Vietnam, Day 3, 23 January 2019 - Cat Tien National Park

After our 2nd night in the Cat Tien National Park we headed off out to explore some different areas, again with the help of the truck!

This time it was a morning sojourn to explore the roadside area near the Crocodile Lake Trail.

Before that we were serenaded by the local Buff-cheeked Gibbons and despite the awful lighting conditions early in the morning managed a few shots. Upon arrival at the starting point of our walk it was primates to the fore again with a few Black-shank Douc Langurs loafing around in the trees plus a close perched Crested Serpent Eagle and a very welcome tick in the form of a Grey-headed Green Pigeon. We went on to see c6 Vernal Hanging Parrots all over a fruiting shrub, Blue-eared Barbet, some great, if brief views of a drumming Pale-headed Woodpecker, Common Flameback, 2 Laced Woodpeckers, Black-naped Monarch, Great Iora, Emerald Dove and another Black and Red Broadbill. Ashy, Bronzed and Greater Racket-tailed Drongos were typically conspicuous. The group really enjoyed a small group of c4 Van Hasselt's Sunbirds (a species I'd already seen much better in Borneo) with Purple-naped Sunbird and Little Spiderhunter also getting in on the action. 2 Yellow-bellied Warblers also eventually showed well enough to be ticked and we also had the only Crested Goshawk of the trip.

Commoner birds included Oriental Magpie Robin, White-rumped Sharma, Asian Brown Flycatcher and Taiga Flycatcher.

Buff-cheeked Gibbon

Crested Serpent Eagle

 

Black-shanked Douc Langurs

Ashy-headed Green Pigeon

 Great Iora

Red-breasted Parakeet

     Taiga Flycatcher

At lunchtime a perched Common Kingfisher was by the restaurant. After lunch I took myself off to the locked photographic hide and stood quietly there letting birds come to me - here I managed to photograph Black-crested Bulbul, Grey-eyed Bulbul and Tickell's Blue Flycatcher. It was nice to spend a little time on my own.

Black-crested Bulbul

Tickell's Blue Flycatcher

Grey-eyed Bulbul 

        


The afternoon session in the area near the Botanical Garden (it actually just looked like more forest!) was disappointingly quiet. More Bar-bellied Pitta dipping, Black-hooded Oriole and Golden-fronted Leafbird was about it. On the trudge back to the accommodation area I hit it lucky however as 2 female Siamese Firebacks crossed the road one after the other. Only 2 of the group connected. 

A bumble around Santon Downham and Lynford, 9 February 2019

Belinda and I made our way down to Santon Downham today on a bright but windy day.

My main aim was to see Spring Snowflake and there was very impressive display near Santon Downham church. 2 walks then failed to yield much at all with just a few Bramblings around feeders in the village, 2 Mistle Thrushes and a scattering of Siskins.

Spring Snowflakes

 Brambling

We then moved to Lynford Arboretum where we spent a little time photographing birds by the bridge - Marsh Tits, Reed Buntings and Siskins being the highlights. A circuit around the paddocks then livened things up as a Raven flew over and then I finally found a lone Hawfinch in the top of one of the hornbeams. Redwings were also conspicuous. On the way back a Crossbill flew over the bridge area and a Firecrest was singing in the arboretum.

Marsh Tit

Reed Bunting

Gadwall

Hawfinch

Dunnock

 Siskin

A quick look on Lynford Water revealed just a drake Goldeneye of note.   

It was nice to be out to clear the cobwebs, chill out, photograph some of the commoner birds and recover from the full-on nature of Vietnam!    

Vietnam, Day 2, 22 January 2019 - Cat Tien National Park

Today we settled into the 05.30 breakfast and 06.00 start that we stuck to for the rest of the trip.
Breakfast was an unappetising bread and laughing cow cheese triangles!

Before we settled down for this culinary experience 2 Brown Boobooks showed beautifully in torch light right beside the restaurant. 

