The trip was a South to North exploration of mainly the dry and wet forests in search of Vietnamese and Indochinese endemics. (Indochina being used for the wider Cambodia/Laos area). Vietnam is a long thin country and houses a population of 90m and certainly our experience of the locals was excellent as generally helpful and friendly, although the expected officialdom sometimes materialised often in the more communist North. The most northerly point at the end of the tour was some 5 hours drive north of Hanoi at Ba Be national park - which was probably c100km from the border with China. We did the majority of travel in a decent minibus but supplemented by 2 internal flight days.
The temperature in Saigon and the South reached the high to mid 30's in the afternoon and it was a dry heat. As we moved North not only did the temperature drop but we had a real mixture of rain, fog and some chilly weather.
Some observations about Vietnam .
Traffic isn't yet a problem, but the plethora of moped owners will surely at some point in the future upgrade to a car and then it will be an issue. Due to 'the biggest wins' type road rules you consistently average around 40km's an hour - just beware psychotic bus drivers and as a tourist I'd be pretty reluctant to rent a moped for a real fear of being liberally squashed.
There is a real cultural shift as you head into the north and cross the old 19th parallel which was the North/south divide , it's also fairly 'grim up North' - The communist love for concrete starts shining through and building projects start to take over the landscape. It has real parallels with China.
Like other parts of South East Asia, the natural rainforest resources do not appear to have a cherished status of preservation despite some places obtaining the National Park label. Deforestation, burning and clearing for plantations was commonplace. In addition trapping is widespread - Visually, caged birds by the roadside were in every town - a little sad but that's the way it was .
This didn't detract from a great trip - so here are the daily highlights.
Sunday 9th March - Journey to Cat Tien
After a quick lunch we headed out to Cat Tien National Park about 3 hours north of Saigon. The park was accessed by a small boat across the river where the accommodation was also situated. We managed see both Yellow-vented and Thick billed Flowerpeckers, Streak-eared Bulbul and Chestnut headed Bee-eater whilst waiting for the Ferryboat.
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| The River crossing to Cat Tien |
We arrived quite late, but had time for a short walk at dusk just around and beyond the accommodation. a Linneated Barbet was seen along with a small party of White-crested Laughingthrushes. A Green-Eared Barbet appeared to be nest tending and a pair of Laced Woodpecker were seen before the light faded. Then Great-Eared Nightjars started their eerie calls and displays over the forest and we saw a Brown Boobook near our accommodation.
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| Very comfortable accommodation at Cat Tien NP |
Monday 10th March - Cat Tien
We had breakfast early and set off along the trails in the dark. It was a good time to get used to the dark crevices of deep forest birding as much of the tour involved forest skulkers. Our first encounter was with a calling pair of Scaly Breasted Partridge and these forest Partidges don't like to be seen at all, so after some duelling the pair put in a fairly close appearance which was very satisfactory as our first bird of the morning. A further half-an-hour along the trails and we stumbled on an incredible encounter when we saw at close range both Bar-bellied Pitta and Blue-Rumped Pitta feeding in the leaf litter. Pitta's are one of the most enigmatic of any species in the world and despite their size being at least that of the largest thrushes and the colours at close range can very extremely vivid they are notoriously some of the most difficult birds to get views of, anywhere. After taking in the Pitta spectacle, we continued along the trail adding Green-billed Malkoha, Tickell's Blue Flycacher, Black-headed Oriole and Stripe throated Bulbul and then came out of the forest to the slightly wider jeep tracks and continued to pick up species with Grey-Eyed Bulbul, Pale -legged leaf warbler and the first of the very common Yellow-browed Warblers a Red Junglefowl and then by luck another key target speices with a small group of the luminescent' beaked Red and Black Broadbill.
We then picked up a truck late morning and headed further into the reserve, we stopped underneath a thick Bamboo plot as Kwon had said that the localised endemic Orange-Necked Partridge had been in the area. After a while we heard a response and I managed to see 2 birds sneaking through the undergrowth, but I was the only one who had seen them. we decided to return to the spot the following morning.
The remainder of the drive turned out to be quite successful with Grey-faced Babbler, Lesser Coucal, Chestnut-capped Babbler, a daylight Asian Barred Owlet, Lesser Adjutant. A fruiting Bombax tree held Golden Crested Myna, Hill Myna, Vinous-breasted Starling and Hair Crested Drongo and by the end of the day we had also seen Swinhoes Minivet, Scaly-crowned Babbler , Little Spiderhunter , White browed Pivulet and Great Iora. A very successful first full day.
