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20 April 2020
 Introduction
I should have been in USA and Canada for bird watching. But due to the Corona/ Wuhan virus have closed down all flight traffic and I am stuck in Bangkok. My ticket to Sweden in May was also cancelled so no bird watching in Sweden either. And I had really been looking forward to this holiday and the bird watching, but it turned in to a big nothing. Well, self-quarantine in my condo. Curfew from 26th of March as it looks now, information to be updated. So I might just have 2 days to look for birds here in Bangkok. And walking in the park looking at birds is really social distancing as recommended, otherwise I spend all days in my condo in my self-quarantine. I will get in to the car at my condo and I will stay in the car until I am back home. So I don't need to break my self-quarantine Moo Ban Pramong / Khok Kham is two small villages just West of Bangkok. Moo Ban Pramong / Khok Kham is a coastal area dominated by salt pans and seafood farms, which is of international importance for migratory shorebirds. It is part of the Khok Kham Flyway Site, recognised as a priority site on the East Asian-Australasian. Moo Ban Pramong is a village/ settlement located sea side so it is a popular place to come to buy seafood and there are a few seafood restaurants. There are also sea side restaurants down at the fishing harbour at the mouth of Khlong Trong. Khok Kham is located along the road going west/ east north of an area with Salt Pans. I was here for the first time when taking the whale watching boat from one of the piers in Moo Ban Pramong. The Guide told me that there was many birds in the area and I got interested in the area so I took a taxi to come here to look for birds, and after this first time I have been here a couple of times to look for bird. And I have never been disappointed. There are a few eBird hotspots in the area: • Khok Kham Salt Pans - Moo Ban Pramong • Phanthai Norasing Non-hunting Area--Matchanu Shrine • Phanthai Norasing Non-hunting Area--Khok Kham mudflats (DMCR Center II) • Khok Kham Salt Pans--Khong Long Road • Khok Kham Salt Pans--Khok Kham Bird Centre vicinity • Khok Kham Salt Pans (General Area) Today the plan is to explore the Khok Kham Salt Pans. To skip the information and to go straight to the TRIP REPORT click HERE 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
 About 42 km from the Sukhumvit / Asoke intersection in DOWN TOWN Bangkok
You will need a car and if you don't have your own a taxi is a very convenient way of travelling. Depending on the early morning traffic it will take 45 minutes to 1 hour + to reach the area. You rent the taxi for a full day and it will set you back with about 1500 - 2000 Baht. To make sure that the driver understand you can show the below Thai Script: • Moo Ban Pramong หมู่บ้าน ประมง Or show the driver a map. Click HERE for a map  Scan for map
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 Binocular Steiner Skyhawk 8x32 (Since May 2020) 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. The East Asian-Australasian Flyway Partnership - The East Asian-Australasian Flyway Partnership is a network of partners within the East Asian-Australasian Flyway (EAAF). The East Asian-Australasian Flyway Partnership (EAAFP) aims to protect migratory waterbirds, their habitat and the livelihoods of people dependent upon them. The Flyway is one of 9 major migratory routes recognised globally. Partners include National Governments, Inter-Governmental Organisations, International Non-governmental Organisations, and International Private Enterprise, which agree to endorse the text and support the objectives and actions under this Partnership. Thailand have three Flyway Network Sites - www.eaaflyway.net/thailand to find more information. • Pak Thale – Laem Phak Bia Flyway Site • Khok Kham Flyway Site • Krabi Estuary and Bay www.tideschart.com GET THE LATEST TIDES IN THAILAND AND AROUND THE WORLD - A must to check out times for HIGH and LOW water when going to look for waders / shorebirds. 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 I have been very happy with the “A Field Guide to the Birds of Thailand and South East Asia by Craig Robson” But I had a fire in my condo 2019 and I needed to buy a new book. I was looking for the “A Field Guide to the Birds of Thailand and South East Asia by Craig Robson” as I liked the book. But this book is not available anymore so I had to buy the “A Field Guide to the Birds of Thailand” by Craig Robson. What a disappointment this was, using the pictures in the book didn't helped to ID any birds. “Birds of Thailand” by Uthai Treesuconand Wich'yanan Limparungpatthanakij
