The Avitourist’s Guide to Central Thailand
The extraordinary and critically endangered Spoon-billed Sandpiper can still be found consistently at two sites near Bangkok: Khok Kham and Pak Tha Le. © Lefei Han
In December 2019 and January 2020, I spent six weeks in Bangkok for family reasons, and was able to visit most of the widely known birdwatching sites in central Thailand. I report here on 21 magnets for avitourism. All are within three hours’ drive of the Bangkok metropolitan area, although the two farthest—Kaeng Krachan and Khao Yai National Parks—stretch the limits of this informal criterion, but are included because they add greatly to the overall diversity and are likely to be of interest to all visiting birdwatchers.
A few sites not included on this list are worth an honorable mention: Chaloem Kanchanaphisek Park (the most reliable site in Bangkok for Red-breasted Parakeet), Phuttamonthon Park (for garden birds and migrants), Rangsit (for some rice paddy and marsh birds), and Wat Phra Phuttabat Noi (with resident Limestone Wren-Babblers).
The 21 selected sites are mapped below, listed in alphabetical order and numbered accordingly for ease of reference. In practical terms of transportation and planning, the sites fall into four clusters: (1) those within metropolitan Bangkok, mostly accessible by public transportation; (2) southeast to Chon Buri; (3) southwest to Samut Sakhon and Phetchaburi; and (4) northeast to Khao Yai.
Central Thailand – Orientation Map
15 – Mueang Boran
16 – Nong Chok
17 – Nong Pla Lai
18 – Pak Phli
19 – Pak Tha Le
20 – Rot Fai Park
21 – Song Phi Nong
Metropolitan Bangkok
The six sites within Bangkok and its immediate urban sprawl vary in their ease of access—though this obviously depends on the visitor’s starting point. Two are urban parks that are best for visitors new to the regional avifauna, or for visits during migration. A third, Bang Kachao, is a convenient and interesting excursion near the heart of Bangkok, but with approximately the same set of garden birds. The other three each offer prospects of uncommon species, especially waterbirds.
Rot Fai Park (Site #20): The best of Bangkok’s city parks for birdwatching is also its most convenient, easily accessible by two metro rail lines. Nearly all of the city’s common birds can be found in the gardens, lawns, and ponds that now occupy this former golf course. For Bangkok-based birdwatchers, the strong appeal of Rot Fai Park is its magnetism to migrants, especially in March and April when it draws in various cuckoos, flycatchers, and other songbirds that are otherwise rarely seen in central Thailand.
King Rama IX Park (Site #10): King Bhumiphol, or Rama IX, Thailand’s revered 20th Century scholar-king, projected the image of a student of nature. Visitors to the Bangkok city park named for him are greeted by a panoramic bas-relief mural sculpture that depicts Rama IX in a natural setting bearing four accessories of a scientist or engineer: a pen, a camera, a surveying instrument, and an attaché case. In combination with the adjacent Nong Bon Retention Pond, this park offers an excellent introduction to Bangkok’s garden birds.
Bang Kachao (Site #1): Selected as “Asia’s best urban oasis” in one survey, Bang Kachao is a peculiar anomaly: a floodplain forest directly across the river from downtown Bangkok. The rural community that occupies the fertile delta island subsists on a combination of agroforestry and tourism. It is also the largest wooded area on Thailand’s central plain and the best site for woodland birds in the Bangkok metropolitan area. Stork-billed Kingfisher and Vinous-breasted Starling are fairly common residents, and Black Baza and Black-naped Monarch are present in winter.
Lat Krabang (Site #13): Central Thailand’s agricultural lands—a mosaic of rice paddies, fish ponds, and pastures, divided by canals, berms, and hedgerows—are rich in birdlife, especially during migration and winter when wetland and grassland birds from throughout eastern Asia join the resident breeders. Bangkok’s most accessible rice basket is Lat Krabang, adjacent to the new, ultramodern Suvarnabhumi Airport. Although urban sprawl is slowly but inexorably overrunning the habitat, and degrading what remains, several species that are rare or sporadic in Bangkok’s urban parks are fairly easy to find here, including Cinnamon Bittern, Bronze-winged Jacana, Oriental Pratincole, several bush-warblers, Red Avadavat, and White-rumped Munia.
Mueang Boran Pond Complex (Site #15): Bangkok sprawls across an enormous floodplain that was once dominated by wetlands. Among the few areas that are still maintained as such are the aquaculture ponds at Mueang Boran, which support a diverse array of waterbirds. A well-timed visit can often produce three species of bittern (Yellow, Cinnamon, and Black), five or more species of rails (starting with White-breasted Waterhen, Watercock, and White-browed, Ruddy-breasted, and Baillon’s Crakes), Greater Painted-Snipe, and Bronze-winged and Pheasant-tailed Jacanas, among many others.