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| Bar-bellied Pitta |
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| Blue-rumped Pitta |
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| Black and Red BroadBills |
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| Black and Red Broadbill |
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| Asian Barred Owlet |
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| Asian Barred Owlet |
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| Little Spiderhunter |
Tuesday 11 March - Cat Tien
We started today with the promise of truck availability first thing, so after an early breakfast we had our vehicles a Red-throated Flycatcher was in the scrub outside our rooms and not long into the jeep drive we encountered a fruiting tree where Orange-breasted Green Pigeon, Thick-billed Green Pigeon and Ashy-headed Green Pigeon were all present. We saw 2 different pairs of Siamese Firebacks as we drove along the road with the stunning males soon evaporating into the undergrowth. Then we heard a call from the undergrowth of a Germain's Peacock Pheasant (on of the Cat Tien specialities), a Lesser Yellownape flew into view as we positioned ourselves to try and see this elusive pheasant and as luck would have the male bird gave great views as it walked across the Jeep track in front of us. We then had more luck with the pheasants as 3 Green Peafowl shot across then track and in to the forest, they are usually sighted in the more open areas, which we would be targeting later.
We continued to some deeper forest and a small group of 4 Black and Buff Woodpeckers were very active, whilst we were watching a slight surprise as initially what we thought would be 6 falcons turned out to be migrating Oriental Pratincoles which flew over the forest.
We walked up part of the Jeep track before heading into the forest towards what used to be a wetland area that is now completely overgrown with the invasive Mimosa. We saw an Orange-breasted Trogon, Greater Flameback, Blue-eared barbet, Two barred Greenish Warbler, Banded Bay Cuckoo, Banded Broadbills and a skulking female Siberian Blue Robin . In the forest we had good views of a Banded Kingfisher and Stork Billed Kingfisher. Crested Honey Buzzards were seen over the forest.
In the mid-afternoon heat Janos and I managed some more fleeting views of the Bar-bellied and Blue-Rumped Pitta and our afternoon drive was fairly uneventful although we did have more Green Peafowl.
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| Getting a clear picture of the Siamese Firebacks was near impossible & the males had scooted first - so these 2 bits of females were the best I could manage |
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| Siamese Fireback |
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| Germains Peacock Pheasant |
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| Black and Buff Woodpecker |
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| Banded Kingfisher |
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| Banded Broadbill |
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| Tickell's Blue Flycatcher (female) |
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| Blue-rumped Pitta |
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| Laggerstomia tree |
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| Cat Tien |
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| Distant view at dusk of a Green Peafowl |
Wednesday 12th March - Cat Tien
Pre-breakfast, we did some Owling around the accommodation, hearing Asian Barred Owlet, Brown Boobook and Spot-bellied Eagle Owl, although the only Owl to show was a Collared Scops Owl that gave particularly close views.
We headed off after breakfast to the site for the Orange-necked Partidge, where we found a spot to sit in the Bamboo undergrowth and patiently waited until eventually a bird was seen well by Janos, Kwon and I. Before heading off to the Heaven's Rapids area, we saw a Heart-spotted Woodpecker, Yellow-bellied Warbler and Common Flameback along the roadside.
Our target birds in this lager stroemia forest were Dusky Broadbills, but we had to make do with a a pair of Great Slaty Woodpeckers another Orange Breasted Trogon, Blue bearded Bee-eater, Buff- throated Babbler and Abbotts Babbler.
After a break in the heat of the day at lunchtime we set off late afternoon to just outside the park boundary into an area of arable lands seeing a Hodgsons Hawk Cuckoo in a plantation on the way. We wandered across a series of recently ploughed fields that were in the process of being heavily trenched for commercial growing of Dragon fruit. There was a small group of the rather attractive Plain-backed Sparrows, as well as our target Indochinese Bushlark. A dozen Oriental Pratincoles took flight from the fields.
We returned at dusk seeing more Great-Eared Nightjars, whereby whistling an imitation of their eerie call they came for a closer inspection.
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| Collared Scops Owl |
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| Heart-spotted Woodpecker |
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| Orange-breasted Trogon |
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| Shikra |
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| Looking for Bushlarks |
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| The eerie silhouette of a Great-eared Nightjar |
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| Bar-bellied Pitta |
We had a couple of hours in the morning before we needed to leave Cat Tien so we decided to target two birds, firstly to try again for the Orange-necked Partridge for those in the group that had missed it and then to try and find the Dusky Broadbills as this was our only chance on the trip for the.
Our Partidge routine of squatting in the Bamboo, which worked yesterday, yielded nothing this morning, so we headed back to the Heavens Rapids area and the Lager Stroemia forest and before too long we had success with a group of 4 Dusky Broadbills we also saw a Hainan Blue Flycatcher and the Vietnamese endemic Red-Vented Barbet.
We hopped on the ferry which took us across to our waiting minibus and then journeyed towards Di Linh, where after a lunch stop we headed up to the pass , which would be the birding area for the next couple of days with the main target here being the near endemic, but skulking, Orange-breasted Laughingthrush.
We walked the first trail into forest at the top off the pass and picked up Lesser Racket-tailed Drongo, Blue winged Minla (orientale race), Speckeld Piculet and Mugimaki Flycatcher. A calling Bar-backed Partridge remained elusive.
