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29 March 2022
 Introduction
Phetchaburi Rice Fields is located north of the city Phetchaburi and it is about 2 hours from Bangkok with car. There is a lot of eBird hotspots in Phetchaburi and there are five eBird hotspots with paddies in the names. I will only visit two hotspots today as I will start at Praek Nam Daeng Marshlands & Fish Ponds (general area). 1) Khao Yoi paddies (We will visit this hotspot today) 2) Khao Yoi aquaculture 3) Bang Tabun Ok "Duck & Ibis" Lake 4) Wat Khao Takhrao aquaculture 5) Nong Pla Lai – Bang Chak paddies (general area) (We will visit this hotspot today) 6) Ban Laem agricultural area 7) Ban Khum fish ponds and paddies 8) Thong Chai paddies 9) Bang Chak paddies 10) Ton Maphrao paddies 11) Khao Luang Cave (Tham Khao Luang) To skip the information and to go straight to the TRIP REPORT click HERE Guide
I usually don't use any bird watching Guide in / around Bangkok. But could be a good idea to have a Guide to help me identify all the birds I see. As it is now my eBird checklists are not very impressive as I can only ID half of the birds I see. Land transportation
You will need a car and if you don't have your own a taxi is a very convenient way of travelling. Depending on the early morning traffic it will take about 2 hours to reach the area. You rent the taxi for a full day and it will set you back with about 2000-3000 Baht (May 2020) depending on distances etc. And of course, depending on your negotiation skills. There is a highway all the way from Bangkok to Phetchaburi so the area is easy to reach. The roads between the fields are good but there are some dirt track in very poor condition. So don't be surprised if the taxi driver refuse to enter some roads. 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
 From Wikipedia
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
Phetchaburi Rice Fields
 About 115 km from the Sukhumvit / Asoke intersection in DOWN TOWN Bangkok
You will need a car and if you don't have your own a taxi is a very convenient way of travelling. Depending on the early morning traffic it will take 90 minutes to reach the area. You rent the taxi for a full day and it will set you back with about 2000-3000 Baht (May 2020) depending on distances etc. And of course, depending on your negotiation skills. Or show the driver a map. Click HERE for a map to Khao Yoi paddies, a good start if you come from the north  Scan for map to Khao Yoi paddies
 eBird hotspots around the Phetchaburi Rice Fields
There are several eBird hotspots around the, have a look at these if you CLICK the names below: • Khao Yoi paddies • Khao Yoi aquaculture • Bang Tabun Ok "Duck & Ibis" Lake • Wat Khao Takhrao aquaculture • Nong Pla Lai paddies • Ban Laem agricultural area • Ban Khum fish ponds and paddies • Thong Chai paddies • Bang Chak paddies • Ton Maphrao paddies • Khao Luang Cave (Tham Khao Luang) Khao Yoi paddies
Easy to miss the road to exit the highway. Just a very narrow road so it is easy to mistake it for an entrance to a house. But never mind, just take the next, as soon as you have passed through the row of houses along the highway it is rice fields for as long as you can see. All the hotspots are very close together and you can look for birds for hours and never have left the paddies and ponds. There are many birds associated with farmland and ponds in the area. There are water in some of the fields and if you come here midday in the heat you will find birds bathing and drinking in the puddles. Small irrigation canals with many birds at the bottom foraging. And it is also a very beautiful area to drive around in.  Phetchaburi Rice Fields - eBird hotspot: Khao Yoi paddies
 Phetchaburi Rice Fields - eBird hotspot: Khao Yoi paddies
 Phetchaburi Rice Fields - eBird hotspot: Khao Yoi paddies
 Phetchaburi Rice Fields - eBird hotspot: Khao Yoi paddies
Khao Yoi aquaculture
Khao Yoi aquaculture is an area where you drive between the ponds and it is pretty much the same as the other hotspots and no surprises here. Driving along the fish farms and there was many birds in the area, especially Egrets and Cormorants.  Khao Yoi aquaculture
 Khao Yoi aquaculture
 Khao Yoi aquaculture
 Khao Yoi aquaculture
Bang Tabun Ok "Duck & Ibis" Lake
This area is a pond / lake and a dirt track. Reaching the NE corner of the pond / lake and there is a building. The dirt road continue down on the east side of the pond / lake. When we came back to the building there was a car. The man gave us a warning, the road following the east side can collapse any time as the lake are eating on the barrier. There are mangroves along the dust road on the east side and we spotted a crake.  Bang Tabun Ok "Duck & Ibis" Lake
 Driving on the dirt track between the ponds
 Pond
 Pond
 Pond from the building
 Leaving the area on the dirt track
 Leaving the area on the dirt track
 Leaving the area on the dirt track
3 Spot-billed Pelicans were spotted in the pond / lake. There were Black-winged Stilts sitting on eggs on the dry areas in the pond. Egrets and of course Red-wattled Lapwing. Wat Khao Takhrao aquaculture
Another pond and paddies hotspot. But here we had vegetation along the road and it was not possible to see the ponds at many places. When you could see the ponds you discovered a lot of Egrets and Cormorants. We could hear the Collared Kingfishers and we could see the Kingfisher sitting on the wire along the road. Same as the other Phetchaburi hotspots, keep an eye in the wires along the road as there are many birds sitting on the wires.  Driving along the ponds
