Most adventurers if they go to Thailand, fly into Bangkok, stay a day or two and recuperate from the long flight, and then head north to Chiang Mai or south to the Thai islands. This trip, I spent about a week in Bangkok going back and forth from Khao Yai National Park and then heading to the islands. I spent several mornings and afternoons doing Bangkok city park adventures. I was pleasantly surprised at how great the birding and the hiking was. Below is a list of four parks that I explored. All of the parks were lovely, but I believe that each park was better than the one in front of it.
Pupha Mahanatee Garden in the Queen Sirikit Royal Park
Bangkok city park number one – Lumphini Park birding, hiking, and water monitors
The first Bangkok city park that I hit up was Lumphini Park. I have hit this park up several times, and I have even blogged about it before. Lumphini Park is probably most famous for its water monitor population. There are several lagoons at Lumphini Park and each one you will find several of these rather large lizards. It always amazes me that you can see these giant reptiles in the middle of the city. It is pretty easy to see as many as ten water monitors as there are three or four in each lagoon.
Water monitor at Lumphini Park.
Related: The leviathans of Lumphini Park Bangkok Thailand
The birding is also excellent in Lumphini Park. You can see a nice mix of forest birds and water birds as there are nice trees and as already explained, several lagoons. I saw water birds like several little egrets. In fact, the egrets were nesting and had young in their nest. I also saw an Asian openbill in this retention pond at the far northern end of the park. Besides the water birds, I was pleasantly surprised to see two Indochinese rollers, a white-throated kingfisher, a coppersmith barbet, and three ornate sunbirds. All of these birds are very colorful and beautiful, so it was a great pleasure to see them in the middle of a Bangkok city park.
Little egret with two young at Lumphini Park
Bangkok city park number two – Benjakiti Park skyway over a wetland
Not too far from Lumphini Park, is another park that is right of the blue line MRT. Lumphini Park can be accessed by the Silom and Lumphini Park stops, and Benjakiti Park is right off the Queen Sirikit National Convention Center. It is great to be able to avoid terrible Bangkok traffic and see these beautiful urban oases.
Beautiful ornate sunbird at Benjikitti Park.
Asian openbill storks at Benjakitti Park on the light fixtures.
Benjakiti Parks has this skyway that looks down on this urban wetland. It is possible to walk at wetland level, but there is also a second level that looks down on the urban swamp. This would be a great place to see water birds like herons, rails, bitterns, and waterhens. I saw a waterhen with a chick and a couple of egrets, but no bitterns. Another highlight was seeing another Indochinese roller and several Asian openbills on the light fixtures near the convention center.
Bangkok city park number 2 – Benjikitti Park.
Benjakiti is locally famous for having owls in the park. In fact, there is a video on Youtube that shows the location of a tree where they like to hang out. I tried coming in the evening in hopes of seeing them, but I did not get lucky. On the bright side, I saw my first plain prinia at Benjakiti, so I did see a new bird to add to my life list.
The view from the birdwatching tower
Sri Nakhon Khuean Khan – The Green Lung of Bangkok
Bangkok city park number three does not actually seem like a city park. Sri Nakhon Khuean Khan is in the Bang Kachao area of Bangkok, which is in the bend in the river. To get here, I took a cab to Wat Klong Toei Nok Pier. There is a ferry that crosses the Chaoe Phryaya River over to the Bang Kachao area of Bangkok. Once on the other side, it is about a fifteen minute walk to the park. As soon as you cross the river, you feel like you are in rural Thailand. Even though this is still in Bangkok, it is very lush and wet on this side of the river. The park is even more extreme and feels like you are entering a national park.
You can see why it is called the green lung
There is a gate as you enter the actual park, but the admission to the park is free. Even before entering the actual gate, I saw several interesting birds including a coppersmith barbet and a collared kingfisher in the opening just on the other side of the entrance. The collared kingfisher was a new species for me. There are a few kilometer of trails here, and you can either hike the trail or rent a bike. Once again, there are many ponds and swamps in this park. I would strongly suggest wearing long pants and bringing bug spray as this area had the worst mosquito presence that I experienced anywhere in Asia.
First ever collared kingfisher seen even before entering the gates.
Stork-billed kingfisher found just outside of the gates of the park near the entrance.
There is a bird tower off one of the trails which is a great place to see pink-necked green pigeons, tailorbirds, scarlet-backed flowerpeckers, and stork-billed kingfishers. I also saw my first greater racket-tailed drongo in a clearing just a little bit aways from the tower. They are unmistakable with their spatula like tail extensions. On my way out of the park, in the open area where I saw the collared kingfisher, I got a great look at a beautiful stork-billed kingfisher.
Male and female pink-necked green-pigeon.
Chatuchak and Queen Sirikit Royal Park – Finally an owl
On my last day in Asia, I took the MRT to Chatuchak Park. There are several parks here that are strung together providing a nice sized green space. Chatuchak Park is also adjacent to Roi Fai Park, Wachirabenchathat, and Queen Sirikit Royal Park. I ventured into Chatuchak Park first as this was another park known for owls. At this point in the trip, I was at 497 species on ebird, and I was hoping to eclipse 500. My merlin picked up an arctic warbler and a taiga flycatcher, but I could not see them. I did see a Siamese pied starling, which was species number 498.
Another highlight was probably the best view of the trip of a beautiful coppersmith barbet.
I crossed a road and found myself in the Queen Sirikit Royal Park section. This had a botanical garden called Pupha Mahanatee Garden, which was absolutely gorgeous. I was really blown away by the flowers and the neatly manicured grounds. It had a very Japanese flair to it. In one of the wetlands, I saw a Chinese pond heron, which brought me to species number 499. I was not actually sure at this point what my exact count was, but I knew I needed at least one more lifer to get to 500.
Chinese pond heron brought my species list to 499.
Queen Sirikit Royal Park birdwatching tower.
At the far corner of Queen Sirikit Park is a corner that has several pockets of bamboo and a couple really nice trees. I saw what could be an owl on one branch. Just as I got focused on it, it flew away. I thought I could find it again if I stayed patient, so I scanned the trees. Meanwhile, a Thai birdwatcher was pointing his zoom lens straight to the top of a bamboo pocket. Trying to avoid pouching on his territory, but yet very curious what he was looking at, I circled him looking up.
Bangkok city park number 4 – Queen Sirikit Royal Park.
Collared scops owl success and bird species number 500
He came over and said there are two owls up there, and he showed me one of the pictures. For the next half hour, I craned my neck straight up into the bamboo thicket. For the life of me, I could not find them and feared they flew away. Then, I found a spot giving a glimpse into the very top of the thicket, and there they were. Two very adorable collared scops owls were at the very top in a tough to see angle. I took a couple of pictures of them sleeping. Attempting to get a better angle, I went to the other side, but they were only viewable through the first angle. I went back there to get a few more photos and this time they had their eyes open. I was obviously bothering them, so I left them in peace.
Two collared Scops owls in Queen Sirikit Royal Park.
These beautiful owls were my 500 worldwide ebird species. I started off the trip at 395, so I added 105 new species in five weeks in Taiwan, Thailand, and Malaysia. Several new species were captured during one of my Bangkok city park adventures. I definitely recommend going to all of these, but at least one of these if you have time while in Bangkok, Thailand.
Check out my ebird checklists for these parks.
Chatuchak Park and Queen Sirikit Royal Park
Adventure on!