We then walked along the roadside and headed slowly down the pass and slowly added to the species starting with a small flock of White-cheeked Laughing Thrushes then Black-chinned Yuhina, White-tailed Leaf Warbler, Mountain Hawk Eagle, the localised Grey-crowned Tit, Indochinese Barbet, and Long-tailed Broadbill but no sniff of any Orange-breasted Laughing Thrushes.
We stayed until dusk to try and find a Hodgson's Frogmouth and we had a calling bird by the roadside that promptly disappeared into the forest, and then further down the road a second bird, initially very active but our views were limited to no more than a bullet-shape flying across the road a couple of times before again it went quiet.
We drove into the town of Di Linh, had some dinner and then went to our accommodation for 2 nights - there's not much on offer in Di Linh so we were quite pleased we weren't needing to spend too long in our rooms.
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Mopeds we used to transport anything - the locals had a thing for Bonsai, so were always digging up treestumps. |
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| typical roadside rice paddy. |
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| Dusky Broadbill |
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| Grey-crowned Tit |
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| Mugimaki Flycatcher |
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| Tickell's Blue flycatcher (male) |
Friday 14th March - Di Linh Day 2
Today was our only full-day on the pass so we were out early with a field breakfast, to give the best chance of catching up with the Orange-breasted Laughing Thrush. We started at the top of the pass and spent the morning descending the roadside to the bottom of the valley where there is a small roadside rest-stop. It was fairly slow, we were checking all the potential Laughing Thrush gullies without a sniff, we added White-browed Scimitar babbler, Mountain Imperial Pigeon, White -bellied Erponis, Pin-striped tit-babbler, more White-cheeked Laughing Thrushes and Long-tailed Broadbill, but the best find was the endemic Black-crowned Parrotbill.
We tried a different forest trail at the top of the pass , where we found Velvet fronted Nuthatch, Blue-throated Flycatcher, Yellow-vented Green Pigeon and Blyths Leaf Warbler, and another trail behind the lunch stop and up the hill in the forest where we had a small bird party with Maroon Oriole, Orange-billed Scimitar Babbler, Red-headed Trogon, Silver-breasted Broadbill and Black-headed Sibia.... but still not a sniff of the target Laughing Thrush.
We decided to wait until dusk to give the Frogmouth another chance, and just before dusk we heard the rather mocking song of the Orange-breasted Laughing Thrush, it was just off the roadside in deep cover and we saw no more than a movement before it obviously went to roost. Our plan was hatched that the next morning we would be returning to the same spot. We had no luck with the Frogmouth but had exceptionally close views of a Mountain Scops Owl, which seemed just reward for otherwise a tough day.
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| Roadside Café |
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| White-cheeked Laughingthrush |
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| Ashy Drongo |
Saturday 15th March - Di Linh to Dalat
We had a final few hours on the pass at near Di Linh before needing to head towards Dalat. We arrived in the dark and headed into the bushes to position ourselves in the undergrowth to try for the Laughingthrush we had heard last night, we heard it call but it wasn't moving from it's spot deep in cover so after a good 45 minutes we gave up and moved on, positioning ourselves about half way up the pass to do a final walk down. A Besra flew over and we saw Mountain Fulvetta, Plain-tailed Warbler and a Mrs Gould's Sunbird. Then a leaf-scratching sound at the roadside drew our attention and there were 2 Orange-breasted Laughingthrushes which spent a few minutes in the undergrowth on both sides of the road before disappearing without out sound. We were elated, as this would have been a difficult bird to find elsewhere and we'd pretty much given up hope.
A final stop at the top of the pass and again we were lucky with a decent view of the Bar-Backed Partidge. So Di Linh had it's challenges but with the time we put in was ultimately successful and we headed off towards Dalat.
We arrived at lunchtime and were told our lunch place had a veranda where we could watch birds. I was a little surprised when the place appeared to be some sort of theme park with a car park full of tourist coaches and a toboggan run down to waterfall, nonetheless, we were not disappointed as the lunch was decent and tables did have vista and it was quite birdy, although you couldn't really hear the birds because there was a very loud tannoy system in Vietnamese that also played continuous music across the hillside. Just from our tables we saw Mrs Goulds Sunbird, Black-throated Sunbird, Streaked Spiderhunter, Chestnut-vented Nuthatch, Taiga Flycatcher, White-throated Rock Thrush, Grey Bushchat, Hill Prinia, and Fire-breasted Flowerpecker. We took a route back to the vehicle via the pine-covered hillside and firstly saw a Burmese Shrike , then we had a scope view of a key target endemic bird the Vietnamese Cutia.
After our extended lunch stop we drove to the other side of Dalat to a small valley and just before dusk we saw a Large Niltava and a Grey-backed Forktail. We drove back to the rather attractive town of Dalat and checked into our hotel , which was very pleasant.
