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 Introduction
My friend had some family business to attend to in Chumphon and I took the opportunity to check out some of the eBird hotspots around Chumphon. I decided to stop at the Kui Buri National Park on the way back home to Bangkok. And I booked one extra night to have a day in Khao Sam Roi Yot National Park before going back to Bangkok. Khao Sam Roi Yot National Parkis very close to Kui Buri, Maybe 20-30 minutes by car. And there is a whole lot of eBird hotspots in Khao Sam Roi Yot National Park: • Khao Sam Roi Yot NP (general area) Cover the whole area but eBird prefere us to use more specific hotspot • Khao Sam Roi Yot NP--phragmites on Route 1026 • Khao Sam Roi Yot NP--headquarters vicinity • Khao Sam Roi Yot NP--Khao Daeng • Khao Sam Roi Yot NP--Khao Daeng Canal boat ride • Khao Sam Roi Yot NP--Sam Phraya Beach • Khao Sam Roi Yot NP--Sai Cave vicinity • Khao Sam Roi Yot NP--Wat Khao Tham (Khao Tham Temple) vicinity • Khao Sam Roi Yot NP--Laem Sala Beach • Khao Sam Roi Yot NP--Kaeo Cave • Khao Sam Roi Yot NP--Ban Hua Tan Thaew vicinity • Khao Sam Roi Yot NP--Nom Sao Beach vicinity • Khao Sam Roi Yot NP--Bueng Bua • Khao Sam Roi Yot NP--Khao Khan Bandai & Lung Cha's Homestay vicinity To skip the information and to go straight to the TRIP REPORT click HERE Guide
No Guide required as I just go to the eBird hotspots Land transportation
Public services There are no public services to Khao Sam Roi Yot National Park. Khao Sam Roi Yot National Park can be best explored by car or scooter. Some resorts rents scooters from 250B, up to 500B a day. Guides with various vehicles can also be arranged from resorts. The northern part of the national park is around 215 km from Bangkok and 27 km from Hua Hin, it is another 25 km to the headquarters situated on the south side of the park  215 km South of Bangkok
From Bangkok (July 2020) There are no minivan services straight to the park, only minivans from Mo Chit Bus Station (The part of the bus station called Mo Chit 2) to Pranburi which is a district/town nearby the park. For Khao Sam Roi Yot, you will be dropped off at Tesco Lotus, at the junction east towards Khao Sam Roi Yot. As said, no other public transportation options from there to Khao Sam Roi Yot. If a hotel booked in the area, the hotel personnel could help arrange private transportation.  Khao Sam Roi Yot National Park don't have any gates and you only notice when you enter the national park by the sign next to the road. If you come from Bangkok you are most likely coming from north. Drive south on highway #4 and turn to east when you reach the exit to road #1021 and follow this road until you reach road #4020. Turn south following road #4020 through the park until you reach road #1026. If you continue south on highway #4 you take of at the exit to road # 1026 and you arrive to the national park's south entrance and you follow road #4020 towards north through the park.  Entering the national park coming from the south
 Entering the national park coming from the North
And if you come for birding the main attraction is the wetlands west of the mountains, known as the Sam Roi Yot Fresh Water Marsh or just the “wetlands”. Exit highway #4 about 12 km south of road #1021, the north exit to Khao Sam Roi Yot National Park. Use GPS as the signs are very poor at road #4.  Sign to Sam Roi Yot Fresh Water Marsh covered with all kind of different signs
Of course, to have your own car is very convenient, depending on the early morning traffic it will take about 3 and a half hour to reach the area. Taxi is another option and to make sure that the driver understand you can show the below Thai Script: • Khao Sam Roi Yot National Park อุทยานแห่งชาติเขาสามร้อยยอด Or show the driver a map. Click HERE for a map to the Khao Sam Roi Yot National Park HQ  Scan for map to the Khao Sam Roi Yot National Park HQ
 Scan for map to the eBird hotspot: Khao Sam Roi Yot NP--Bueng Bua
Sam Roi Yot Fresh Water Marsh Accommodation
 I booked one night at Longbeach Inn at Khao Sam Roi Yot National Park during my stay at Kui Buri as DHEVAN DARA BEACH VILLA's booking system was at least strange. And I was not happy so I moved to Longbeach Inn.  My room at Longbeach Inn
 My room at Longbeach Inn
 My room at Longbeach Inn
 My room at Longbeach Inn
 Equipment
Canon 5D Mk. III + Canon 5D Mk. IV Canon EF 28-300/3,5-5,6 L IS USM Canon EF 70-200/2,8L IS II USM Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II USM lens Canon Speedlite 600EXII-RT flash Canon PowerShot G7X Mark II Panasonic HC-W585 video camera Sound recorder ZOOM H5 Handy Recorder Binocular Steiner Skyhawk 8x32 (Since May 2020) Weather / climate
 Weather at Khao Sam Roi Yot National Park
References/Resources