 Driving along the ponds
 Driving along the ponds
 Dirt track
Driving along the ponds and again, the same birds that you will see at the other hotspots. Nong Pla Lai paddies
Leaving the eBird hotspot: Khao Yoi paddies driving south and you reach a bridge over a canal. I stopped my eBird track from Khao Yoi paddies and I restarted the eBird app tracking the eBird hotspot: Nong Pla Lai paddies All the hotspots are very close together and you can look for birds for hours and never have left the paddies and ponds. Turn left after having crossed the bridge and you will drive towards east for a kilometre or so. Then the road and turns to south and you keep on driving along the canal. There are many birds associated with farmland and ponds in the area. There are canals with Water hyacinth so keep an eye out for birds on the Water hyacinth as birds are walking around looking for food. Small irrigation canals with many birds at the bottom foraging. And it is also a very beautiful area to drive around in.
Looking on the canal side and you have many Drongos, Racket-tailed Treepies and other birds associated with forest. On the right hand side you have wires following the road and you will see Bee-eaters and other birds sitting on the wire. In the fields you have Stilts and Lapwings together with “Rails and coots” That is what this kind of birds are grouped as in my book.  Phetchaburi Rice Fields
Driving along the canal, eBird hotspot: Nong Pla Lai paddies  Phetchaburi Rice Fields
Driving along the canal, eBird hotspot: Nong Pla Lai paddies  Phetchaburi Rice Fields
Open fields on the other side of the road, eBird hotspot: Nong Pla Lai paddies  Phetchaburi Rice Fields
Driving along the canal, eBird hotspot: Nong Pla Lai paddies  Phetchaburi Rice Fields
You will not get tired of the landscape Driving south for 8 km or so and you reach a bridge, turn left and cross the bridge and you reach a road. There is farm lands and you have a small drainage along the road, keep an eye at the bottom for birds. And one thing is for sure, you will love the landscape. Worth a day just to drive around even if you don't like to look for birds. Ban Laem agricultural area
This is a very beautiful area and you drive along the rice paddies looking out for birds. And at this time of the year you have to look carefully, as you only see the bird's heads sticking up from the rice. And there are many birds feeding in the fields. Many trees with Baya and Asian Golden Weaver nest. Some nest under construction and it looks like some of the nest have babies in them.  Ban Laem agricultural area
 Ban Laem agricultural area
 Ban Laem agricultural area
Look at the wires along the roads, Kingfishers and Hoopoes like the wires. And keep an eye in the irrigation canals along the road, birds are bathing and cooling down if you are here in the middle of the day when it is hot. Ban Khum fish ponds and paddies
Driving along road #4040 and you have a small dirt track going south. Get up on this dirt track and follow the road towards south along the paddies and ponds. There is a lot of birds and I spotted two Purple Herons and I managed to come close, actually never been any closer to a Purple Heron. Many birds but it is the same birds we see on the other hotspots in the area.  Get up on the dirt track and drive south
 Drive along the ponds and paddies
 Many birds in the fields
Thong Chai paddies
I don't know if I understand this eBird hotspot: . Very close to the eBird hotspot: Bang Chak paddies It was a paved road and we could not see any dirt tracks leaving out to the wilderness. I might have got the hotspot wrong. But the hotspot is located just on the paved road. There were fields on both sides of the road. We tried to leave the paved road but it looked like the roads we found was for private areas. Bang Chak paddies
Just next to the eBird hotspot: Thong Chai paddies and it was a beautiful farmland. There is a canal next to the road and fields on both sides. And it is the same birds as we have seen at the other hotspots.  Phetchaburi Rice Fields
Drive along the road at eBird hotspot: Bang Chak paddies  Phetchaburi Rice Fields
Follow the canal at eBird hotspot: Bang Chak paddies  Phetchaburi Rice Fields
Follow the canal at eBird hotspot: Bang Chak paddies  Phetchaburi Rice Fields
Follow the canal at eBird hotspot: Bang Chak paddies  Phetchaburi Rice Fields
Follow the canal at eBird hotspot: Bang Chak paddies Ton Maphrao paddies
This hot spot, like the others, are surrounded rice fields. Narrow road and it is an elevated concrete road so there are no room to meet another car. And some parts of the road looked very bad so we had to turn around. Getting out on another narrow concrete road and we met a lorry and we gave up.  Phetchaburi Rice Fields
Concrete road at eBird hotspot: Bang Chak paddies  Phetchaburi Rice Fields
Concrete road at eBird hotspot: Bang Chak paddies  Phetchaburi Rice Fields
Very narrow road at eBird hotspot: Bang Chak paddies Khao Luang Cave (Tham Khao Luang)
We arrived to the Khao Luang Cave and we were told that Khao Luang Cave was closed because of the Wuhan Virus. The cave is on a hill and in front of the gate to the cave we have the town going all the way up to the gate. Otherwise the hill is surrounded by farm land where you have the normal birds that you expect to find around farmlands.
