Birding Tour Thailand: Central Thailand – Shorebird Spectacle and Jungle Birding

This short, small-group tour forms a circuit around central Thailand, starting and ending in Bangkok. After arrival in Bangkok, we head south to the shores of the Bay of Bangkok and the vast areas of saltpans that form the vital overwintering habitat for hundreds of thousands of shorebirds, where one of the most highly sought birds on the planet, Spoon-billed Sandpiper, can be found during the non-breeding season. We will be putting all of our efforts into finding this sought-after bird, along with many other species. In fact, over 40 species of shorebirds can be found here in a couple of days birdwatching!

Spoon-billed Sandpiper, one of the most sought-after birds on earth.

It really is quite staggering witnessing the huge numbers of birds and the species diversity. Other key birds on our radar here include Great Knot, Nordmann’s Greenshank, Asian Dowitcher, Far Eastern Curlew, Malaysian Plover, and White-faced Plover. There are of course many other potential highlights to search for during our time here, and Chinese Egret will be high on that list.

We will search for Chinese Egret along the coast near Laem Pak Bia.

After our time at the coast we will venture into farmland (including some rice paddies), where we will look for impressive raptors, such as Greater Spotted and Eastern Imperial Eagles, and with luck we will find the spectacular Pied Harrier, possibly one of the best-looking harriers on the planet. There will also be a long list of typical farmland birds of the region, such as weavers, shrikes, and a wide range of interesting passerines.

We will then dive into about a week of forest birding across two phenomenal reserves, Kaeng Krachan National Park and Khao Yai National Park. The potential list of species of birds and other wildlife across these two locations is massive (see the detailed itinerary below for extra details). Some of the most interesting and exciting birds we might find here could include Blue and Eared Pittas, Great, Wreathed, Tickell’s Brown, Austen’s Brown, and Oriental Pied Hornbills, Black-and-red, Banded, Black-and-yellow, Dusky, Silver-breasted, and Long-tailed Broadbills, Banded Kingfisher, Kalij and Silver Pheasants, Red Junglefowl, Siamese Fireback, White-fronted Scops Owl, Oriental Bay Owl, Coral-billed Ground Cuckoo, Red-bearded and Blue-bearded Bee-eaters, Common Green Magpie, Ratchet-tailed Treepie, Red-headed and Orange-breasted Trogons, Orange-headed Thrush, and Bamboo, Heart-spotted, and Great Slaty Woodpeckers. Non-avian highlights could include Lar (White-handed) and Pileated Gibbons, Asian Elephant, the Indochinese subspecies of Leopard (Panthera pardus delacouri), which may include the melanistic form known as “Black Panther”, Sloth Bear, and Siamese Crocodile.

We will bird the forests of Kaeng Krachan National Park for Silver-breasted Broadbill and many other broadbill species.

This tour visits some stunning forest, and we will also sample some of Thailand’s famed, delicious food during our journey. Some of the temples that we will drive past while birding are absolutely spectacular and worth spending time to appreciate them in their own right. Several sites visited also offer very good photographic opportunities for those with an interest.

This central Thailand birding tour can also easily be combined with our two other Thai birdwatching tours, making for a comprehensive month-long, once-in-a-lifetime bird tour of Thailand, one of the best birding destinations in Southeast Asia. Our Northern Thailand Birding Tour: Spectacular Resident and Migrant Birds features exciting species like Rusty-naped Pitta, Siberian Rubythroat, Spot-breasted Parrotbill, Mrs. Hume’s Pheasant, Baer’s Pochard, and an amazing Pied Harrier roost. In addition, our Southern Thailand Birding Tour: Jewels of the South also features many great birds, like Malayan Banded Pitta, Mangrove Pitta, Scarlet-rumped Trogon, White-crowned Hornbill, and Helmeted Hornbill,  etc.

The gorgeous Blue Pitta will be searched for during our forest birding.