Thai National Parks - About the National Parks in Thailand A very good web page - Do you know that there are still wild tigers, elephants, leopards, tapirs, gaurs, bears and many monkey species in many tropical rainforests across Thailand? Do you also know that around 10% of all marine species in the world can be found in Thailand? And the fact that Thailand is the best bird-watching destination in mainland Asia? National parks are protected areas of land because they have unspoilt landscapes and a diverse number of native plants and animals. There are 127 national parks in Thailand, of them 22 marine national parks. These parks offers a diverse range of flora and fauna, home to important population of endangered species. So now it will be easy to find out if there are any National Park close to you. Bird Conservation Society of Thailand (BCST) - The Bird Conservation Society of Thailand (BCST) is one of the oldest  organisations conserving birds and nature in Thailand and is the country partner of BirdLife International. BCST's role to the local community is to spread awareness about urban birds and reconnect people back to nature.
The Logo Dated back to 1986 when BCST was then a loosely-formed “Bangkok Birdwatching Club”, the Oriental Magpie Robin (Copsychus saularis), or “Nok Gang Ken Baan” in Thai, has been chosen to represent the organisation. There are two sites covering Thailand and I have used them many times. These two web pages are actually everything you need for your birding adventures in Thailand. All the information you need about all the birding spots. Click on the map and then select your spot and you will have maps and everything you need to know about the areas. They have put a lot of jobs in to their web pages, North Thailand Birding and thaibirding.com A must to visit before you go bird watching in Thailand. www.norththailandbirding.com - A one stop only for all your birding in Thailand thaibirding.com - Nick Upton's one stop only for all your birding in Thailand. Use both www.thaibirding.com and www.norththailandbirding.com and you have a winner. Some of the maps on www.norththailandbirding.com are way better than Nick Upton´s, while some of Nick's maps are much more detailed. So I have found that if I use both the web pages for information, well, nothing else needed. PBase/Peter Ericson - Peter Ericson, a guy I thought was from USA because of his family name. I met him at Lat Krabang Paddies in May 2020 and turned out that he was Swedish. Anyway, I have used his excellent page PBase since 2016 as help to ID birds by the help from his beautiful bird pictures. Here you can also find information about birding tours. He is also having a Blog - Thaibirds and more with interesting information. Bangkok City Birding - A lot of interesting birding stories and information on this bird watching blog by David Gandy. Bangkok-based patch-worker in Suan Rot Fai, a large park close to the city's famous weekend market. He have recorded 150 species on his patch since 2008. As one of the only big green spaces in the city, “SRF” acts as a real magnet for migrants during spring and autumn, and holds a healthy selection of "sibes" during the winter months. The East Asian-Australasian Flyway Partnership - The East Asian-Australasian Flyway Partnership is a network of partners within the East Asian-Australasian Flyway (EAAF). The East Asian-Australasian Flyway Partnership (EAAFP) aims to protect migratory waterbirds, their habitat and the livelihoods of people dependent upon them. The Flyway is one of 9 major migratory routes recognised globally. Partners include National Governments, Inter-Governmental Organisations, International Non-governmental Organisations, and International Private Enterprise, which agree to endorse the text and support the objectives and actions under this Partnership. Thailand have three Flyway Network Sites - www.eaaflyway.net/thailand to find more information. • Pak Thale – Laem Phak Bia Flyway Site • Khok Kham Flyway Site • Krabi Estuary and Bay www.tideschart.com GET THE LATEST TIDES IN THAILAND AND AROUND THE WORLD - A must to check out times for HIGH and LOW water when going to look for waders / shorebirds. ebird - Find birding hotspots with bird checklists from all over the world Avibase - is an extensive database information system about all birds of the world, containing over 25 million records about 10,000 species and 22,000 subspecies of birds, including distribution information for 12,000 regions, taxonomy, synonyms in several languages  www.oiseaux.net This web page is also excellent for identifying birds. There is information and range maps for many many birds from all over the world. This page is almost guaranteed to give you any answer you have about any bird in the world. Cloudbirders - Read birding trip reports from all over the world Fatbirder - Linking birders worldwide... Wildlife Travellers see their sister site: WAND  Fatbirder is a fantastic web page with information from, I think every country in the world. My first stop when I plan for my bird watching trips. There is information about locations and guides, well, pretty much everything you need to know. Sometimes this is the only place I need to visit to plan my trip. BirdingPal - find a birding Guide around the world   And the web page you cannot live without. I have been around the world looking for birds. I usually have a Guide, but sometimes it is not possible to find a Guide. So, well, I have lost count on how many times I have had help to ID birds at BirdForum. Joining this forum have been very very good for my bird watching experience. www.birdforum.net ClimaTemps.com is the place to learn about the worlds climates with more than 4000 locations documented. Each aspect of the climate is represented using colour enhanced tables and professional graphs so that data can easily be compared by switching between locations in different tabs in your browser. “A Field Guide to the Birds of Thailand and South East Asia by Craig Robson”
 A Field Guide to the Birds of Thailand and South East Asia by Craig Robson. New edition updated with 76 species since previous edition “A Field Guide to the Birds of Thailand and South East Asia by Craig” Nick Upton at www.thaibirding.com wrote “This quite excellent book is packed full of quality illustrations and written information on 1251 species recorded in Southeast Asia” I bought this book for bird watching in Thailand, but it goes for all over SE Asia I have been very happy with the “A Field Guide to the Birds of Thailand and South East Asia by Craig Robson” But I had a fire in my condo 2019 and I needed to buy a new book. I was looking for the “A Field Guide to the Birds of Thailand and South East Asia by Craig Robson” as I liked the book. But this book is not available anymore so I had to buy the “A Field Guide to the Birds of Thailand” by Craig Robson. What a disappointment this was, using the pictures in the book didn't helped to ID any birds. “Birds of Thailand” by Uthai Treesuconand Wich'yanan Limparungpatthanakij
I met Peter Ericson, a famous bird watcher and he recommended the “Birds of Thailand” by Uthai Treesuconand Wich'yanan Limparungpatthanakij. I bought the book as soon as the book stores opened after the Wuhan virus. And I am very happy with the book and I have managed to ID some birds using the book.  This new field guide will help you identify all 1049 species to have been recorded in the country to date, including the 20 species endemic or near-endemic to Thailand. -Taxonomy follows the HBW and BirdLife International Illustrated Checklist of the Birds of the World. -Detailed texts covering status, habitat and behaviour, age, sex and geographical variation, voice, and confusion species. -Almost 2200 illustrations covering all species and distinctive subspecies, birds in flight, males and females, juveniles and non-breeding plumages, where appropriate. -QR code for each species, linking to the Internet Bird Collection gallery of photos, videos and sounds. -More than 1025 full-colour range maps for all species other than vagrants. -Well-marked subspecies groups receive full accounts, and the distributions of subspecies breeding in the region are clearly mapped. -Local species name and local conservation status included. I like the book, but I miss the picture index. Places to visit
Khao Sam Roi Yot National Park
The main visitor center, headquarters and some attractions are situated on the south side of the national park. Get around in the park The distances between attractions are too big to walk. There are not many trees along the roads for shadow, so, try walking between attractions can be very uncomfortable in sunny days. A private car/bike/bicycle needed for sure. Activities The main must see attraction of Khao Sam Roi Yot is the impressively big Phraya Nakhon Cave and the Royal Pavilion inside it. It is the most iconic attractions of the park and the province. The national park has quite an impressive bird record and very popular among birders. The area east side of the mountain range through the park has quite a unique habitat for some freshwater birds. The boardwalk over the freshwater marsh is a popular destination. This side of the park has an impressive view of the mountains from the boardwalk. Khao Daeng Viewpoint is quite an obvious place to visit in combination with a visit to Phraya Nakhon Cave. It has an impressive view over the area. Other activities to fill a days planning are; a boat trip through the mangrove forests, visiting two other caves or relax on one of the beaches. While the dusky leaf monkeys can be seen any day at Laem Sala Beach, the long-tailed macaques can be found at Khao Daeng Viewpoint parking area or around headquarters. Most of the other mammals are very rare to see, they hold to forested habitats deep inside the park in montane areas. www.thainationalparks.com +++++++++++++++
