Doi Inthanon: 20-22 Aug 2010 III

This is going to be the last post for my trip to Doi Inthanon during 20-22 August. Although I've got quite many photos of the small birds in Ang Ka trail during the first evening, I got a lot more on the second day when the light was a bit better. When we got there, there was already a couple of bird photographers shooting these birds before us. They put out a lot of mealworms for the birds, but both walked out shortly after we arrived, so we took the place and photographed the birds which still came out to pick up leftover worms. The 2 Snowy-browed Flycatchers were the tamest of all. Both of them didn't mind us getting closer than just a foot away from them. We even enjoyed taking photos with the birds, but all photos were in my friend's camera. These birds are really dangerously tame!

As Phil made a comment about photographing the birds in this dense habitat must be something pretty difficult, and it is. Although these birds can be very tame when they come out for food we put out for, when they fly back into the forest, it's not an easy job to spot one. There was also not much light since the forest was very dark and these shots were taken at no more than 1/25 sec. The Snowy-browed Flycatchers were a bit easier to photograph since they often sat still for a quite a while, while the White-browed Shortwings never paused themselves for more than just 2 or 3 seconds.

Female Snowy-browed Flycatcher (Ficedula hyperythra)

And her colourful husband
Male White-browed Shortwing (Brachypteryx montana)
And the female

Among the 5 birds that came out to pick up mealworms (2 Snowy-browed Flycatchers, 1 male and 2 female White-browed Shortwings), the male Shortwing was the hardest target for me to photograph. Its all dark blackish-blue plumage makes it very difficult for the camera to focus. Although having the white eyebrows, it's still difficult to focus as the bird moved around all the time. So I ended up having very few photos of it.

Doi Inthanon: 20-22 Aug 2010 I

As I've said before in the earlier post that last week I've been on a 3-day trip to one of the most well-known birding spots in Thailand, Doi Inthanon, which also holds the highest peak of Thailand as well. Although the weather had been awful for weeks, we luckily got periods of sunlight especially during the first two days. We found much more birds than I expected. There were lots of fruiting trees and we got many interesting species by just sitting in one place. The trees at Km.34.5 attracted many beautiful babblers like the Rufous-backed Sibia, Silver-eared Mesia, White-browed Shrike-babbler and Silver-eared Laughingthrush, as well as the Blue-throated and Golden-throated Barbet.

Snowy-browed Flycatcher (Ficedula hyperythra)

White-browed Shortwing (Brachypteryx montana)

However, the highlights of our trip were actually at the highest summit. In the midst of the famous Ang Ka trail, we enjoyed shooting photos of these wee colourful birds, specifically found in this ancient cloud forest, the Snowy-browed Flycatcher (Ficedula hyperythra) and White-browed Shortwing (Brachypteryx montana). These birds were tamed by the photographers who offered them lots and lots of mealworms. The last few months was the high season for photographing birds at Doi Inthanon and more than 20 bird photographers visited the place almost daily. These birds began to learn that whenever they hear human sound, it's time for food. It's a great news for birders and bird photographers, but many people including me begin to worry that they might also be in danger as hunters can catch them easily.

(Top) Grey-cheeked Fulvetta (From left to right) 1-4. Grey-cheeked Fulvettas and a male Yellow-cheeked Tit feeding on leftover rice 5. A young Yellow-bellied Fantail 6-7. Some tame Grey-cheeked Fulvettas 8. Mountain Bulbul

One of the main places where we focused on was the 2nd Checkpoint of the park. Although there were not so many moths around, there was an acceptable number of small birds. We put out some leftover rice on a mossy artificial stump and watched few Grey-cheeked Fulvettas and a male Yellow-cheeked Tit came down and eat. Other birds that we found around the checkpoint included Yellow-bellied and White-throated Fantail, Mountail Bulbul, Mountain Tailorbird, Chestnut-crowned Warbler and White-tailed Robin.

Some beautiful landscape with extraordinary evening light before sunset after the rain.

To finish this entry, the above black and red bird is a male Short-billed Minivet (Pericrocotus brevirostris) which we found perching on the roadside around Km.34. Female bird has red parts replaced with yellow. The last four pics are some kind of wasp which were feeding on this bright yellow flowers at Mr.Daeng restaurant, the true Inthanon's Bird Centre. We also stayed in a small guesthouse in his place for two nights.