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| View across the pass at Di Linh |
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| Giant Squirrel |
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| Verditer Flycatcher |
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| White-throated Rock Thrush (fem) |
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| Streaked Spiderhunter |
After an early breakfast we headed straight to the Tanging valley where we'd finished the day yesterday and the early morning arrival paid dividends as we soon connected with the main target of Grey-crowned Crocia along with their cousins Red-backed Sibias and Black-headed Sibias. We saw more Black-crowned Parrotbills, Grey-backed Forktail, Hill Prinia, Mountain Imperial Pigeon and White-cheeked Laughingthrushes. A Dalat Shrike Babbler was scoped, but the forest trail was very quite and an Indochinese Green Magpie just gave us the run around without showing itself.
We returned to the same lunchtime 'theme park' although the bird activity from the veranda seemed to have quietened since yesterday, but in the pine forest we had good views of 4 Vietnamese Cutias and then a Slender-billed Oriole.
We then went to a Buddhist temple, with very attractive gardens and as promised by Kwon we saw 4 Vietnamese Greenfinches as well as Eurasian Jay (which are very different both visually and vocally than the UK version). Our final site for the day was to walk around part of the pine forested lake looking for the localised race of Red Crossbill, but without any luck, just adding a Grey-capped Pygmy Woodpecker, Osprey and several more Burmese Shrikes.
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| our comfortable Dalat hotel - looking a bit grand |
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| Hill Prinia |
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| White-tailed Leaf wrbler |
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| Indochinese Barbet |
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| Black-crowned Parrotbill |
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| Vietnamese Cutia |
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| Vietnamese Greenfinch |
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| Eurasian Jay |
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| The frequently visited Tanging valley near Dalat |
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| Burmese Shrike |
The majority of today was spent on Mount Lang Biang. The peak itself is around 2,300m and we probably went as high as 2,000m but spent most of our time within the forested 'saddle' below the peak. The key target bird here was the Collared Laughingthrush (another skulker!) along with a few local specialities. An early start was demanded and we were transferred to meet our Jeep which took us to the start of the trails just as it was getting light.
A Grey-faced Buzzard was the first bird to appear followed by a White's Thrush. We walked through an area of Pine forest before the vegetation changed to deciduous and just as we were exiting the pine belt we saw our first male Red Crossbill (local race here known as the Vietnamese Crossbill). An Orange-throated Barbet called close by and we eventually found this bird.
Within an hour of starting through the forest a pair of Collared Laughingthrushes crossed the trail in front of us with pretty good views as they slowly moved through the undergrowth.
Later stopped briefly at a clearing with some fruiting trees where a Snowy-browed Flycatcher and a male White-tailed Robin gave several appearances. A Grey-bellied Tesia managed to show itself after previous attempts the to see these difficult bird had failed, then a Siberian Thrush was found in fruiting trees. Surprisingly, a pair of Collared Laughingthrushes appeared fleetingly in the fruiting tree, giving great views (although not for the camera !).
We continued on the trails and found a bird party which held the endemic Black-crowned Fulvetta, Ashy-throated Warbler, White-Spectacled Warbler, Chestnut Crowned Warbler, the endemic Yellow-billed Nuthatch and another difficult-to-see bird, a Green Cochoa.
The afternoon on the trails was understandably quieter although we added a Clicking Shrike-Babbler as well as seeing more Collared Laughingthrush and another Siberian Thrush along with Mountain Bulbuls. Grey-crowned Tit, Blyths Leaf Warbler and White-tailed Warbler. As we re-entered the pine belt on the way down we saw Chestnut-vented Nuthatch, Green-backed Tit and more Crossbills the just before we got in the jeep a Radde'sWarbler was calling from deep within a shrub but showed itself briefly.
A Black Eagle was seen as we reached the lower car park, then we drove back through Dalat to the Tanging valley, we had visited on the previous 2 days. On the first evening we heard a Spot Bellied Eagle Owl call, and then 2 of the party had glimpsed a large 'Buzzard-like' bird just before dusk on the previous day - which was probably the Owl. We headed to the stream area and walked up through the stream bed and the Spot-bellied Eagle Owl flew across in front of us and disappeared into the trees. It did this twice more before we left it to hunt in peace as the light disappeared, so a very good end to a great day.
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| View to Mount Lan Bian peak at first light. |
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| Peter scanning for Raptors (or anything) |
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| Our Jeep transport |
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| Snowy-browed Flycatcher |
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| It was difficult getting these birds in the frame at all - a Collared Laughingthrush |
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| The view to Dalat from Mount Lang Biang |
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| The 'Spot-bellied eagle Owl' valley held these butterfly swarms on the stream. |
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| Chestnut-vented Nuthatch |
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| Orange-throated Barbet |
The morning today was taken up by travel as we had to fly to Pleiku via Saigon, so 2 internal flights.