Drive along road # 4020 and you won't notice when entering the national park, just by a sign next to the road. No ticket booths to pay tickets and you can drive through the national park. Along the road you have signs for the attractions in the park. You need to pay the park fee to enter the attractions. Pay at one place and you can use this ticket for the other attractions as well.  Drive through the park on road #4020
 Drive through the park on road #4020
 Easy to find the attractions with all the signs
 Plenty signs to the attractions along road #4020
 Beware of monkeys
 Easy to find in the national park
So it is easy to find your way around the national park. But if you want to go to the wetlands you need to enter from highway #4 east of Khao Sam Roi Yot National Park and the mountains. And keep your ticket as they will charge you again if you don't have any ticket passing the different gates.  eBird hotspots in Khao Sam Roi Yot National Park
There are quite a few eBird hotspots in the Khao Sam Roi Yot National Park and I will try to visit a few of them: • Khao Sam Roi Yot NP (general area) • Khao Sam Roi Yot NP--Khao Daeng • Khao Sam Roi Yot NP--Khao Daeng Canal boat ride • Khao Sam Roi Yot NP--Sam Phraya Beach • Khao Sam Roi Yot NP--headquarters vicinity • Khao Sam Roi Yot NP--Khao Khan Bandai & Lung Cha's Homestay vicinity • Khao Sam Roi Yot NP--Bueng Bua Khao Sam Roi Yot NP (general area)
Cover the whole area but eBird prefere us to use more specific hotspot Khao Sam Roi Yot NP--Khao Daeng
The eBird hotspot: Khao Sam Roi Yot NP--Khao Daeng is located on the canal tour pier at the Khao Daeng Temple. And I guess you can include the Khao Daeng View Point. There is a lot of monkeys around the temple so I never got out of the car or opened the windows. I have experienced monkeys jumping up on the car. A little south of the temple along road #4020 you have the Khao Daeng View Point entrance. Weekend and there was a lot of people so the birds was long gone.  Khao Daeng View Point sign along road #4020
 Road to the Khao Daeng View Point entrance
Khao Sam Roi Yot NP--Khao Daeng Canal boat ride
The boat pier and ticket office is just next to the bridge. If you have not paid the park fee you have to pay here before buying the boat ticket. So if you have bought a park ticket keep it for the rest of the day to show at the different gates. The boat is quite comfy and no problem to take pictures. The route is beautiful along Klong Khao Daeng.  Leave road #4020 and drive across the bridge. Boat pier next to the bridge
  At the boat pier
 Boat pier
We start by going north with the mountains on our left hand side. Mangroves and there is many Collared Kingfishers in the area. Egrets and cormorants along the canal and unidentified birds in the bushes and mangroves. The trip is one hour long and time was running fast. So when we were back at the pier (Made out of plastic drums) I paid 500 Baht (just a wee bit more than 15 US (July 2020)) and we continued to the mouth of Khao Daeng Canal.  Leaving the boat pier
 Looking for birds along Klong Khao Daeng
 Looking for birds along Klong Khao Daeng
 Looking for birds along Klong Khao Daeng
 Looking for birds along Klong Khao Daeng
 Looking for birds along Klong Khao Daeng
 Looking for birds along Klong Khao Daeng
 Looking for birds along Klong Khao Daeng
We're back at the pier and we are just continuing past the boat pier and we pass under the bride. We are soon passing under a second bridge and we are back in the mangroves. Well, fishing village on the left hand side and mangroves on the right hand side. And you will see Collared Kingfishers and Egrets and Herons. And even if you don't like birds the tour is well worth the time. You leave the mangroves behind and depending on the tide water you will either reach to ocean or mudflats. Check the tide water before coming here if you are going to look for waders on the mudflats. www.tideschart.com GET THE LATEST TIDES IN THAILAND AND AROUND THE WORLD - A must to check out times for HIGH and LOW water when going to look for waders / shorebirds.  Reaching the mudflats
 Turning back at the mouth of the river
 Khao Sam Roi Yot NP--Sam Phraya Beach