Birding for the morning session was once again aboard the truck but this time heading in the opposite direction to the forest on the 'Heaven Rapid Trail'. Dropping us off we then walked the forest road with frequent ventures in to the thick forest when Minh had heard something worthwhile call. Sadly this resulted in numerous dips of both Bar-bellied and Blue-rumped Pittas, birds we were destined never to catch up with. Some birds responded briefly but then moved away and refused to show. On the plus side we did score with plenty enough other species to keep us amused!

Thick-billed Green Pigeon was first up with 3 Red-breasted Parakeets close by and the first of 3 Green-billed Malkohas. Distinctive Crested Serpent Eagles circled over and along the road I picked up a single Silver-backed Needletail and Asian Palm Swift amongst the numerous Germain's Swiftlets. One of the birds of the day was a beast of a Great Slaty Woodpecker while other members of the genus were Laced Woodpecker, 2 Lesser Yellownapes and Common Flameback. 2 barbet ticks for me were Green-eared Barbet and the much smaller Blue-eared Barbet.  A perched but partially concealed Great Hornbill did at least stick around for a quick pic!

Broadbills are always good value for money and one that's a tick like Dusky Broadbill was even better. This was closely followed by Banded Broadbill and also 2 Black and Red Broadbills a little later on.

Other ticks for me were Hainan Blue Flycatcher, the endemic Grey-faced Tit-babbler, a superb Orange-breasted Trogon, Banded Bay Cuckoo, Great Iora, Puff-throated Babbler and Scaly-crowned Babbler. My find of a Lesser Racket-tailed Drongo wasn't really believed until Minh got onto it and got quite excited as it is very rare at the site!  

Great Hornbill

Thick-billed Green Pigeon

Laced Woodpecker

Lesser Yellownape

Orange-breasted Trogon

 Dusky Broadbill

Banded Broadbill

 Grey-faced Tit-babbler

After lunch and a short chill out time the late afternoon session was along the Tung Tree Trail. The afternoon sessions were generally hard work and very quiet but we did add Blue-bearded Bee-eater, Scaly-breasted Partridge and 2 Black and Red Broadbills. Other nectar-eaters seen during the day were Ruby-cheeked Sunbird, Purple-naped Sunbird, 3 Olive-backed Sunbirds, Little Spiderhunter plus Asian Fairy Bluebird, Tickell's Blue Flycatcher and Verditer Flycatcher. 

Tickell's Blue Flycatcher

Stripe-throated Bulbul

Vietnam, Day 1, 21 January 2019 - Cat Tien National Park

We had arrived the night before after dark so spent the night in a hotel called the Bong Sen Annex in central Ho Chi Minh City. The evening and night were interesting because the Vietnamese national football team had just won a quarter final game in the Asia Cup and the whole city was celebrating waving flags from their motor scooters and playing loud music! We didn't wan to to be left out to ventured out to the Miss Mekong pub over the road for a couple of beers. It had the vibe of a pick-up joint for local hookers unless I misread things!   

After a fitful nights sleep and a pleasant buffet breakfast we set off after the rush hour traffic had died down and headed NE to Cat Tien NP. The drive took about 3 hours but a stop en-route at a service station yielded my first tick of the trip - a circling Chinese Sparrowhawk plus Southern Jungle Crow, Scarlet-backed Flowerpecker and a couple of White-throated Kingfishers. After a 'ferry' crossing over the river at Cat Tien we arrived in time for a late lunch before heading out birding. 

Around the reception and accommodation area were a showy Large Cuckooshrike, Streak-eared Bulbul, the ubiquitous Yellow-browed Warblers, Pale-legged Leaf-warbler and a self-found Racket-tailed Treepie.