The flights were fine and we drove in another minibus to our accommodation in Mang Den, then went out for the last part of the afternoon roadside birding. Mang Den is part of the Central Highlands, and it was clear that the forests here are under considerable pressure of clearance - burning, clearing then re-planting as smallholdings or larger agricultural plantations.
With a new area, we quickly added new birds with our roadside birding with Rufous-winged Buzzard, Drongo Cuckoo, Large Cuckooshrike, Ratchet-tailed Treepie, Indian Cuckoo, Plaintive Cuckoo, White-shouldered Starling and Stripe-breasted Woodpecker.
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| Our accommodation at Mang Den |
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| Drongo Cuckoo |
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| This area used to be forest ! |
Wednesday 19th March - Mang Den
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We started the morning roadside birding at the forest edge (where there was still some left ) - One of the main reasons to visit the area was the endemic Chestnut-eared Laughingthrush (another skulker !) with this again being our main target for the day.
Our first small bird party held the local race of Sultan Tit, Yellow-cheeked Tit, Yellow-billed Nuthatch and Grey-chinned Minivet. Another Ratchet-tailed Treepie was encountered but we failed to see some calling Black-hooded Laughing Thrushes. Howevere a lucky surprise was an Indochinese Green Magpie, which gave good views as it flew across the road in front of us. A Greater Yellownape gave us the run around for a while before cooperating.
We headed into the forest trails where the first potential site yielded neither the Laughing Thrush nor the Indochinese Wren-Babbler, which was another key species we would look for here. We did however find a small party of the vocal Black-hooded Laughingthrushes. Not before long, following some rustling in the undergrowth, we found a Chestnut-eared Laughing Thrush, which gave decent views (but not for the camera !) . We heard a Blue Pitta calling and spent some time trying to locate the bird - it wasn't far away - we just didn't manage any view at all.
Another trail , we saw a Rufous-faced Warbler and a calling Collared Owlet perched high above us was mobbed by a small bird party. We had another attempt at a different calling Blue Pitta, but with the same result - a frustratingly close bird not showing itself.
The afternoon quietened down as expected and birds were slower to appear, we did see an Asian Emerald Cuckoo, Silver-eared Mesia, White-browed Piculet, Chestnut-tailed Starling and Bay Woodpecker. A dusk stop at a bridge over a stream gave us a Grey Nightjar hawking over the water.
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| A type of Spotted Cicada |
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| A Collared Owlet - high up - in the process of being mobbed. |
Thursday 20th March - Mang Den to Ndoc Hoi
We had the morning in the Mang Den area, before we journeyed for an overnight stop in Ndoc Hoi. Just outside the hotel we saw a Large-tailed Nightjar before our heading off where our first stop was some roadside scrub where the previous evening Kwon had thought he had heard a Chinese Francolin calling. As soon as we got out of the bus we heard a bird calling and then had a brief view of the Chinese Francolin as it ran out of sight. We walked into the scrub and then had a better view as the bird took flight from where Kwon was standing before disappearing into cover.
We continued to one of the trails from the previous day and had exceptionally close views of the Indochinese Wren-babbler which had completely eluded us yesterday. We also saw a Silver breasted Broadbill, Black-hooded Laughingthrush, Greater Yellownape, Austen's Brown Hornbill and Grey-faced Parrotbill.
We decided to try an area of different vegetation and took the newly built road to the Laos Border which was 19kms long - It was odd - not a car on the road but in places the road was 8 lanes wide. We saw more Grey-faced Buzzards and Chestnut headed Bee-eaters, but the vegetation was either cleared or newly planted plantations. We stopped at a Rice Paddy, which held Oriental Turtle Dove, White-breasted Waterhen Chinese Pond Herons, Siberian Stonechat and a Blue Rock Thrush looking rather out of place.
After lunch we spent the afternoon journeying to Ndoc Hoi. Where we stayed in our rather 'communist-style' hotel - big and grand looking but grey and unappealing beyond the lobby.
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| The grand entrance to the BMC hotel |
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| and the smart looking lobby - I just couldn't bring myself to photographing the room where I kept stubbing my toe on the thousands of fag-burns in the carpet. |
Friday 21st March - Loxo Pass to Bach Ma
The Loxo Pass is the only location for the Black-Crowned Barwing, and there is nowhere to stay nearby so our night in Ndoc Hoi was to facilitate a shorter drive in the morning up to the pass of around an hour or so.
We departed Ndoc Hoi in the dark and it was misty and wet. At the top of the pass is a roadside rest stop, where we had breakfast and waited for the light to arrive although the rain didn't really clear, the mist lifted gradually. The Pass had a bridge over a river which held a pair of Plumbeous Water Redstarts. We then set off up the hillside following Kwon's direction, arriving in a steep valley covered in rice paddies with the occasional steep valley with a few trees and bushes. It took a while of searching but eventually Kwon heard a barwing call from a different valley so we crossed more rice fields and sure enough found a pair of Black-crowned Barwings moving through the tangles.