I met Peter Ericson, a famous bird watcher and he recommended the “Birds of Thailand” by Uthai Treesuconand Wich'yanan Limparungpatthanakij. I bought the book as soon as the book stores opened after the Wuhan virus. And I am very happy with the book and I have managed to ID some birds using the book.  This new field guide will help you identify all 1049 species to have been recorded in the country to date, including the 20 species endemic or near-endemic to Thailand. -Taxonomy follows the HBW and BirdLife International Illustrated Checklist of the Birds of the World. -Detailed texts covering status, habitat and behaviour, age, sex and geographical variation, voice, and confusion species. -Almost 2200 illustrations covering all species and distinctive subspecies, birds in flight, males and females, juveniles and non-breeding plumages, where appropriate. -QR code for each species, linking to the Internet Bird Collection gallery of photos, videos and sounds. -More than 1025 full-colour range maps for all species other than vagrants. -Well-marked subspecies groups receive full accounts, and the distributions of subspecies breeding in the region are clearly mapped. -Local species name and local conservation status included. I like the book, but I miss the picture index. Places to visit
Moo Ban Pramong / Khok Kham
Moo Ban Pramong / Khok Kham is an area at the coast just west of Bangkok and the mouth of Chao Phraya River. I split the area by the canal and road #5036. South of this road you have a lot of seafood farms. Looks like they are farming clams. There are a couple of roads leading down to the sea front where you have mangroves and mudflats. There are also some board walks through the mangroves. Visit www.tideschart.com to check out times for low water before you go. You find seafood farms and Salt Pans north of the canal and road # 5036. The area is referred to as the Khok Kham Salt Pans. The area is changing and they are digging out Salt Pans so maybe some of them are going in to seafood farming. I don't know, but there are dirt roads between some of the pans so you can drive your car. You can also walk out between the Salt Pans. As per April 2020 there is parking at the bird center.  Moo Ban Pramong
Early morning and it is about 45 minutes from Down Town Bangkok to Moo Ban Pramong. Coming from Bangkok on road #4008 and you will drive through Moo Ban Pramong and the seafood places. Turn left when you reach road #5036 and cross the bridge. Drive south between the Canal and the Salt Pans and until you reach the bridge. Cross the bride. • Turn right and you come down to the mouth of Khlong Trong. You can walk along the water to look for birds between the piers and restaurants. • Turn left and follow road #5036 towards west. I usually sitt in the back and the driver follow the road very slow. I come very close to the birds with the car, as soon as I go out the birds take off. Driving towards west and I cover the south side of the road. Egrets, herons and shore birds on the mud flats. Going back east and I cover the north side of the road, mangroves and ponds and I can guarantee that you will see Kingfishers.  Over the last bridge - Fishing harbour to left and road #5036 to the right
 Coming down towards the fishing harbour
 Fishing harbour on the left hand side
 Restaurants along the river side
 Driving towards West on road #5036
 Driving towards West on road #5036
You can park your car on the road side just before road #5036 turns to the north. On your left hand side you have a dead mangrove area and mudflats at LOW WATER and you can walk long the mudflats. But the birds are very scared. Interesting birds can show up in the dead mangroves so it is worth making a stop here.  Reaching the west end of road #5036
 Reaching the west end of road #5036
 Dead mangrove and mudflats at the bend
 Dead mangrove
 Bridge 150 meter north of the road bend
