After two days of birding the grounds of Baan Maka Nature Lodge, and a day visiting Kaeng Krachan National Park by myself, for the last day, I booked a guided trip through the lodge. I had a full day booked with Son from Baan Maka Nature Lodge. The tour would start promptly at 5:30 a.m.
Blue-bearded bee eater on the road out of the lodge.
Birding Kaeng Krachan National Park
We saw a few birds on the ten kilometer drive into park. On the way out of the lodge, we saw a blue-bearded bee eater and a dollarbird. Our first stop inside the national park was around kilometer 9. I stopped here the day before and saw a coucal and some Asian fairy bluebirds. Yesterday, I did not get to the park until afternoon, so it was much more productive in the morning. We immediately saw an Indochinese roller and two species of woodpeckers. The woodpeckers were a streak-breasted and a gray-headed variety.
Related: Baan Maka Nature Lodge birding adventure
Black-thighed falconet high up in a dead tree.
Three other outstanding lifers from this area included a black-thighed falconet high up on a dead tree, a banded broadbill, and a green-eared barbet. It was 7 a.m., and I had already bagged five lifers with the two woodpeckers and the three outstanding sightings listed above. As a bonus, three dusky leaf monkeys were visible high up on some adjacent trees, which was a mammal lifer for me.
Banded-broadbill posing at the nine kilometer mark.
Dusky leaf monkey was a mammal lifer.
Ban Krang Campsite
Our next stop was Ban Krang Campsite, which was the place I ended my adventures the day before. I was a little concerned previously that we would bird the same areas that I was in the day before. So far this was true, but it was already much more productive from the time I spent, and it was still very early.
Black-and-red broadbill near Ban Krang Campsite.
We saw black-and-red broadbills, which I had seen the day before. I did not mind duplicating these birds as they are gorgeous. Then my guide, Son, took me to a little swamp close to the campsite on a road that I did not take the day before. There was a dying sambar deer stuck in the mud, which was kind of sad. I am not really sure how he got there, but he was near his end.
Amid so much life, it was sad to see this dying sambar deer.
Ban Krang Campsite is the end of the road for most cars
Ban Krang Camp was the farthest into the park I traveled the day before. If you go any further, you need a 4-wheel drive. Son had one, so we continued up the road deeper into the park. We then came upon another parking area. This was Phonon Thung Viewpoint, which included beautiful views of the surrounding lush vegetation. Son mentioned that the faraway mountains were actually in Myanmar.
Orange-bellied leafbird at the Phonon Thung Viewpoint.
We saw some cool birds in this area. There was one particularly active tree that had several birds including a black-throated sunbird, plain flowerpecker, and an orange-bellied leafbird. This trio were all lifers for me, so it was a productive stop. We also saw a bee eater. It was an immature one with a grey beard. Son looked at a photo of it close up and determined it was an immature red-bearded bee eater, so we had four lifers from this stop.
Phonon Thung Viewpoint with the mountains of Myanmar in the distance.
Continuing deeper into the remote areas of Kaeng Krachan
We continued to drive deeper into the Kaeng Krachan wilderness gaining more elevation. We came upon a sign that warned passengers what to do in case of spotting a tiger. I asked Son if he had ever seen a tiger. He had not, but he had seen a leopard only a few days earlier farther down the road closer to the entrance.
You know you are in some serious wilderness when you see a sign warning of tigers.
At one point, we stopped and Son took out this little box that had dowloaded bird calls on it. I was not sure exactly what we were targeting at this point, but I assumed it was hornbills. Son was successful as we saw a couple of hornbills flying above us. They were rusty-cheeked hornbills or brown hornbills. They were rather plain looking hornbills, but a new species for me, so I was excited.
My guide called this a brown hornbill; however, ebird refers to it as a rusty-checked hornbill.
Highlight bird from Kaeng Krachan was two white-crowned hornbills
Son then got very excited and pointed to two new hornbills that entered the picture. We were on the side of the road high up and there was was a cut in the trees, so we had a good viewpoint of the surrounding area. I pivoted my camera to what Son was excited about and saw two hornbills I did not even know existed. They had white heads with a bushy head and a long white tail. There bodies were solid black. They were white-crowned hornbills, and they were among the most beautiful birds I have ever seen. They were definitely the most outstanding hornbill I have seen.
The majestic white-crowned hornbill.
White-crowned hornbills.
The white wizard of birds, the white-crowned hornbill.
We got some great views of this pair. Hornbills can be very difficult to spot, but often times when you do, they will stick around for a bit on the same tree and allow for some great photos. I got some great shots of this pair including one take-off shot of one of them. This was perhaps my highlight of the summer.
White-crowned hornbill in flight – Kaeng Krachan National Park.
Kaeng Krachan National Park.
White-Crowned hornbill Kaeng Krachan National Park.
Lunch at Ban Krang Campsite
We eventually headed back to the campsite for lunch. They actually have a restaurant here in the middle of the jungle. I ordered an iced coffee and some fried rice and shrimp. There were two other people there and they ordered a fish meal. This huge whole fish was served to them fried on a plate. I had buyers remorse. This is the amazing thing about Thailand. Even in a remote national park, you can find incredible food.
Not an expert, but searching the internet, I believe this to be a northern ring-necked snake.
My guess is a golden tree snake.
We took an hour break after lunch. I walked around the camp and saw two snakes, a couple of giant black squirrels, but there was no sign of the sun bear that I saw the day before. The black-and-red broadbills really like this area as we saw another really good sighting of one by the river.
Kaeng Krachan National Park bird hide.
Banded kingfisher at the bird hide
Son then took me to a bird hide along this flowing creek. There were about five other photographers there. We all had to be quiet, so we could not share notes, nor could I even ask what we were waiting for. I did not have to wait long to find out. A beautiful little kingfisher with an eel like creature appeared right before us. He modeled for us his catch and then disappeared down a hole in the side of a nearby hill. He reappeared and flew away.
Banded kingfisher with some type of eel.
We waited for an hour for the kingfisher to return. He eventually did with another delectable delight if you are a kingfisher. He had some kind of crawfish in this beak. Again, he landed right in front of us and posed with his catch. It was like he was showing off what a great kingfisher parent he was. Then he disappeared down the hole again to most likely feed young kingfishers.
Return to Baan Maka Lodge
We drove back to the lodge, and I had to return to Hua Hin as I only booked two nights at the lodge. It was a wonderful day of birding with Son. We saw 34 species of birds. 18 of these were lifers. Beyond the highlights mentioned in this post, other lifers included blue-throated barbet, common flareback, mountain and flavescent bulbuls, and a Hume’s white-eye.
Banded kingfisher – Kaeng Krachan National Park.
Kaeng Krachan National Park is a must stop for birders in Thailand. I would highly recommend staying at Baan Maka Lodge and getting a tour with Son or anyone else on their staff. You can bird on your own too, but I would never have seen the white-crowned hornbills, which was the birding highlight of the summer and one of the highlights of my birding career. With 4-wheel and the audio bird calls, I would not have seen this incredible bird.
Adventure on!