From Loxo we headed down to the coast where we had lunch at a resort in Langco. A wander around the gardens produced Light-vented Bulbul and Ashy Minivet, although we sepnt some time being distracted by a calling Masked Laughingthrush only to find it was in a cage in a property next door ! We saw an Olive-backed Pipit and a Purple Heron a short drive along the coast, then we continued onto Bach Ma National Park. Stopping briefly at a River which held Green Bee-eater, Common Sandpiper and Little Ringed Plover.
Our accommodation at Bach Ma, was high on the mountain (which was covered in fog and rain). We didn't arrive until fairly late and saw some White's Thrushes on the way up , but it was ultimately too misty, wet and dark to do any birding.
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| Rice fields at the Loxo Pass |
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| Kwon and Janos working out where the Barwings are |
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| Buying food for dinner ! |
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| Local produce |
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| The unfortunate experience of seeing caged wildbirds at every roadside stall - the left hand cage contans a Black-throated Laughingthrush. |
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| The moth-filled dinner hall at Bach Ma |
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| Scaly Thrush in the Fog - (race known as White's Thrush) |
Saturday 22nd March - Bach Ma (in the rain)
Bach Ma is a forested mountain (peak 1450m), quite close to the coast, and as such has it's own micro-climate - Which is - wet and foggy . So today the weather was - wet and foggy !.
We had actually done really well on the trip so far with key species, so there was very little on our absolute need to find list here. After breakfast we headed out in the fog seeing Chestnut-naped Yuhinas and Golden Babbler. A Rufous-naped Partridge was calling, but it was a great surprise when it actually ran across the track in front of us.
We went up, hoping the fog might lift, a couple of Blue Whistling Thrushes were seen then after some work good views of a White-gorgeted Flycatcher and another sighting of the Indochinese Wren-Babbler.
The mountain can be a migrant trap during migration and we did see a group of around 8 Japanese Thrushes, a Ferruginous Flycatcher and a Red-Flanked Bluetail. We decided to head down the mountain to park entrance and sleep there the night as there looked little chance of the fog lifting. Plenty of Grey Wagtails and Olive-backed Pipits were on the track on the way down.
It was clearer at the base, and we walked along a river trail in the afternoon seeing White-Crested Laughing Thrush, Masked Laughingthrush a Grey-headed Lapwing , Fork-tailed Sunbird and Chinese Blackbird.
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| Birding in the mist on Bach Ma |
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| A National Park Map |
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| These tunnels were used by the Viet Cong during the war |
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| Can we see anything yet ? |
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| The lower section was a little clearer |
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| White-crested Laughingthrush |
Sunday 23rd March - Bach Ma to Phong Nha
We had a couple of hours in the morning at Bach Ma before we needed travel again. We walked the trail by the river up towards the waterfall, the weather had set in again so it was wet.
One of the potential targets hear was the Annam Partridge, which is a split from the Bar-backed partridge (based on vocals etc). We only heard the bird distantly but it seemed to be the other side of the river. We also heard Rufous-tailed robin, but again too distantly to find.
We saw a Green-billed Malkoha then a pair of Bar-bellied Pitta's on the path as it rose away in front and at the same time an Orange-headed Ground Thrush landed in view. A Crimson Sunbird was seen on the return but there was little other action so we packed the minibus and headed on the fairly long drive to the Kebang National Park staying at Phong Nha.
We stopped in Hue on the way for lunch, with is a large coastal City and somewhere along the way we crossed the 19th parallel (the old divide between North and South Vietnam).
Arriving in the afternoon at Phong Nha we headed into the amazing National Park with its limestone formations, and almost as soon as we got out of the bus found the endemic Sooty Babbler (which is one of the key target birds for the area). A large flock of Cook's Swifts gathered overhead, whilst on the way back we managed to see several Hatinh Leaf Monkeys as they went to there cave roost.
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| Phong Nha |
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| Entering the National Park |
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| Limestone peaks shrouded in cloud. |
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| The Sooty Babbler resides in the Limestone crevices. |
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| Flock of Cook's Swifts. |
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| Distant view of the rare Hatinh Leaf Monkey climbing down to the cave at dusk |
A whole day exploring the Limestone National Park. Generally it was rather slow going. We started with a Grey-capped Pygmy Woodpecker and then moved sites towards the temple area seeing Buff-throated babbler along with 3 species of barbet, a couple of Blue Whistling Thrush and some more Sooty Babbler. We were trying to connect with the Limestone Warbler but seemed to be failing to get close enough to anything we heard. We were also listening and looking for the rather elusive Red-Collared woodpecker which was known to have been seen in the area.
We continued trying different roadside stops, seeing a Streaked Wren babbler and Crested Goshawk. Eventually we caught up with a Limestone Warbler that was singing distantly but briefly came into a closer tree for all to see. We tried the Botanical Gardens for the Red-collared Woodpecker but had no luck and were actually asked to leave as the staff seemed to decide they were closed.