 Crossing the bridge and you have ponds and pans on your right hand side
Moo Ban Pramong / Khok Kham is a great area for bird watching. You have different habitats, like Salt Pans, mangroves and mudflats etc. There is also a bridge across the canal and you can follow the gravel road looking for waders / shore birds and other birds in the mangroves. The gravel road ends with a U-turn at the west end. On the east end you will find a board walk along the canal passing the mangroves and at the end there is a flimsy built bamboo bridge to bring you back on land.  Dead end for the gravel road on the east end
 Board walk at the end of the gravel road
 Board walk
 Flimsy bamboo bridge at the end of the board walk
 Flimsy bamboo bridge at the end of the board walk
You are also very close to the ศูนย์ข้อมูลนกชายเลน Bird Center ชมรมอนุรักษ์ธรรมชาติโคกขาม. Follow road #5038 to the west and follow the road when it turns right to the north. Cross the bridge and drive north until the intersection at Khok Kham. Turn right and drive back towards east with the Salt Pans on your right hand side and you will soon reach the Khok Kham Bird Centre / Samut Sakhon Shorebird Conservation Learning Center There are several eBird hotspots in the Moo Ban Pramong area, have a look at these if you CLICK the names below: • Khok Kham Salt Pans - Moo Ban Pramong (This is the hot spot I use for the whole area expect for the hot spots below) • Phanthai Norasing Non-hunting Area--Matchanu Shrine • Phanthai Norasing Non-hunting Area--Khok Kham mudflats (DMCR Center II) - Mangrove Forest Research Center Samut Sakorn • Khok Kham Salt Pans--Khong Long Road • Khok Kham Salt Pans--Khok Kham Bird Centre vicinity • Khok Kham Salt Pans (General Area) Just a hot spot to use for the whole area Moo Ban Pramong / Khok Kham bird watching map
 eBird “Hotspots” in the area
Phanthai Norasing Non-hunting Area--Matchanu Shrine
Driving along road #5035 and the first T junction takes you to the Matchanu Shrine down at the shore of Gulf Of Thailand. Just follow the Ban Rang Koh Kam Road, just a little more than 1 km and you reach a parking area. There is a board walk (Closed when I was there during the Wuhan Virus outbreak) There are different restaurants and it is a tourist spot. You can reach mangroves through the gate to the Matchanu Shrine and you can walk along mangroves and seafood farms.  Reaching the T junction on road #5036
 Ban Rang Koh Kam Road to the Matchanu Shrine
 Ban Rang Koh Kam Road to the Matchanu Shrine
 Restaurants around the parking
April 2020 and everything is closed due to the Wuhan Virus
 The gate to Matchanu Shrine is closed
April 2020 and everything is closed due to the Wuhan Virus
 Looking out over Gulf of Thailand
 We were the only visitors
• Phanthai Norasing Non-hunting Area--Khok Kham mudflats (DMCR Center II)
Mangrove Forest Research Center Samut Sakorn Reaching the third (and last) T junction on road #5036 you leave the road and drive the 1.2 km down to the Mangrove Forest Research Center Samut Sakorn. Drive slowly! Many interesting birds along the road going down to the Mangrove Forest Research Center Samut Sakorn There are ponds on the left and tree on the right hand side. Reaching the Mangrove Forest Research Center Samut Sakorn and there is a big parking lot. BRING MOSQUITO REPELLENT!!!  Leaving road # 5036 to go down to the coast
 Road to the Mangrove Forest Research Center Samut Sakorn
 Road to the Mangrove Forest Research Center Samut Sakorn
 Reaching the Mangrove Forest Research Center Samut Sakorn
 There is a big parking area
Through the entrance and there is some kind of dolphin display. There is two concrete board walks. One taking you to East and the other one taking you to West. This is a place to visit during low water or when the tide pushing in the waders. The sun is showing no mercy so bring something to cover your head with. There are a lookout tower in the mangrove and after having walked through the mangrove you come out in the open. But there is a couple of big gazebos with benches to take cover in.  Entrance
 Dolphine display on the right hand side
 Walk in to the mangrove
 Coming out from the mangrove
 Planting new mangrove
 Shadow in the gaxebo. And you can sit down to take a rest
 Board walk out to Gulf of Thailand
• Khok Kham Salt Pans--Khong Long Road
