 |
 |
 |
 |
 Introduction
Suan Rot Fai + Queen Sirikit Park is what I call Suan Rot Fai even if it is two parks. But you hardly notice when you pass the “border” between the two parks. Just cross a small walking bridge over the “Kingfisher Creek” A small moat or what to call it. So I call the two parks with one name, Suan Rot Fai. Suan Rot Fai is a world famous birding spot and whenever I have a few “spare” hours I go there to look for birds. 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
Taxi is a very convenient way. Suan Rot Fai can be a bit hard for some of the drivers to understand. So show this Thai Script: • Suan Rot Fai สวนรถไฟ • Wachirabenchathat Park สวนวชิรเบญจทัศ If you don´t like the comfort in the back of a taxi you can go by sky train or subway. Nearest Sky train station: Mo Chit – take exit 1, turn into Kamphaeng Phet 3 Road and walk through the Queen Sirikit Park. Or take a motorbike taxi. Nearest subway station: Chatuchak Park – take exit 1 and exit 2, turn into Kamphaeng Phet 3 Road and walk through the Queen Sirikit Park. Or take a motorbike taxi. 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
Suan Rot Fai
Wachirabenchathat Park (Thai: สวนวชิรเบญจทัศ) or State Railway Public Park (สวนรถไฟ, read suan rot fai) is a name of public park in Chatuchak district, Bangkok, Thailand. It was opened on 28 July 2002 and named by the Prince Maha Vajiralongkorn. The park borders on the Queen Sirikit Park and Chatuchak Park, and it is also the largest park of the complex, covering an area of 0.6 square kilometres. It is one of the most popular parks in Bangkok. Before the park was transformed into a public park, it was a golf course that belonged to the State Railway of Thailand. The park is commonly used for biking. It has a winding three-kilometre track for walking and biking around the park. At the start of bike track, there is a rental shop where visitors can rent bicycles for riding. Near the bike track, there is a lake where people can rent paddleboats to go around the lake. In the park, there is a beautiful butterfly garden and insectarium for visitor's relaxation and education. The other interesting point is a miniature town. The town consists of Bangkok's famous buildings and tourist attractions in scaled-down version. It was created for children to learn about traffic rules by riding a bicycle in this area. Moreover, the park also has a sports center that provides various types of courts where people play sports or exercise in many ways. For example, people can do fitness, do yoga, go swimming, play tennis, play futsal, and more. - From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Opening Hours: 04:30-21:00 every day Location: Kamphaeng Phet 3 Road, near Chatuchak Weekend Market Download thaibirding.com´s Checklist in Word Format HERE This checklist for Suan Rot Fai is by no means complete and is not to be mistaken for the official checklist maintained by the national recorders - it is only meant as a guide for visiting birdwatchers. More information about Suan Rot Fai can be found at thaibirding.com Bangkok City Birding - Dave Gandy's Bangkok City Birding blog is the best source of up-to-date information on bird sightings at Suan Rot Fai.  Going to Suan Rot Fai and I usually enters from the Kamphaeng Phet 3 Road ถนน กำแพงเพชร 3 Cross the bridge and walk by the place where they sell water and I turn right going up on the field going north sneaking behind the bushes to see of there is any Kingfishers in the pond.   No more bushes to hide behind (April 2019)
 No more bushes to hide behind (April 2019)
 No more bushes to hide behind (April 2019)
At my last birding the bushes had been cut down and removed so it is not possible to sneak up on the Kingfishers anymore Walking back and I usually enter the bike track following the moat/ canal/ pond between Suan Rot Fai and the Kamphaeng Phet 3 Road. But be careful, there are many bikers, especially on weekends and all of them are not very happy to have bird watchers on the track. When the bike tracks bends to the left there is an overgrown area where you can sneak in to look for Herons and Kingfishers etc. There is a small tongue or whatever they call it between the pond and the moat where you can walk. Keep an eye out for Water hens on the other side of the moat.  Walk pass the Butterfly House and you have soon reached the new bike bridge across my old Kingfisher Land. I have not seen any Kingfishers here since they built the bridge. Reaching the end of the bridge and you turn left for Queen Sirikit. I usually tune right to go look for owls. Then I come back and cross the bridge to Queen Sirikit Park.  Walking along the new bike bridge. At the end, turn left for Queen Sirikit Park and right to go look for owls
 Bridge over the moat to Queen Sirikit Park
 Turn right to go to the owl area
 The Audubon Bird Caller I was kind of impressed with my Guide's Audubon Bird Caller in New Zealand. And I saw a Bell bird coming after him when he was using the bird caller. I try my new Audubon Bird Caller in Singapore November 2017