Bang Pu Recreation Center (Site #3): A traditional favorite of Bangkok-based birdwatchers, Bang Pu is known as a migration hotspot with a history of attracting interesting vagrants. Flocks of gulls and terns swarm beside its pier, wading birds of all sizes congregate in sheltered lagoons, and songbirds flit through the mangroves, all in a compact area that has been developed for bird observation. For foreign birdwatchers, its value depends on which other coastal sites are on the itinerary—apart from the gulls, most of the expected species can be found as easily elsewhere.
Chon Buri
A newly expanded expressway to Chon Buri and brings two outstanding sites into easy commuting range from Bangkok. The refuge beside Bang Phra reservoir contains a mosaic of marsh, grassland, and open woodland, and Khao Kheow has the nearest accessible deciduous and evergreen forests. Ferries at the nearby port of Si Racha serve Ko Sichang, the northernmost island in the Gulf of Siam.
Bang Phra (Site #2): The eastern shore of Bang Phra Reservoir in Chon Buri is a wildlife refuge (“non-hunting area”) that contains an interesting mosaic of habitats—wetlands, grassy fields, scrub, and open, brushy woodland—which results in a high diversity of birds, especially during migration. It also supports resident populations of a few species that are uncommon in central Thailand. Most notable among them is a resident flock of Lesser Adjutants, joined by the two common storks of the region, Painted and Asian Openbill.
Khao Kheow (Site #7): The hills above Chon Buri are mostly forested but little-visited, with few convenient access points. At Khao Kheow there are two reasonable alternatives: either through the “open zoo” or via a trail that wraps around the zoo’s southern perimeter. This is the largest intact forest habitat so close to Bangkok, supporting populations of many species, including the spectacular Great Hornbill.
Ko Sichang (Site #11): Among the many rocky islands in the Gulf of Siam, Ko Sichang is the nearest to Bangkok and therefore a natural focus of touristic attention. A trip to Ko Sichang takes about half of a day and can be combined with a stop at Bang Phra. The regularly occurring birds that are not likely to be seen at other sites near Bangkok are Pacific Reef-Heron, Orange-breasted Green-Pigeon, Pacific Swallow, and possibly a few gulls, terns, or other seabirds.
Southwest of Bangkok
The provinces of Samut Sakhon and Phetchaburi are renowned for salt pans and tidal flats that are winter quarters for enormous flocks of shorebirds, including small numbers of such global rarities as Spoon-billed Sandpiper and Nordmann’s Greenshank. The coastal plain also retains extensive mangrove forests, lagoons, marshes, and paddyfields with bird diversity and concentrations that far surpass those nearer to Bangkok. Farther southwest, on the border with Myanmar, Kaeng Krachan National Park is among the top destinations in Thailand for forest birds and large mammals.
Khok Kham (Site #9): The most accessible location where Spoon-billed Sandpiper has been seen reliably in recent years is a set of salt pans about 30 km southwest of Bangkok. This population is tiny, precariously clinging to existence, and bands show that the same handful of individuals return to winter in the same salt pans year after year. The operators of a local salt farming operation have established the Khok Kham Bird Center, which is dedicated to awareness of the shorebirds that winter in the area, especially its icon, the Spoon-billed Sandpiper.
Mahachai Mangrove Forest (Site #14): Beside the mouth of the Tha Chin River lies the mostly intact Mahachai Mangrove Forest, accessed by a well-constructed elevated walkway. This is the most reliable site in central Thailand for the elusive Mangrove Whistler, and an excellent place to observe many other mangrove birds, including Collared and Black-capped Kingfishers, Golden-bellied Gerygone, and Swinhoe’s White-eye, among others. Nearby roads provide access to extensive tidal flats and salt pans that host huge flocks of waterbirds, including Asian Dowitcher and Nordmann’s Greenshank.
Nong Pla Lai (Site #17): Among central Thailand’s many productive agricultural zones, the rice paddies and fish ponds around Nong Pla Lai stand out for the diversity and concentrations of birds they support. This area is well known for wintering eagles, with Greater Spotted and Booted being regular in numbers and Steppe and Imperial found most years. Several other raptors and grassland birds such as larks, pipits, bush-warblers, weavers, and munias are also common. This area includes more open water than other sites near Bangkok, so waterbirds are especially numerous and include uncommon species such as Spot-billed Pelican and Black-headed Ibis.
Pak Tha Le (Site #19): The salt pans, lagoons, and estuary at Pak Tha Le are a semi-formally established refuge for migratory shorebirds, wintering grounds for large flocks of Eurasian Curlew, Whimbrel (Siberian form), Great Knot, and many other species. The site is best-known as the most likely place to find a Spoon-billed Sandpiper, and often turns up other rarities.
Laem Pak Bia (Site #12): Probably the most productive of the three well-known shorebird sites southwest of Bangkok, Laem Phak Bia is especially good for longer-legged species including the rarities Asian Dowitcher and Nordmann’s Greenshank. The site also features a 3-km sandspit that is one of very few places in the world where the recently rediscovered White-faced Plover has been found consistently, along with Malaysian Plover, Pacific Reef-Heron, Chinese Egret, and sometimes unusual gulls and terns.