Road # 5036 bends towards north when you are coming from Moo Ban Pramong and if you follow the road you will cross a bridge over the canal after 100 - 150 meters. The area after the bridge is the Khok Kham Salt Pans. But the Salt Pans is really not until you have reached the intersection and turned right at Khok Kham. I have only seen WHAT I THINK IS seafood farms for clams etc. There are usually a lot of waders and egrets/ herons along the ponds along the road up to Khok Kham. In the breeding season it is interesting to see all the Egrets / Herons in their breeding plumages or soon to be breeding plumages. They can stand together, hundreds of them and it is easy to get all the different species together on one picture. APRIL 2020: I have not seen many birds in the Eastern Area around the road for a long time now. There are always some construction going on, excavators digging out the ponds to make them deeper etc. But if you look around you should be able to find dust roads taking you out between the ponds and Salt Pans. Do this from the road stretching west / east north of the area. Otherwise there is always walk paths to walk on. You can enter the salt pan / seafood area from North, from the gravel road in the south and from the Khong Long Road. Just drive slowly and you see dirt roads between the pans and ponds. No problem to drive, but I would not suggest to get out there when it is raining as the tracks might turn in to “JAM”.  Getting out in to the pans / ponds area from the south
 I don't recommend to get out there if it is raining
 I don't recommend to get out there if it is raining
 Sometimes you have to get out of the car
Between many of the ponds and pans there are only a walking path or barriers. Of course, the birds takes off long before you come close. So the best thing is to stay in the car and find a place where there is drivable tracks next to the birds. And of course, there are many other birds in the bushes between the ponds / pans. The water starts to go down a couple of hours before the time for LOW WATER so some areas start to dry off.  There are many places where you can come close to the birds
 There are many places where you can come close to the birds
 You find some mudflats even if you're here before LOW WATER
 You find some mudflats even if you're here before LOW WATER
  • Khok Kham Salt Pans--Khok Kham Bird Centre vicinity
 The ศูนย์ข้อมูลนกชายเลน Bird Center ชมรมอนุรักษ์ธรรมชาติโคกขาม or the Khok Kham Bird Centre / Samut Sakhon Shorebird Conservation Learning Center is located on left hand side of the road if you come from Bangkok. There is a parking place and a map on how to find the way in the Salt Pans.  On the left hand side
 Parking space
 Parking space
 Map
   Parking space
 Salt pans
 Salt pans
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.   Samut Sakhon bird checklist from Avibase, click HERE - eBird version 2019 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. Trip Report
 Today´s track at Khok Kham Salt Pans - Khong Long Road
20th of April 2020 and we left my Condo at 6 o'clock in the morning and I started my eBird app at 05:51 when we approached the bridge going over the canal to get us to the gravel road just north of the canal. I will check out the area to see the water level. We spotted a female Asian Koel sitting on a wire from the bridge. The pictures was not any good. Checking out the water and the water was getting out and the mudflats started to form on the sides. We had turned left coming down from the bridge and we left the gravel road at the first dirt track going north out in the pond / salt pan area. We never reached the Salt Pans as the track came to an end in the middle of the area. There was a lot of small birds in the vegetation and I managed to ID 2 of the birds. It was not easy, but with the help of Peter Ericsson's web page I managed to ID the bird, and I am 99% sure I am right.   Zitting Cisticola / นกยอดข้าวหางแพนลาย
  Streak-eared Bulbul / นกปรอดสวน
We had to turn around and we were almost back at the gravel road when my friend discovered 3 Streak-eared Bulbuls eating fruit in a trees. We were discovering a Brown Shrike sitting in one of the trees and we parked the car trying to get some pictures. I didn't dare to get out as I was afraid to scare the Shrike. Our new friend, the Brown Shrike was soon joined by a friend and they were soon disappearing. I also managed to make a recording of a male Olive-backed Sunbird.  Brown shrike / นกอีเสือสีน้ำตาล
