Back to Bangkok via Rice Paddy Birding

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I started my last morning at Baan Maka/ in the Kaeng Krachan area with another morning of birding before the rest of my family was up. I added a few nice bits and pieces to the list and there were absolutely loads of Variable Squirrels around. A particular highlight was a group of about 10 Oriental Pied Hornbills that flew in to eat on some fruiting trees and I got much better view at close range than I had from within the National Park.

After breakfast we left Baan Maka to drive back to Bangkok for the next part of our holiday, but I had managed to persuade my family to stop at a birding site for a relatively short visit because it is directly off the main road that we would be taking anyway. This is the site called the Petchaburi Rice Fields as described on thaibirding.com but it is basically just some rice paddies and very small villages. Of course it was not the ideal birding time of day when we got there and extremely hot and sunny out in the open between rice paddies, but there were still a lot of nice birds around. The rice paddies were absolutely covered in various herons and egrets, especially pond herons and Cattle Egrets and there were loads of swallows flying low over the fields. There were also hundreds of weaver birds nesting in the trees around the paddies of all three native species and various other small birds were about too. I missed a couple of species that I was hoping to see in the area, but considering how hot it was, there were loads of birds around. We then continued on to Bangkok with lunch from a roadside place on the way, also passing a number of macaques seen from the car sitting on buildings.

In the evening in Bangkok, I met up with my Aunt who lives in Bangkok, and she will be with us for much of the remaining trip. Tomorrow is my first Thai zoo day – a visit to Dusit Zoo.

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