Large Cuckooshrike

 Streak-eared Bulbul

We then headed out southwest along the track in our 4-wheel drive truck to what is known as the grassland area. Very quickly we scored with a much-wanted target as 2 Germain's Peacock Pheasants walked across the track! We birded the track from the back of the truck until dusk and had some great birds - the undoubted star was the no.1 target of this area - 6 Green Peafowl (all males) in weedy fields with 2 Burmese Shrikes, a Lesser Coucal and 3 Yellow-bellied Prinias in the same area. 2 Japanese Sparrowhawks were the sole raptors while 2 Red-collared Doves and 4 Red-breasted Parakeets showed nicely in bare trees. Indian Rollers and Dollarbirds were conspicuous and then both Laced Woodpecker and Common Flameback found their way onto the list. Blue-winged Leafbird was a new world bird for me, as were Ashy Minivet and Golden-crested Myna. Bulbuls were represented by Black-headed Bulbul, Black-crested Bulbul, Stripe-throated Bulbul and Grey-eyed Bulbul. A short venture into a small wooded area with a photographic hide (locked) gave us a lovely male Siberian Blue Robin, Asian Brown Flycatcher, Tickell's Blue Flycatcher, Emerald Dove and White-rumped Shama. Streaked Spiderhunter, Greater Racket-tailed Drongo, Oriental Pied Hornbill and Black-naped Monarch were added as dusk started to fall. Then we saw one of my birds of the trip - 3 Great-eared Nightjars. These birds are massive with a slow almost harrier-like flight and we were treated to some great prolonged views. A Large-tailed Nightjar quickly followed and an Asian Barred Owlet on the drive back finished a rather splendid and productive day!

Green Peafowl

Asian Brown Flycatcher

Japanese Sparrowhawk

Red Collared Doves

 Ashy Drongo

  

       

Vietnam, introduction and logistics

As a complete departure from my normal self-organised and self-guided foreign trips this one was my first with an organised tour group.

I was invited to join their 'non-business' tour to South/Central Vietnam by Boletas and with a very competitive price I jumped at the chance and got the last space. In reality Boletas 'sub-contracted' the tour to local company Vietnam Birding owned and run by British ex-pat Richard Craic. Richard and his lead local guide Le Quy Minh (Minh) are the co-authors of the new Lynx publications Birds of Vietnam which was published in December 2018 and therefore very timely indeed for this trip!

It was a pleasure to spend time with Minh as our guide and Richard joined us for a few days in the middle of the tour when we were at Dalat. Both guys are very amiable and Minh is a top notch guide.

The itinerary was a meander north from Ho Chi Minh City as far as Hue which is about half way up Vietnam. From here we flew back south to Ho Chi Minh to connect with flights back home. The sites we took in en-route were:

Cat Tien National Park
Di Linh
The Dalat Plateau (various sites including Langbian, Ta Nung Valley and Tuyen Lam Lake)
Yok Don National Park
Mang Den
Mount Ngoc Linh
Bach Ma National Park

The logistics worked very well with minibus transport and other 4-wheel drive vehicles when needed. Hotels and National Park accommodation varied in quality but with the exception of the Dreams Hotel in central Dalat most were pretty basic. National Park accommodation was noticably the worst!

All meals were included in the cost of the tour but I have to say most of it wasn't to my liking. With a few exceptions when in Dalat when we could choose from a menu the food was a set menu of traditional Vietnamese fayre and rather monotonous. Meat dishes were poor quality so I ended up eating rice and vegetables most of the time with the odd piece of fish.  A vegetable dish rather similar to spinach is known as 'morning glory'!

Drinks were not included but with beer at c20 Dong (c85p) a can and iced coffee about the same it didn't cost a fortune.

We obviously weren't buying petrol but for anyone who may need to I noted is was c17 Dong (c72p) per litre.

Birding conditions were physically relatively easy but the enclosed forest and secretive nature of the vast majority of birds meant it was tough. At times the group size of 9 people made viewing in very enclosed forest challanging with a certain amount of 'jostling' for position. Minh did a very good job of trying to ensure everyone could see but unfortunately one particular individual tried to always be at the front. Indeed he went on to be a rather disliked figure for a number of reasons. He and I had a few run-ins! Virtually all of the birding was forest birding.