This is a camping site just north of the Khao Daeng Temple. And you have to pass a gate to get inside. And if you don't have any park ticket from having visited other national park attractions during the day you will need to pay the park fee before entry. Leave road #4020 driving down to the beach, a stretch of 200 to 300 meters. On the north side of the road you have something that look like dry bottom. It was low water during my visit and there were some water in the fields. There was some stilts on the field and unidentified birds in the bushes, most likely Bulbuls. On the south side of the road there are scrubs and dry fields. Just before the entrance gate and you can turn right and drive 50 meters to a closed gate to some dry land.  Gate to the camping / beach
 Down at the beach
 Campers
  South side of the road
 South side of the road
Entering the camping and turn left. Pass the buildings and on the left hand side you have a small mountain with scrubs at the bottom. Many Bee-eaters hunting here. You reach the end and you must make a U-turn and here was a hunting Kingfisher. Driving back and there was many small and beautiful lizards running around in the sand. Khao Sam Roi Yot NP--headquarters vicinity
No problem to find the HQ. But the area was full when I was there. I think the parks in Thailand are best visited during work days. But when leaving the HQ you can turn south and then left after 10 meters. Drive along mangroves for 200 meters and then you have a dry and barren landscape and it looks like they are building fish farms in the area.  Reaching Khao Sam Roi Yot NP headquarters
 Khao Sam Roi Yot NP headquarters
Khao Sam Roi Yot NP--Bueng Bua
This is the main attraction in the Khao Sam Roi Yot National Park and it is called the “wetlands” The below hotspot Khao Sam Roi Yot NP--Khao Khan Bandai & Lung Cha's Homestay vicinity is also located in the “wetlands” Leaving highway #4 and driving east towards the mountains. After a couple of minutes you have left the highway and the buildings behind and you drive through a beautiful landscape. Follow the road until you reach the gate. You have to pay the park fee if you have not done this at any of the other attractions. There is a parking and a restaurant on the right hand side inside the gate. On the left hand side there is a “boat” bridge with small boats for tours  Reaching the gate
 I was here back in 2016 and I cannot remember any boat service back then. Otherwise it looked the same. You can go by the boat in to the wetlands to look for birds. Of course, plunging through the wetlands and the birds will take off before you can take any pictures. But there is a lot of birds to be seen. There are boardwalks through the wetlands and last time I spotted birds from the board walk. But I was alone back then. When there are many people in the park I did not see any birds at all from the boardwalk as there are people walking on the board walk all the time scaring the birds. After 100 to 200 meters the board walk was closed due to maintenance and I think it was the same when I was here back in 2016. Anyway, I hope the board walk will be ready so it will be possible to get further out in the wetlands. Last time I was here I came up close to the birds and I suggest that you try to come here on a work day when there is no people around.  Boat Service
 Boat Service in to the wetlands
 Mountains from the boat
 Mountains from the boat
 Mountains from the boat
 Boardwalk in to the wetland
 Boardwalk in to the wetland
 The rest of the board walk is closed
 Khao Sam Roi Yot NP--Khao Khan Bandai & Lung Cha's Homestay vicinity
This eBird hotspot: is also down at the wetlands. The gravel road is going along the wetland but the view is obscured by reed most of the way. But there is a lot of birds in the farmlands on the other side of the road. And I have never seen so many Purple Herons before as I spotted in the TWO wetlands hotspots. Coming here and I followed the internet map and after a while we could not continue because the road disappeared and it turned in to a rough walk path and we had to go back while the map told us to make a U-turn and go back again. Back on road #4020 and we turned right continuing south. Taking off the road again while the map told us to go back but I followed the normal map.   We are running out of road
 We are running out of road
 We have to turn around
Coming down from the mountain and you turn down towards the wetlands, about 100 meters and you have the dirt road along the wetlands. It is a beautiful stretch of road between the wetlands and the farmland. There is a lot of fresh water birds in the wetlands but to get pictures was not easy as most of the birds was scared and took off. The bird sticking out was the Purple Heron that could be seen everywhere.  Driving along the gravel road
 Driving along the gravel road
 Wetlands
 Wetlands
 Driving along the gravel road
 Coming to the end of the road
 Driving back again