After lunch and with clearing skies we returned to the roadsides and there was more raptor activity as we saw Rufous-bellied Eagle, Crested Serpent Eagle, Changeable Hawk Eagle and Black Eagle. 2 White-winged Magpies flew down the valley and disappeared into trees and a Pied Falconet was seen distantly perched.
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| Lots of dense undergrowth |
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| A river valley through the peaks |
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| Vista of Limestone peaks |
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| Oriental Magpie Robin |
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| Changeable Hawk Eagle |
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| Crimson Sunbird |
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| Limestone Warbler |
Tuesday 25th March - Phong Nha to Cuc Phong
We had a final couple of hours in the morning pre-breakfast at Phong Nha and decided to concentrate our efforts towards the elusive Red-Collared Woodpecker.
We returned to the open road with views over the lush undergrowth with good trees for Woodpeckers and we did see a Greater Yellownape, Bay Woodpecker and Laced Woodpecker, but no Red-collared. We were lucky to find a pair of Lesser-necklaced Laughingthrushes there and we also saw Brown-backed Needletail and Asian Fairy Bluebird.
We headed to the temple area again and we heard a Woodpecker Drumming out of view that sounded interesting, but it remained hidden, and our last attempt was at the Botanical Gardens again where we didn't even get as far into the grounds as yesterday before we were chased away by the staff this time including a barky dog ! - Odd they obviously didn't want us there, but we had to get back to load bags and depart as we drove to the local airport at Dong Hoi and caught our flight to Hanoi and spent the afternoon driving to Cuc Phong with just one stop at Van Long Marsh.
The marsh looked a good area for waterfowl and although there were good numbers of Asian Openbill Storks along with Great, Intermediate, Little and Cattle Egrets we struggled to find much else other than a White-browed Crake and a Back-backed Swamphen. Some compensation was in the form of another rare primate with a small group of Delacour's Leaf Monkeys, being scoped at the back of the marsh.
We arrived at our accommodation in Cu Phong in the dark.
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| Lesser-necklaced Laughingthrush |
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| Asian Fairy Bluebird |
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| Birdwing Butterfly |
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| White-browed Crake |
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| Blocking a 2-way highway with a moped ! |
Wednesday 26th March - Cuc Phong.
Yesterday afternoon I'd had a bit of a chill, and overnight this had turned into a nasty fluey-type bug. But I wasn't going to be deterred in terms of birding so was dosed up with as much as I could find and stumbled out slowly in the dark. With the exception of Janos, the rest of the party had all had a version of bug and were at various stages of battling through. It did mean that my energy to use a camera diminished considerably as all my efforts have been focused on seeing staying upright and seeing the birds.
The drive into the park, just before light was fully up, revealed some migrant thrushes on the jeep track, mainly Japanese Thrushes with a few Scaly Thrushes and a single Orange-headed Ground Thrush. We started birding the area in some scrubby trails seeing a Rufescent Prinia, then a brief glimpse at a Lanceolated Warbler, then an Eastern-crowned Warbler and some Japanese White-Eyes. We found a calling Chestnut-throated Fulvetta which showed well then an Asian Stubtail , Common Green Magpie and Plain Flowerpecker. We had no luck in this part of the forest with Limestone Wren Babbler and no sign of the Red-collared Woodpecker, we heard but failed to locate a Bianchi's warbler.
We stopped on the way back for lunch at steps up to a cave and a short distance up the steps in a swarm of mosquito's we found a co-operative Limestone Wren-Babbler.
After lunch we headed back into the Park and up a steep trail, to look for Eared Pitta, a very localised but difficult to see bird. After about half an hour up the steep trail our luck kicked in once again, as we heard a call very similar to the Red-collared Woodpecker, a very shortly afterwards a very shy male bird flew nearer to us and started drumming, it tried out 3 or 4 in quick succession giving us good views of this rare and elusive Woodpecker. The rest of the afternoon was spent waiting in suitable places up the hillside for the Pitta, but to no avail, a Hainan Blue Flycatcher was the only bird around.
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| A bird of the dark shadows - A Limestone Wren-Babbler |
Thursday 27th March - Cuc Phong to Tam Dao.
We had a few morning hours at Cuc Phong before departing, so a similar routine to yesterday, but our target remained the Eared Pitta. So we headed straight for the steep trail we spent the previous afternoon on , the result was ... the same as yesterday afternoon. On the way back to the bus we did manage to find the Bianchi's Warbler along with an Arctic Warbler.
We decided to try a different approach which was to head to the other end of this loop trail (it's around 6km's long in total and quite steep so was too far to walk round with the time , and my bug still persisting). We headed up the other side listening and looking intently into the leaf litter, but without much success so we turned around and headed back. Kwon who was at the back of the 4 of us then tapped me on the shoulder and pointed and not more than 10m away was an Eared Pitta in the leaf litter. It was actually extremely difficult to pick up, but it spent maybe 2 or 3and minutes moving through the leaf litter higher up the hill until eventually it flew. This was great , and certainly made me feel a sudden huge improvement.