Kaeng Krachan National Park (Site #6): Thailand’s largest national park forms part of a more extensive complex of protected areas that straddle the border with Myanmar. Kaeng Krachan is ecologically intact, mostly inaccessible, and large enough to support healthy populations of Asian Elephant, Gaur, Sun Bear, and other large mammals. Its avifauna is diverse enough to place it in the top tier of birdwatching sites in Thailand. It is especially well-known for broadbills (seven species: Green, Black-and-red, Long-tailed, Silver-breasted, Banded, Black-and-yellow, and Dusky) and Rusty-cheeked Hornbill, which is fairly common here and rarely found anywhere else.
Song Phi Nong (Site #21): Along the eastern periphery of Kaeng Krachan National Park, where the land is a patchwork of park and private property, many of Kaeng Krachan’s birds can be seen better, more easily, and more comfortably than within the park itself. This is due to the initiative of local residents who recognized an opportunity and built observation hides in the dense brush, then maintained them by setting out water and food that attract a parade of shy and spectacular birds that are usually difficult to observe, including Gray Peacock-Pheasant, Kalij Pheasant, Bar-backed, Scaly-breasted, and Ferruginous Partridges, Eared and Blue Pittas, and Common Green-Magpie.
Northeast of Bangkok
Heading inland from Bangkok, the landscape becomes more rural and varied, with grasslands, dry scrub, and open woodlands, eventually rising to foothills dominated by deciduous forests and mountains cloaked in humid evergreen forest. Additional birds found in this direction include various raptors and the diverse forest avifauna of Khao Yai National Park.
Nong Chok (Site #16): Beyond Lat Krabang, the agricultural mosaic of rice paddies, fish ponds, and pastures becomes richer and more extensive, with larger tracts and more plantations and wooded buffer zones. The composition of the avifauna changes gradually, but many of the same species occur in larger numbers, which improves the odds of finding such uncommon species as Cotton-Pygmy-Goose, Oriental Darter, Black-headed Ibis, Eastern Marsh- and Pied Harriers, Lineated Barbet, Freckle-breasted Woodpecker, White-shouldered and Chestnut-tailed Starlings, White-rumped and Chestnut Munias, and Plain-backed Sparrow.
Pak Phli (Site #18): In the interior of Thailand’s central plain, below Khao Yai, the land becomes a mix of semiarid ranchland and scrub, along with fish ponds, rice paddies, and other cropland. In this habitat at Pak Phli there is a traditional winter roosting area for hundreds, sometimes thousands, of Black Kites. The surrounding area supports an unusually high diversity of grassland and waterbirds that often include Spot-billed Pelican, Oriental Darter, Eastern Marsh- and Pied Harriers, Long-tailed Shrike, Striated Grassbird, Australasian and Indochinese Bush-Larks, Rosy and Red-throated Pipits, and Chestnut-eared Bunting.
Chulalongkorn University – Saraburi (Site #5): The rural campus of Thailand’s oldest university houses its primate research facility and experimental agriculture station, bordered by wooded, rocky hills and a reservoir. The blend of open, wet, brushy, and wooded habitats supports a large diversity of birds that seems largely undiscovered (or at least underreported). Most of the species typical of central Thailand’s brushland can be found here, including Chinese Francolin, Rufous-winged Buzzard, and Rufescent and Gray-breasted Prinias.
Chet Kot Pong Konsao Nature Study Center (Site #4): At the western tip of the Khao Yai uplift, tucked away in the foothills, is a small retreat with cabins, picnic tables, and a campground beside an old reservoir. There is a small trail network around the retreat and into the forest which provides opportunities to find many of the birds that are typical of Khao Yai National Park, including Siamese Fireback, Asian Emerald Dove, Thick-billed Green-Pigeon, Asian Barred Owlet, Brown-backed Needletail, Banded Kingfisher, Red-breasted Parakeet, Vernal Hanging-Parrot, various bulbuls, babblers, flowerpeckers, and sunbirds, and Blue-winged and Golden-fronted Leafbirds.
Khao Yai National Park (Site #8): Thailand’s oldest national park is a popular weekend retreat for Bangkok residents, who enjoy the cool morning temperatures that its modest elevations bring. Though it has a reputation for large mammals, including elephants, its most conspicuous wildlife consists of macaques, gibbons, and two spectacular hornbill species, Great and Wreathed. Visitors who take the time to explore its trails and less-traveled roadways can find a wealth of diversity, including large mixed flocks of maddeningly similar Phylloscopus leaf warblers, and have a reasonable chance of finding one or more of the park’s avian star attractions: Silver Pheasant, Siamese Fireback, Coral-billed Ground-Cuckoo, and Eared Pitta.