 Brown shrike / นกอีเสือสีน้ำตาล
 Brown shrike / นกอีเสือสีน้ำตาล
Listen to the Olive-backed Sunbird
Sound from www.xeno-canto.org
 Olive-backed Sunbird / นกกินปลีอกเหลือง singing for us
 Olive-backed Sunbird / นกกินปลีอกเหลือง singing for us
 I checked the time for low water at www.tideschart.com and the Low water is at 11 o'clock and the water is going out full rate now. We continued towards west on the gravel road and the water was a little bit lower now leaving some mudflats along the gravel road. And we could see the wet mud on the sides when the water level was sinking. I spotted one Pacific Golden Plover on the mud flats. There was also a pond heron that I could not ID as it wasn't in breeding plumage. But we can see that the pond heron is standing at a spot that had been covered in water not long ago. So the water is well on the way out and I was excited to get out in to the Salt Pans / ponds.   Not in any breeding plumage so I can not ID the Pond Heron
  Pied Myna / นกอีแจว
We drive 100 meters or so towards west on the gravel road before we reached the next dirt track going out in to the Salt Pans / ponds. We spot a Pied Myna in the first tree coming out in the Salt Pans / ponds. We continue north and I can see a small patch of mud behind the barrier between the pond and the dirt track. The barrier is quite high so I could not see the pond but there was a bit of the barrier that was lower and I could see the birds. There are also many small birds pottering around in the low vegetation.  Whiskered Terns
    Not only waders, birds hiding in the bushes
This track lead us straight up to the road north of the Salt Pans/ ponds and we turned left when we reached the paved road. We drove 100 meters or so and we turned left to leave the paved road again. We ended up on a track lasting for 200 meters. The area was surrounded by bushes and small trees. The ground was covered by long dry grass and scrubs. We spotted a few Plain Prinias and some other birds that I could not ID. There was also a Red-wattled Lapwing / นกกระแตแต้แว้ด, maybe looking for a place to build a nest. I reported the bird in my eBird app but it came back with “BIRD NEVER REPORTED BEFORE” Was it a Red-wattled Lapwing I had seen?  Stop to look for birds
 We leave the area continuing towards west and we will leave the road when we reach road #5036 where we will turn left and drive down to the bend. Passing the Salt Pans/ ponds and we will keep our eyes out for birds. We spot a Painted Stork in one of the pans and a little further down the road we spot two waders. We turn left leaving the paved road behind. We manage to get close to the waders and it turns out to be one Pacific Golden Plover and one Common Redshank. First time for me to see a Pacific Golden Plover in Thailand and this is my second today. I see one before on Tonga but never in Thailand so I was quite excited.  Painted Stork - Picture not good enough to make it to my list of observed birds
  We continue in to the salt pan/ pond area and we are soon back at the gravel road south of the area. We are soon out in the salt pan/ pond area and I spot a mudflat with birds. But we cannot reach the area so I had to get out to walk on the barrier between the ponds. Of course, I had not come long before the birds disappeared. So I never came close for any good pictures, but there was a couple of small Lesser Sand Plovers that never escaped. They didn't bother and they stayed to look for food.  Birds looking for food
 Birds looking for food
The dirt track came to an end and we returned to the gravel road south of the area. We will get back out on the pave road across the bridge. We will check out the “bend” area where road #5036 turns to the north. Driving slowly on the gravel road keeping an eye out for birds. We spot a Spotted Dove just before we enter the bridge across the canal. Crossing the bridge and we turned right reaching the paved road. Next stop at the dead mangrove area and mudflats at the “bend”   Spotted Dove / นกเขาใหญ่, นกเขาหลวง
 Egret meeting
 Male in breeding plumage
 Juvenile or winter plumage?