I always have the Audubon Bird Call hanging around my neck and I, well, I always twist the darn thing, most likely some therapeutic reason, as using Worry beads. Walking over the open field towards the “owl area” BOOM! A Spotted Owlet landed next to me. I had to shot from the hip and the owlet took off again. My Guide in New Zealand had have the same experience. He told me that the Audubon Bird Call sounds like a bird baby or a injured bird and the owlet come to eat the bird.  As soon as I have crossed the bride to Queen Sirikit I turn right to walk down towards the Bird Wave Bridge across to Suan Rot Fai. There are many small birds, and if I´m 10 times in Suan Rot Fai I see something interesting 2 times. This is what´s exciting, you never know what´s going to show up here. I have seen Stork-billed Kingfisher. One guy I met had seen an Oriental dwarf Kingfisher, a gorgeous bird and I only seen it once, and that was on Bali. So you never know what´s going to show up.  From the Bird Wave, by the time I´m here it is starting to get very hot and the birds are seeking refuge in the shadows. So wither I follow the moat and go back to the entrance in the north or I go back across the Bird Wave to Queen Sirikit walking along the islands keeping my eyes out for birds. Plenty Coppersmith Barbets and in the nesting season you see their holes in the trees. Herons along the water. I have seen many colourful Minivets etc. I met one bird watcher that showed me a board walk through the bushes that I had never seen before. He told me that they had seen a Blue-winged Pita there and he had seen a Slaty-legged crake there a few times. So this board walk will be included in my bird watching from now on.  Entrance to the board walk
 Walking back to the Queen Sirikit Park
If I don´t walk back to Queen Sirikit Park from the Bird Wave I walk north towards the main entrance to the park. Looking out for Sunbirds and there are Indian Rollers sitting in the trees in the ponds in the north part of the park almost every time I walk by. But they are very scared, and they are not as beautiful as they are in India as this is a different subspecies. I walk “off road” going north along the trees and ponds, Kingfishers and Indian Rollers are seen here almost every time.  Walking north towards the Main Entrance from the Bird Wave
Suan Rot Fai bird watching map
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 Suan Rot Fai 14th of June, click HERE Trip Report
Taxi to Suan Rot Fai and I start in the SE corner today. My plan is to concentrate a little more in the south park of the park, also named Queen Sirikit Park. But I call it all Suan Rot Fai.  Today´s track
Coming out from the taxi and I already spotted the Eurasian Tree-sparrows and some Common Mynas, birds you can put on the list even before coming to the park. Walking along the south border of the park until the first “island” when I cross the water. Not many birds on the way to the bridge across the water. I manage to get a picture of a Zebra Dove. I see a small bird flying in to the flowers across the water and this area is the first I check out after having crossed the water. I discover a Plain Prinia.    Plain Prinia / นกกระจิบหญ้าสีเรียบ
 Plain Prinia / นกกระจิบหญ้าสีเรียบ
 Plain Prinia / นกกระจิบหญ้าสีเรียบ
 Plain Prinia / นกกระจิบหญ้าสีเรียบ
  I see some Malaysian Fantails and Indian Rollers walking in the scrub looking for crakes and Pittas. I get a picture of the Streak-eared Bulbul and the Spotted Dove so not so exciting. Walking over the islands towards the bird wave bridge and I see a bird I never seen before. Very close, but the camera (Yet again) fails to focus when the bird looking at me. I only get a picture when the bird have the back against me. I had to have help from www.birdforum.set to identify the bird. Thanks to Seth Miller at birdforum for identify the bird for me. See forum thread HERE  Female Plaintive Cuckoo
   I spot a couple of Scarlet-backed Flowerpeckers and Magpies on the way to the Stork-billed Kingfisher area. I stop to look for the Barred Owlet on the way but no luck. The Stork-billed Kingfisher nest was destroyed but I got to see the kingfisher so the bird is still in the area, very good. Hope they find a better nesting place for the next brood as I really wish for the bird to stay in the park. Would be really nice to have nesting Stork-billed on our park. I had a few pictures of the Spotted Owlets before leaving the park.   Spotted Owlet / นกเค้าจุด
 Spotted Owlet / นกเค้าจุด
 Spotted Owlet / นกเค้าจุด
Traffic at full stop on the way home and we were hardly moving on the toll way. We passed two Great Mynas sitting next to the highway and I took a picture but I never got the sound recording. Traffic was not moving on Sukhumvit so I got out of the taxi and I went to Marriot to have dinner. Next bird trip report will be from Bang Pu and you find it HERE.
 You are visitor no.
To www.aladdin.st since December 2005
Visitors from different countries since 26th of September 2011
|
Marunong ka mag-tagalog? Walang problema! Magpunta sa kabilang pahina pindutin ang “NEXT” button sa itaas
Faites vous parlez le français? Pas de problème! Pour arriver à la page suivante faites s'il vous plaît un déclic le bouton “Next” ci-dessus!
Haga usted dice el español? No hay problema! Ver la siguiente página sólo hacer clic el botón “Next” encima!
Farla parla l'italiano? Non problemi! Per vedere la prossima pagina lo scatto per favore giusto Il bottone “Next” sopra
Sprechen sie Deutsch! Kein problem! Wenn Sie die folgende Seite sehen wollen gerade klicken der Knopf “Next” oben!
คุณพูดภาษาไทยได้ไหม ไม่มีปัญหา ถ้าคุณต้องการไปหน้าถัดไป ให้กดปุ่ม “Next” ข้างบนนี้
Вы говорите по-русски? Просто нажмите синюю кнопку "Next" с левой стороны и Вы моментально переместитесь на следующую страницу!
E ni Svenskar och inte förstår Engelska så ska ni skämmas. J och Björn, med det menar jag inte att alla mina stavfel ska ältas varje gång vi träffas.
Well, the flag of Skåne, just a BONUS flag.
 |
||||
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
 |
||||