Doi Angkang: 11-12 Sept 2010

This is quite an old set of photos I took during a trip to Doi Angkang with other birding friends on 11-12 September. The weather was pretty awful and we had lots of periods of rain. However, we still managed to see and take photos of some decent birds that came out after the rain. Our most favourite place of the trip was the Royal Project restaurant since there's everything we need when it rained, shelter, food, coffee and birds.

Two Grey-headed Canary-Flycatchers (Culicicapa ceylonensis) were staying around near the restaurant and we could easily observed them from our table. The one above seemed to love that hanging twig. It would stayed on that perch unless it is disturbed, but it would be back in less than 10 minutes. We enjoyed photographing this little cutie until there's nothing more photograph.

Female Verditer Flycatcher (Eumyias thalassinus)
Sooty-headed Bulbul (Pycnonotus aurigaster)
Mountain Bulbul (Ixos mcclellandii)

Red-whiskered Bulbul (Pycnonotus jocosus)

Female Hill Blue Flycatcher (Cyornis banyumas)
Oriental White-eyes (Zosterops palpebrosus)

Birds in the Royal Project was quite good with lots of bulbuls and other small passerines like flycatchers and warblers. There were several Plain Flowerpeckers and Black-throated Sunbirds showing well on both day. Some people also saw a Forest Wagtail (Dendronanthus indicus) walking in a flower garden inside the project as well. Hill Prinia, Verditer Flycatcher, Bronzed Drongo and Bar-winged Flycatcher-shrike were also showing well around the restaurant.

Crested Serpent-Eagle (Spilornis cheela)

Oriental Honey-Buzzard (Pernis ptilorhyncus)

There was a brief period of blue sky and strong sunlight. Several Oriental Honey-Buzzards showed up above the restaurant area, as well as a lone subadult Crested Serpent-Eagle. There were also few Accipiters, one was a Crested Goshawk and another was unidenfied.

Brown-breasted Bulbul (Pycnonotus xanthorrhous)

Adult (left) and juvenile (right) Crested Finchbill (Spizixos canifrons)

Blue-throated Barbet (Megalaima asiatica)

At my favourite birding spot near Km.34, there's a fruiting persimmon tree with lots of fruit-eating birds. The main guests being all kinds of bulbuls including the locally common Brown-breasted Bulbul and Crested Finchbill, Red-whiskered, Sooty-headed and Flavescent Bulbul. There were also more than 5 Blue-throated Barbets, a species hardly seen in flock. A lone Great Barbet also came in but it was sure too shy to get a decent shot. Flocks of Dark-backed Sibias and White-browed Laughingthrushes also came around looking for food.

A Bulbuls Day

I still have some more photos from my new year vacation in Thailand that haven't been put it into this blog. These photos are from a one-day trip to Doi Angkang with my father. The weather was fine but temperature was not as low as I thought. Most people had left the mountain since the holiday was already over. Not so many birds actually, but I did managed to get some nice shots of my all time favorite bird of Doi Angkang, the Crested Finchbill (Spizixos canifrons), and the commoner yet difficult to get good pics, Brown-breasted Bulbul (Pycnonotus xanthorrhous).

Brown-breasted Bulbuls feeding on a fruiting tree

The birds were enjoying these yellowish fruits on the fruiting tree just on the roadside. The Brown-breasted was the most numerous with 2 Crested Finchbills, several Red-whiskered and Flavescent and a Sooty-headed Bulbul. I also found a pair of Mountain Bamboo-Partridge (Bambusicola fytchii) nearby but wasn't able to capture their photo.

I was so happy to photograph these two Crested Finchbills closely.

Then came a Sooty-headed Bulbul.

Along the road were countless blossoming Pink Cassia attracting lots of Chestnut-flanked, Japanese and Oriental White-eye. I spent few minutes chasing a male Orange-bellied Leafbird (Chloropsis hardwickii) which came to feed on the cassia's nectar. I was super surprised to witness the bird mimicing the call of the Oriental Magpie Robin and Sooty-headed Bulbul. It's the first time for me to know that this leafbird can also mock other birds' voices. Before going back, I stopped at the fruiting tree again to see if there's any visitors and finally got a very shy White-browed Laughingthrush (Garrulax sannio), a bird once so common but rarely seen nowadays.

A male Orange-bellied Leafbird

A secretive Green-billed Malkoha

A male Grey Bushchat in its full breeding plumage

And the very wary White-browed Laughingthrush

And some sceneric shots to finish off with.