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.   Phetchaburi 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
29 March 2022 and we make a stop at 7 Eleven next to the highway. I saw something I never seen before when I got out f the car, a parking for females only. Refreshing to see, not the “whatever gender you like” crap we see in the Western World, a world quickly falling apart. I bought two bottles of water and two bottles of MAX and I was back in the taxi and we continued towards south.  Stopping to buy water
 Parking spaces
Leaving and it was about 10 minutes to drive to the first eBird hotspot I wanted to visit, the eBird hotspot: Khao Yoi paddies. We took off the highway and I could start the eBird app two minutes later. I recognized the area even though I have not been here for a very long time now. The rice fields starts almost as soon as you have left the highway and I had my eBird app ready. There was the Heron, Egrets and Openbills in the fields. We drove through the area for 50 minutes before we decided to leave for the next eBird hotspot: .  Khao Yoi paddies
 Khao Yoi paddies
   Purple Heron / นกกระสาแดง
Today's track at Khao Yoi paddies
Turning off my eBird app at 11:07 and I restarted the app at 11:32 at the eBird hotspot: Nong Pla Lai – Bang Chak paddies (general area). We are driving north and it is a beautiful area and there are plenty Herons, Egrets and Openbills in the paddies. Black Winged Stilts all over the area as well. I ID one bird as a Grey Heron but it turned out to be a Purple Heron and I spotted 6 Purple Herons in total, never seen so many Purple Herons before, a total of 6 on my eBird check list. Looking out over the paddies and my driver pointed at a bird and asked what bird it was. I told him it was an Oriental Pratincole. While we were sitting there a Black Drongo landed just next to the car and I could get some pictures before we continued on our bird watching adventure.  Oriental Pratincole
  Black Drongo / นกแซงแซวหางปลา
 Black Drongo / นกแซงแซวหางปลา
 Black Drongo / นกแซงแซวหางปลา
 Beautiful area
 Driving along the dirt tracks between the rice paddies. I spotted a small bird, too far away for any good pictures. I had no clue of the ID so I really needed a picture. I got a poor picture and I could ID the bird when I came back home to my BIRDS OF THAILAND book, it was a Amur Stonechat. We continued and there were several Purple Herons in the paddies but as they are very scared it was not easy to get any pictures of the Purple Heron. It is a very beautiful heron so I really would like to have a couple of good pictures, well, maybe next time.  Amur Stonechat
 Purple Heron / นกกระสาแดง
 We continued and we approached two trees on the lefthand side of the road. I asked the driver to stop to have a look at two birds sitting in the trees. I brought out my binoculars and I discovered that it was one Indochinese Roller and one Black-winged Kite. I asked the driver to continue very slow. I was hoping to get some good pictures but the Black-winged Kite took off as soon as we started to move again. But the Roller stayed and I could have a few pictures, not so good as the bird was between me and the sun. One Brown Shrike landed in the same tree, but was half covered by a branch so no pictures.   Indochinese Roller / นกตะขาบทุ่ง
  Many birds in the fields
   Asian Golden Weaver / นกกระจาบทอง busy with the nest
 Asian Golden Weaver / นกกระจาบทอง busy with the nest
 Wildlife in Phetchaburi
 Today's track at Nong Pla Lai – Bang Chak paddies (general area)
We drove back to Bangkok and I was back home around 3 o'clock in the afternoon. The driver will come to pick me up on Thursday morning at 6 o'clock and we will go look for birds in Lat Krabang just outside Bangkok. Click HERE to see if we see any birds. I will keep myself busy until then with my pictures and trying to ID some of the birds I saw today.  And I will have to visit the Dentist as well.
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To www.aladdin.st since December 2005
Visitors from different countries since 26th of September 2011
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