When we stopped just before the “bend” we could see a huge group of different egrets standing between the mudflats and the dead mangrove area. And of course, they took off as soon as I got out of the car. There were plenty Lesser Sand Plovers and one Common Sandpiper on the mudflat, but again, they took off when I approached. But same as the previous mudflat, some of the Lesser Sand Plovers stayed behind to look for food. We walked back to the car when the undercarriage on my right shoe felt off. My friend asked where I had my “SAFARI” shoes. We drove north turning right towards the bird center where I will turn off my eBird app. I will turn on the eBird app when we are east of the bird center changing from Khok Kham Salt Pans--Khong Long Road eBird hotspot: to the Khok Kham Salt Pans (General Area) Later n if I decide to do some birding at the bird center I will to the Khok Kham Salt Pans--Khok Kham Bird Centre vicinity hotspot. I asked my friend to leave the paved road before we reached the bird centre. I wanted to check the area with the Red-wattled Lapwing to try to confirm ID and to get a picture. I was lucky and I managed to see the Red-wattled Lapwing and I also got a picture that I can upload to eBird.   Red-wattled Lapwing / นกกระแตแต้แว้ด
 Red-wattled Lapwing / นกกระแตแต้แว้ด
Khok Kham Salt Pans (General Area)
We drove past the bird center and I stopped my bird tracking in eBird and I started a new checklist but now I changed it to Khok Kham Salt Pans (General Area) and we left the paved road about 2 km from the bird center. We turned right driving south through Salt Pans and ponds keeping our eyes out for birds.  Today´s track at Khok Kham Salt Pans (General Area)
 Today´s track at Khok Kham Salt Pans (General Area)
We drove south and we reached the canal in the south without having seen much of any excitements. Cormorants and Egrets, and not many of them. We saw a few Lesser Sand Plovers looking for food. We spotted a few Black-winged Stilts when we were on the way back to the paved road. Turning left at the paved road and we were soon turning south again. Entering a derelict industrial estate and we drove south until we reached the canal and we drove back north until we reached the paved road again.   Black-winged Stilt / นกตีนเทียน
Driving towards the bird center and we turned in to the Salt Pans before we reached the bird center. We drove down between the Salt Pans and after hundred meters or so the ponds started. I spotted two Little Terns sitting on one of the barriers, a little too far away for any good pictures. We passed close to a group of Curlew Sandpipers feeding in one of the ponds. They were pretty close but I never managed to get any good pictures. I don't know, some birds are impossible to get in good focus and I think it might be because of the plumage pattern. And of course, to take pictures of something on a water surface is very hard.  Little Tern / นกนางนวลแกลบเล็ก
 
The bird I saw had a BLUE flag over YELLOW. And from the Shorebird Color Flagging Protocol on the East Asian-Australasian Flyway. Click HERE for the Shorebird Color Flagging Protocol. We can see that a BLUE flag over a YELLOW flag on the right leg means that the bird is ringed in Bohai Bay in China  Curlew Sandpiper / นกชายเลนปากโค้ง
We can now see that the water is getting very low and there were several mudflats with many birds. There must have been hundreds of the Lesser Sand Plovers. There were some Egrets and 7 Painted storks walking around.  Painted Storks on the mudflats
  Painted Storks on the mudflats
 Caspian Terns on the mudflats
 Caspian Terns, Brown-headed Gull, Painted Stork and Great Egret on the mudflats
   Caspian Tern / นกนางนวลแกลบแคสเปียน
 Brown-headed Gull and Caspian Tern
 Observe the white eye, otherwise the bird look like a Black-headed Gull
I was very happy with the birding today. We skipped the bird centre and we drove back to Bangkok. We stopped at Moo Ban Pramong and my friend bought some seafood that he will cook when we are back in Bangkok. We ate the mussels while discussing the next place to go birding.  Sea food
 Sea food
 Sea food
I searched on eBird for birding hotspots and it looks like we will go to the mouth of Bang Pakong River east of Bangkok. There are a few eBird hotspots that I would like to check out. And while going east to look for birds I could as well go a little further east on the Bangkok - Chonburi Motorway (Route #7) to visit Bang Pra Non-hunting Area. I have been there once before and I am looking forward to the visit. Click HERE to find out if I see any birds. 
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