The area is beautiful and it is definitely worth a visit. And at the end of the road you are very close to the beautiful mountains. I saw one bird coming soaring around the mountain, and it was a huge bird. And it turned out to be an Eagle, my first Eagle in Thailand. So you never know what showing up when bird watching. Bird checklist
I never use any bird lists, but since I try to make it in to Cloudbirders. A very helpful site when planning your birding trips. But they ask for a bird checklist, and if I use their service, of course I want to contribute as well. My two first bird watching trip reports was rejected by Cloudbirders. So I started to take ideas from the reports I found on Cloudbirders. So I have started to use bird lists, eBird generate one for me and I can post it on Cloudbirders. I will post my birds on eBird and on my different “BIRDS THAT I HAVE OBSERVED” pages. Full Thai list updated to the taxonomy, nomenclature and sequence of the IOU/IOC World Bird List. The complete checklist, including Thai names and synonyms, can be downloaded in Excel format - Thailand Bird Checklist. - Version 8.2 (2018) - found at www.norththailandbirding.com Check lists can come in handy to find out the local name of the bird etc. And Avibase have a list with pictures and sounds, excellent! So I will post bird checklists here and if my Guides provide me with checklists I will also post them here.   Khao Sam Roi Yot National Park bird checklist from Avibase, click HERE - eBird version 2019 taxonomy Avibase is providing you with bird checklists from all over the world. And I´m impressed by their web page. Select country and area and you get the bird checklist. Like the PDF files I got from Avibase on the links above. You also get the checklist with pictures and sounds. The best part is that you get the local names of the birds and the online checklist gives the names in English plus the language you have selected. But it seems like the PDF cannot handle some alphabet. For example the Japanese language so it is blank in the PDF checklist. But it worked excellent with Swedish. But you get them in the local language on the online version. Bird list
I only list birds I have got on picture on my list of OBSERVED BIRDS. But since I started using eBird I have changed a bit. I list all the birds on the eBird checklist. See the DAY TO DAY report in the itinerary below. And you can visit my list of “Birds I have seen in Thailand” ONLY BIRDS I HAVE ON PICTURE. Trip Report
4th of July 2020 and we Left the hotel in Kui Buri 8 o'clock in the morning and our first stop will be my new hotel, Longbeach Inn at Khao Sam Roi Yot National Park. My plan is to get to the hotel and then to start the birding at Khao Daeng Canal boat ride going up and down the Khao Daeng Canal. We followed the coast going north and we passed the Khao Sam Roi Yot National Park and we drove through the national park and after passing the north border we turn off road #4020 driving down to the beach.  Leaving Kui Buri
 Approaching Khao Sam Roi Yot National Park
I left my bag at the hotel and we drove south again. Easy to find the canal boat because of the excellent signs along road #4020. I had to pay the national park fee before I paid for the boat. The girl told me to keep the ticket as I could use it to enter the other attractions as well. 500 Baht per hour for the boat, and the boat takes up to 6 passengers. But I go alone and we are soon on our way steaming north in the river.  Going up the canal looking for birds
 Collared Kingfisher / นกกินเปี้ยว
 Going up the canal looking for birds
   Little Egret
 Zebra Dove
   Collared Kingfisher / นกกินเปี้ยว
 Collared Kingfisher / นกกินเปี้ยว
We turned around and started to go back towards the pier. I gave the driver another 500 for another hour and we just drove by the boat pier continuing towards the mouth of the river. We passed under two bridges and we had a fishing village on the left hand side and mangroves on the right hand side. There was Collared Kingfishers in the mangroves. Passing the fishing village and we have mangroves on both sides and we are soon having mudflats on both sides at is it low water.  Passing the boat pier going towards the ocean
 Passing the boat pier going towards the ocean
 Fishing village
 Little Egret
 Green Bee-eater
 Passing last fishing piers
 Low water and the river reach out in Gulf of Thailand
 Black-winged Stilt on the mudflats
Black-winged Stilt on the mudflats
Black-winged Stilt on the mudflats
 Great Egret / Great White Heron / นกยางโทนใหญ่
 Great Egret / Great White Heron / นกยางโทนใหญ่
 Lesser Sandplover
 Lesser Sandplover
 Going back again
  Malaysian Plover / นกหัวโตมลายู
 Malaysian Plover / นกหัวโตมลายู
