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 Introduction
Benjakitti Park (Benchakiti Park, Benjakiti Park) is located 10 minutes from my apartment and I use to go here when I have some time to spend. So it is not too often, but it is a nice area to walk around in. But there are better places for bird watching. There are quite a few birds, but don´t expect any rarities. But it is well worth a visit for a walk. And Benjakitti Park is just a 3 minutes walk off Sukhumvit / Asok intersection and the subway and sky train station. So very convenient if you need a break from the hustle and bustle on Sukhumvit. And as an extra bonus, there is a, well, kind of walk bridge from Benjakitti Park to the Lumpini Park. And to take this walk is a really recommended tourist thing to do, a little different bit of Bangkok you get to see. 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 can go by taxi to Benjakitti Park and you have the name in Thai here สวนเบญจกิติ to show the driver. And if you don´t like the comfort of sitting in the back of a taxi you can go by sky train or subway. Nearest Sky train station: Asok BTS Station. Nearest subway station: National Convention Centre MRT Station and Sukhumvit MRT Station Accommodations
I stay at my home sleeping in my own bed so no need for any hotel. 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 Weather / climate
Weather, I don´t know if Bangkok is the hottest capital in the world. But this is what they say and I have no reason to doubt this information because it is darn hot.  Bangkok, Thailand - Climate & Temperature
Pictures from www.climatemps.com
 Bangkok, Thailand - Climate & Temperature - Click picture for full size
Pictures from www.climatemps.com
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. 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 Places to visit
Benjakitti Park
Benjakitti Park (Thai: สวนเบญจกิติ, RTGS: Benchakitti) is a park in the Khlong Toei District of central Bankgkok; situated next to the Queen Sirikit National Convention Center. It is close to Queen Sirikit National Convention Centre MRT Station, Sukhumvit MRT Station and Asok BTS Station. Benjakitti Park was developed from Tobacco pond area 200x800 meters, built by digging and reclamation. This park was part of the project replacement area from resolutions in government of Prime Minister Anand Panyarachun. Name “Benjakitti” was given by Queen Sirikit during the opening. Benjakitti Park has a landmark symbol called “Pathumthani” near the pond. It was opened in 2004 (on land formally owned by the Tobacco Monopoly) to honour the 72nd birthday of Queen Sirikit. Between 1 to 9 December 2004, this park was used for performing theatre and a spectacular technique to commemorate His Majesty the King "The Phra Mahathat The Phenomenal Life Show" by the stage in the middle of the pond over 100 meters which is the longest water stage in the country. After that, the Tobacco Monopoly gave 61 rai(97,600 meters) more to build Benjakitti forest park to celebrate Her Majesty Queen Sirikit Queen's 7th Birthday Anniversary in 2006, which makes Benjakitti park became the first park in Bangkok which has forest park. It includes a central boating lake, an outdoor exercise area, a cycling track and a path that is used by walkers and joggers; bicycles and boats can be hired in the park. - From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Opening Hours: 04:30-21:00 every day Location: Ratchadapisek Road (between Rama IV Road and Sukhumvit Road), Khlong Toei, Bangkok, Thailand  Going to Benjakitti Park and I usually enters from the SW or NE corner of the park. There are entrances at three of the 4 corners. There are a walk / jogging track around the pond. And outside the walk / jogging track there is a track for bikes.  SW entrance to the Benjakitti Park
 SW entrance to the Benjakitti Park
 Inside the gate at the SW entrance
Along the west side there are trees. Well, it is too much to call it park in Bangkok which has forest park. as mentioned in Wikipedia. There are a few tress and a walk path between the trees. Coming inside Benjakitti Park in the SW corner and you walk straight to the tree area and keep right to get down to the pond and the walk track.  Down at the walk track at the SW corner
 Walking towards East on the south side of the park
 The pond seen from the south side
Reaching the SE corner and there are some vegetation and I have seen Coppersmith Barbets with nests in this corner before. Walking along the east side and after 100 meters you reach the paddle duck and bike rental place. I cannot remember seeing the paddle duck in use. Walking north on the east side and I have seen may birds in the trees along the walk track.  Paddle ducks for rent
 Bikes for rent
 Walking north on the east side
 Entrance at the NE corner
 Entrance at the NE corner - From Ratchadaphisek Road
Reaching the north side of the park and you can continue on the walk track. Or choose to walk along the parking looking up the trees for Asian Koels and Plaintive Cuckoo. Look down the water between the parking and the walk / bike track. When it is low water level there are birds on the dry areas.  North side of the park
 NW corner of the walk track
 East side and Bangkok from the NW corner of the park
 Walk track going south on the west side
 Walking south in the tree area on the western side
On the west side of the park and you have two options, walk along the track or take the walk path through the tree areas. Benjakitti Park and Lumpini Park bird watching map
If you choose to walk straight through the tree area when you enter at the SW corner you first walk across some concrete monuments. There is also an exercise area and after maybe 200 meters you have the tree areas. I have seen Coppersmith Barbets and Asian Koels in this area. The Asian Koels can be heard all over the area but it is hard to see them hiding behind leaves in the trees.  Fountain inside the gate
 Some memorial (I think)
 It is not a forest, but there are some trees
 It is not a forest, but there are some trees
 It is not a forest, but there are some trees
North of the park is a creek and you follow the creek and you reach the walk bridge that will take you to Lumpini Park. 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.   Bangkok Metropolis bird checklist from Avibase, click HERE - eBird version 2018 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. My eBird check list from Benjakitti Park 10th of June, click HERE Trip Report
 Running in to a bird as soon as I come down to the walk track, no picture as the bird took off instantly. But I´m pretty sure it was a female Scarlet-backed Flowerpecker. Walking north on the east side and I spotted a Little Egret flying over the pond. I also spotted a few Striated Herons. Passing the boat / bike rental place and I could hear a bird in one of the trees. I discovered a Common Iora but my recording went to the garbage bin as there was too much traffic noise on the recording.  Little Heron flying over the pond
 Striated Heron flying over the pond
    Pied Myna/ Asian Pied Starling / นกอีแจว
 Pied Myna or Asian Pied Starling / นกอีแจว
 Pied Myna or Asian Pied Starling / นกอีแจว
 Pied Myna or Asian Pied Starling / นกอีแจว
 Juvenile Pied Myna or Asian Pied Starling / นกอีแจว
  Asian Openbill Stork / นกปากห่าง
 Asian Openbill Stork / นกปากห่าง
I spotted 4 Asian Open bills in the pond. I thought it was two Grey Herons but when I looked through my camera I saw that it was Asian Openbills. In the tree area there was Malaysian Fantails and Oriental Magpie-Robins and I managed to get a recording of a female Oriental Magpie-robin Olive backed-Sunbird, but no pictures. And no picture of the Scarlet-backed Flowerpecker. It seemed like every second bird was a Pied Myna or a Great Myna in the park. Listen to the Female Oriental Magpie-robin
Sound from www.xeno-canto.org
 I spent about 2 hours in the park before I walked back home. Walking up the stairs at the walk over on Sukhumvit and I lost all energy. I thought I was going to die and I was worried. But then I realised that I had only had a little oatmeal to eat this very morning. So I stopped at Little Italy on the way home. Next birding trip report is from Suan Rot Fai and can be found HERE.
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To www.aladdin.st since December 2005
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