioned
birds but it is one of the hardest to see. Most years none are seen.
Fortunately for us one was coming in to a bird blind and all of us got great
looks. Another favorite bird was Hume's pheasant. We had a male display for
us about 50' away. During the display it drums its wings exactly like a ruff
grouse. Like I said too many good birds to list them all. If anyone wants
more details, please contact me back channel.
Besides the birds we saw lots of other great things such as 6 spp of moneys and
gibbons. I didn't care much for the 3 spp of macaques but I liked dusky langur
and especially white-handed gibbon. We also saw 5 spp of squirrels and 3 spp
of deer. We also saw dhole (sp?), a wild dog which our guides had never seen.
However, our best non-bird sighting was elephants. We saw a small group in the
forest and the next day saw a large bull near the road. When we returned, the
park police had the road blocked because there had been a fight between that
bull and another one. The bull we had seen earlier was right next to the road
and in no mood to have bikes or cars pass him. The fight most have been
spectacular. It looked like a bulldozed had gone thru the forest for a hundred
yds. There was blood on the road for about 70 yds and "our" bull broke off a
tusk. His other tusk was covered in blood where he must have stuck his rival.
Finally the bull moved away from the road and traffic moved thru.
Overall, it was good trip. In fact, I finished the trip at a rating of 6 on
the "Gregometer" scale, which meant I was above average....pretty good for me.
I encourage those of you who have the time and money to take trips like this.
Not only will you see great birds and animals but you will see how people in
other cultures live.
PS... I didn't mention the temples but if you want to see spectacular temples,
then Thailand is the place to go.
Anyway that's my story and I'm sticking to it
Greg Seegert
Beaver Dam (but Tanzania next month)
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