We reached the mouth of the river and we spotted a Lesser Sandplover and there was also one Great Egret. Turning back and I spotted one Malaysian Plover on the mudflats. Two terns that I could not ID was looking for food flying over the river between the mudflats. A few Black-winged stilts and I could not see any more waders. But to come back here in December might be interesting. By then the waders are back from Europe with their new babies.  Collared Kingfisher / นกกินเปี้ยว
 Collared Kingfisher / นกกินเปี้ยว
Back at the fishing dwellings and I spot more Collared Kingfishers. A little bit up the river there is one lonely Little Egret fishing from a branch. The bird was really beautiful while fishing and I decided to try to make a video. I asked the driver if he could run the boat in to the mud trying to keep it a little steady while I was filming.  Little Egret / นกยางเปีย
 Little Egret / นกยางเปีย
 Little Egret / นกยางเปีย
 Little Egret / นกยางเปีย
 Little Egret / นกยางเปีย
 Little Egret / นกยางเปีย
 Little Egret / นกยางเปีย
 Striated Heron
I spotted a Striated Heron just before the bridge at the boat pier and that was the last bird during the canal tour. I spotted 6 Woodswallows sitting on a wire when we left the area and I decided to try to get a few pictures. I managed to get some pictures, but the Ashy Woodswallow is very had as they always sit on wires with a light backlight.   Ashy Woodswallow / นกแอ่นพง
 Today's track at Khao Daeng Canal boat ride
We left Khao Daeng driving south past Khao Sam Roi Yot National Park HQ and we were on road # 1026 and we drove towards highway #4 on our way to the next eBird hotspot: Khao Sam Roi Yot NP--Bueng Bua It was longer than I expected, about 45 minutes between the hotspots. But the wetlands are on the west side of the mountains so there is a bit of driving. As I had already paid my park fee at the canal trip I just had to show my ticket. I discovered a boat service at the gate, something that wasn't here when I was here 5 years ago. I started by having fried rice at the restaurant and suddenly there was a Common Flameback landing in the tree next to my table. I grabbed my camera and I got two pictures for ID. The pictures was good enough for ID. At least for me I need a picture to see the difference between the Common and the Greater Flameback. I paid my bill and I went to the boat pier to take a tour of the wetland. The boats, small wood boats and believe me, they are not comfortable. Sitting on the bottom of the boat. Well, next to the bottom as there was a plank 10 cm above the bottom.  Ready to take off
 Our hero on the way out in the wetlands
There were many birds but they took off as soon as they could hear and see us. But I could ID the birds so I could fill up my eBird checklist. We approached some small ship they had put in the wetlands. I guess it was used to mark, maybe half way mark on the boat tour. Anyway I managed to get a picture of an Little Cormorant hiding in the reeds. They area was full of Purple Herons and Grey-headed Swamphens so I was surprised that the Grey-headed Swamphens had not been reported in eBird before.  Approaching the ship
 Pirate ship
 Little Cormorant
 Little Cormorant
 A beautiful area
 A beautiful area
A beautiful area and it was a very nice trip but I was very happy to come ashore again. Sitting at the bottom of the boat was not a very nice experience. The start of the board walk is just next to the boat pier. Walking up on the board walk and I spotted a male Oriental Magpie Robin. Of course, not many birds to be seen here, plenty people so all the birds in the vicinity was long gone. I only spotted a few Eurasian Tree Sparrow busy pottering around with a nest in the ceiling in one of the rest / rain cover / look out buildings along the board walk.  Oriental Magpie Robin
 Oriental Magpie Robin
 Oriental Magpie Robin
Continuing along the board walk and I manage to get a very bad recording of one of the Grey-headed Swamphens in the reeds. I missed the first bird that I flushed just by walking by. I turned on my ZOOM H5 and I managed to get the second bird that I flushed while walking by on the board walk. Walking out on the pier and after 100 to 200 metres the board walk was closed for maintenance. I sit down to see if any birds will show up. But there was people all the time and I was soon giving up going back to the car. Listen to the Grey-headed Swamphen
Sound from www.xeno-canto.org
  End of the walkable board walk
 End of the walkable board walk
 Today's track at Khao Sam Roi Yot NP--Bueng Bua