With a group there are always going to be some participants you get on with better than others. With the exception of the individual mentioned above I got on well with everyone else. Particularly Paul Lathbury and his partner Debbie and Dave Anderson. I was by far the youngest member of the group. The first time I've felt like the spring chicken for years - lol!

      
    

Round up of the last few days

There really hasn't been a whole lot to blog about recently but some winter flowers have brightened proceedings up a little.

On Saturday (12th) Belinda and I did a long walk around the Beccles area and then another at Ness Point/Lowestoft North Denes. Despite having no optics 3 Purple Sandpipers were found roosting on the rocks at Ness Point and in Sparrows Nest a few flowering Winter Helliotrope added to the flowering Hubei Cherry tree I'd seen earlier in Beccles churchyard. My first Snowdrops of the year were along Riverside Walk in Norwich on 11th.

Yesterday (13th) I did a 10km walk at Whitlingham. Again with no bins which didn't help when I found an odd-looking gull on the pontoons which looked very good for a 1w Caspian Gull. Others think it may be a strange looking Lesser Black-backed Gull in delayed moult but the white head and warm one to the back/wings has got me wondering. Sadly my poor phone photo won't help much! Also around the CP I had Kingfisher, Siskins and a new fungi for me - Winter Polypore. Again there were plants in flower including loads of Yarrow plus White Dead Nettle and Bramble.

Winter Helliotrope

Hubei Cherry

Snowdrops

possible Caspian Gull (right hand bird)

Winter Polypore

White Dead Nettle

 Yarrow

   

The winter blues but Vietnam soon!

This time of the year is my least favourite and the weather for the last few days hasn't helped. Just grey, cold and dull and it hasn't inspired me to go out at all. Fieldfares in the garden and the Pulham area have livened things a little. There is a flock of c200 down the road (with a few Redwings too) and you can't go out into the garden at the moment without the accompaniment of lots of 'chakking'. This is by far the best winter for them since we've been here.

Thankfully I have a trip to Vietnam coming up in just 2 weeks time and I can't wait for some exciting birding and some warmth in my bones! I'm going on a guided tour for the very first time with Boletas and all the final details are in place ready for the off. The tour starts in Ho Chi Minh City (aka Saigon) and takes in the southern and central parts of the country. As ever I have no 'must see' birds, I will see what I see but with some top notch local guides we should hopefully do well. A glimpse of the recently discovered Golden-winged Laughingthrush would be fantastic ;-)

      

A whizz around NE Norfolk, 3 January 2019

Despite a big dip on the Briggate Black-bellied Dipper I salvaged a few bits out of a few hours in the field. A fly-over Grey Wagtail was all I managed at Briggate so after a chat with Chris B I headed off to Barton Broad. Here I quickly found the female Long-tailed Duck and 2 female Scaup looking right from the viewing platform. 28 Goldeneye there was also a good count while a Kingfisher and Water Rail were both heard but remained unseen. The delightfully named Dog Sick Slime Mould was all over a tree trunk on the walk back along the boardwalk.

With the light pretty bad I ploughed on to Ludham airfield where 57 wild swans were easily found consisting of roughly 50/50 Whooper Swans and Bewicks Swans.

On the way home a single Waxwing flew over the A140 near Swainsthorpe and the 5 Waxwings were still present in Long Stratton. c200 Fieldfares were in a meadow at Colegate End when almost home.

Scaup x2

Long-tailed Duck & friends

Goldeneye (mostly)

Dog Sick Slime Mould

 Whooper & Bewicks Swans

Local Waxwings in Long Stratton, 1 January 2019

It took me ages to see Waxwing last year but this year the species falls on day 1!

There was no news on them this morning so I made the short drive this afternoon not really expecting them to be there. So to see all 5 sat high up in a silver birch by the police station on arrival was a nice surprise. They ventured down onto some rowan berries a few times but remained high up most of the time. One was ringed with  variety of plastic bling! The only other bird of note today was a Great Spotted Woodpecker in the garden while collecting firewood this morning.

Stop press - still present at 14.55 on 2 January as I drove past!