We went back to the accommodation and set off towards Tam Dao, stopping briefly at Van Long Marsh again where we added Pheasant-tailed Jacana and Yellow Bittern to the previous days list after a quick lunch, arriving late in the afternoon.
Tam Dao is a hill town in an area known to be foggy - and when we arrived - it was foggy. So much so that we gave up on the last hour of birding which suited me as I felt rotten and needed a hot shower.
Friday 28th March - Tam Dao
We went out early morning - in the fog - and started our walk from a hill station along a muddy truck . There was quite a lot of bird potentials here, the problem was always going to be seeing them due to the weather conditions.
We started at the hill station seeing a Brown-flanked Bush Warbler, David's Fulvetta and a Chestnut Bulbul. We walked diligently along the track listening for signs of Short-tailed Parrotbill and Grey Laughingthrush but not a peep all morning. We saw Black-chinned Yuhinas and Silver-eared Mesias through the fog and saw another Red-flanked Bluetail, but it was fairly hard going in the morning.
After lunch we tried a different site, with steps up to a high transmitter, but despite the weather clearing a little added nothing to our list, so we returned to the muddier track to spend the remainder of the afternoon there.
It was still hard going but we added Blyths Shrike Babbler and Streak-breasted Scimitar Babbler. Saw a Red-headed Trogon and Pallas's Warbler and just as the light was starting to recede we saw a group of Greater-Necklaced Laughingthrushes which was a bit of a bonus. Then returning to the bus a Grey Laughingthrush called but remained invisible.
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| The Hill station at Tam Dao |
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| The muddy track with added fog |
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| This Atlas-type moth was huge - a number had been attracted to the hill station overnight |
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| What a sorry sight ! |
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| Some more produce stalls on the way to the transmitter steps |
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| Trotters anyone ? |
This was our last Birding day of the tour and we went straight to the muddy track past the Hill Station with the hope of catching up with the Grey Laughingthrush we heard just before dusk yesterday. but, there was no sight or sound of the birds , so we continued up the track concentrating on Short-tailed Parrotbill.
Much further along we ran into a bird party, which held good numbers of mostly birds we had seen before but including a calling Cochoa, which we didn't see but concluded it was a Green Cochoa, a Large Hawk Cuckoo, Grey-throated Babbler, Pallas's Warbler and Plain-tailed Leaf Warbler and the added distraction of a calling Blue-naped Pitta. We spent quite a while sitting still waiting for the Pitta with eventually 2 birds calling one of which very close, but obviously remaining out of view in the dense undergrowth.
We headed back along then track and eventually heard a parrotbill call and saw a single Short-tailed Parrotbill (they normally move around in small flocks). This is a dainty size Parrotbill unlike the much larger Black-crowned we saw earlier in the tour.
We went back to the accommodation packed bags and set off towards Ba Be National Park. 5 minutes into the journey we stopped for a flock of 7 Red-billed Blue Magpies, but otherwise had a steady journey of some 5 hours back towards Hanoi then some 100kms+ North.
We arrived at Ba Be national Park late afternoon and just in time to go to the edge of the large lake in the park. We had a small boat arranged to take us to a site on the lake where there have been a pair of White-eared Night Heron's.
The White-eared Night Heron is on the Birdlife International list as critically endangered, there are estimated to be less than 1,000 individuals worldwide (only known from China and Vietnam) and only recorded from around 25 sites, with Ba Be being the only reliably accessible one in Vietnam.
We jumped out of the boat onto a muddy bank and high in a tree overhanging a creek was an adult male bird with a female partially out of sight on a nest. We savoured this moment until the light faded. also seeing a Pied Falconet and more White-winged Magpies. The Night Heron was almost the last bird of the trip but in a way the best bird of the trip with it being so under threat.
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| This moving pile of woven creels is on a moped |
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| More roadside rice fields |
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| About to get onto the boat at Ba Be |
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| The lake at Ba Be |
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| Accommodation at Ba Be |
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| White-eared Night Heron |
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| White-eared Night Heron |
Sunday 30th March - back Home
We had only an hour or so before departing Ba Be and heading to the airport at Hanoi. A quick walk around the accommodation grounds added a Japanese Tit and Amur Wagtail and we got very close to a Rufous-tailed Robin which again remained elusive to viewing.
We had lunch in a town before Hanoi, then the flights home were thankfully uneventful arriving on Monday morning 31st.
It was a great trip and I probably surpassed my expectations in terms of birds seen with my total of 347 with 175 lifers. I think we were pretty lucky and I'm sure having a small group helped this. I now just have to get rid off this bug- thing I picked up which is still lingering some 3 weeks later !
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| Group pic at final lunch |
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