Still buzzing from our success with the Mrs Humes pheasants and after meeting up with Alan and Howard we set off further up the road to the border post near the Myanmar border where we were hoping to see Scarlet-faced Liocichla! Apparently these had been showing well early morning but we'd spoken to another group who'd spent all day there from 10.00am the previous day and not seen them.
We were literally right by the border post and Marc and I couldn't resist a cheeky selfie. Marc isn't really that much smaller than me - he was standing lower down the slope!
We didn't have to wait long until the Liocichla's showed and we had a pair of these multi-coloured babbler and elusive coming down to feed.
A speciality of the area is Giant Nuthatch and after spending time at the Liocichla site we started walking back down the road exploring as we went. It really was a stunning area and birds were coming thick and fast. Wedge-tailed Green Pigeon was added to the ever expanding trip list and a stop at a small clearing along the edge of the road, where the movement of a female Slaty-blue Flycatcher had caught our eye, was rewarded when an absolutely gorgeous male Siberian Rubythroat hopped into view. Not a new new species for me but it was for Marc and Howard and they couldn't have hoped for better views as it perched up showing its full ruby throat as if posing deliberately for the camera's. Despite having seen three in the UK and all males theres still something about this species that makes your heart beat just a little faster.
A pickup pulling up along side us disgorged a group of guys, some wearing military style fatigues, who started taking our photos and talking to Jay. It looked quite serious for a while but there were soon smiles and it turned out they were national park rangers and were asking Jay how he thought the national park could be improved for visitors. We even had our photo taken with one of them and after shaking hands they got back into their truck and drove off.
A stop for lunch opposite an area which proved to be another area rich in birds being attracted to food that had been put out for them. Grey-throated babblers, Yunnan Fulvetta's and White-browed Scimitar Babblers.
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| Grey-throated Babbler |
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| Yunnan Fulvetta |
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| White-browed Scimitar Babbler |
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| Large Niltava - male |
After lunch we continued our exploration and had a master class in phylloscopus warbler identification from Jay. A plain looking leaf warbler, looking like a washed out Palla's eventually called and confirmed Jay's suspicion that it was a Sichuan Leaf Warbler - only the 8th record for Thailand and only the 2nd Jay had seen in Thailand. Another puzzle was resolved when both Jay and Marc managed to get photos of White-spectacled Warbler. A 1st for Thailand that had been discovered a few months previously! We sifted through Chinese and Pallas's Warblers, Aberrant Bush Warblers, Bianchi's Warblers and Marten's Warblers trying to memorise their calls and identification features.
Other birds seen were Stripe- breasted Woodpecker and a showy male large Niltva and an equially gorgeous and showy male Rufous-gorgeted Flycatcher
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| Stripe-breasted Woodpecker. |
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| Rufous-gorgeted Flycatcher |
A calling Giant Nuthatch, one of our target species, eventually gave itself up after giving us the run around for awhile. It was constantly moving and one minute would be behind us and the next in the trees opposite before finally landing in a roadside tree. This critically endangered species is the largest nuthatch in the world and has declined primarily due to loss of habitat.
With the light fading we just had time to add Grey Treepie to the list before climbing wearily back into the mini-vans and heading back to the hotel. Tomorrow we were flying back to Bangkok but were doing some birding on the way to try and add another couple of species to the trip list.
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