We leave the wetlands behind and we are soon back on highway #4 going north. We took of when we reached road #1021 and we drove towards the eBird hotspot: Khao Sam Roi Yot NP--Khao Khan Bandai & Lung Cha's Homestay vicinity We followed the internet map and we were soon running in to trouble and we had to turn around when the road turned in to thick vegetation. And it looked like there have never been any road so there is obviously something wrong with the internet map. So it might happen to you as well if you decide to come here for birding. We turned back to road #4020 and we continued south for a bit before leaving the road again. The internet map keep telling me to turn around and go back. But I followed a normal map and we were soon over the mountain and back down at the wetland on the west side of the mountain. It is the same wetland as previous eBird hotspot: but it is only accessible from the east side of the mountains. Coming down from the mountain and we follow the gravel road along the wetlands. And the first bird I see is a Purple Heron.  Green Bee-eater
 Green Bee-eater
 Reaching the end of the gravel road
 White-bellied Seaeagle
 White-bellied Seaeagle
Reaching the end of the gravel road and I spot a huge bird coming around the mountain and I get a couple of poor pictures. But the pictures was good enough to use for ID and I managed to ID the bird when I was back in my room with my bird book. Not so many waterbirds to be seen as most of the wetlands was covered by reeds. But there are some areas where you can see out in the wetlands and you will see waterbirds, but they are very very scared.     Blue-tailed Bee-eater
 Today's track at Khao Khan Bandai & Lung Cha's Homestay vicinity
We drove back to the hotel and my driver will be back to pick me up tomorrow morning at 8 o'clock. I had dinner at the hotel garden, the food was surprisingly good. But the must have dropped the white pepper jar in the food because the food was very hot. I spent the evening watching todays picture and trying to ID the Eagle I had seen. To bed early with my alarm set to go off at 4 o'clock and I had two glass of orange juice for tomorrow morning. 5th of July 2020 and I go for my breakfast in the garden at 7 thirty and the breakfast was very good. I had packed my bags and the bill was paid and I was ready to leave at 8 o'clock when my driver would arrive. I will visit e few eBird hotspots in Khao Sam Roi Yot NP before going back to Bangkok. I want to leave before the afternoon traffic start in Bangkok. So around 12 o'clock and I expect to arrive to Bangkok in a good time. The breakfast was great and I was happy when I said good bye. The van had arrived and we left Longbeach in to go to the first eBird hotspot: Khao Sam Roi Yot NP--Sam Phraya Beach to see if I can find any birds.  Breakfast at Longbeach Inn
 Black-winged stilt
Leaving road #4020 driving down to the beach and I spot one Black-winged Stilt sitting on a nest next to the road. As the Sam Phraya Beach is the first visit to the Khao Sam Roi Yot National Park for the day so I had to pay the park fee. And yes, I tried to show them my ticket from yesterday, but that idea failed within 2 seconds. I paid 200 Baht for a new day ticket and we entered the camping. Not many birds on the camping, well, except for Bee-eaters. And there was a lot of beautiful lizards.  Lizard
 Sam Phraya Beach
 Green Bee-eater
 Today's track at Sam Phraya Beach
We leave the camping continuing south towards the eBird hotspot: Khao Sam Roi Yot NP--Khao Daeng Driving south and we will pass two more eBird hotspots before going back to highway #4 and Bangkok. The Khao Sam Roi Yot NP--Khao Daeng and Khao Sam Roi Yot NP--headquarters vicinity and next stop is the Khao Sam Roi Yot NP--Khao Daeng next to the boat jetty. Plenty people at the temple and the worst part is all the monkeys roaming around.  Monkey at the temple
And for sure, to get one of the monkeys in to the van would be a nightmare. So I decided to go to the next hotspot.  Today's track at Khao Daeng
We stop to try to check out the Khao Daengviewing point but there is so much people. Yes, visit parks and you are better off during the work days. Put I spotted one Paddyfield Pipit on the field so it was not all a waste of time. Back on road #4020 and we drive south for a few hundred meters and we're at the eBird hotspot: Khao Sam Roi Yot NP--headquarters vicinity.  Paddyfield Pipit
Well, the HQ was one of the popular spots todays. Parking was next to full and we just made a U-turn and then got on the road just south of the HQ. We drove past the mangroves and then we had an open dry area and it looked like they were making fish farms or something.  Today's track at Khao Sam Roi Yot NP--headquarters vicinity
Back in Bangkok and I will see when I can get on my next bird watching adventure. I will see when I get the time as I will be busy exercise and to be on a diet. Click HERE to find out where I will end up on my next bird watching trip.
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To www.aladdin.st since December 2005
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