Vietnam, Day 7, 27 January 2019 - Langbian Mountain & Ta Nung Valley

It was a short drive north out of Dalat to Langbian Mountain this morning. At this place you have to park at the large reception carpark and then you are ferried up the mountain road in a jeep. 2 Common Mynas on the roof of the reception building were my only ones of the trip. We were all dropped off at the start of the trail which leads right to the mountain top. Thankfully not the popular tourist spot so things were nice and quiet.

Initially it was hard to drag ourselves away from the roadside at the start of the trail because the birds kept coming! A Hume's Treecreeper was pick of the bunch but a pair of Chestnut-vented Nuthatches, 2 Mugimaki Flycatchers, Clicking Shrike-babbler, Green-backed Tit and then a tickin the form of a Wedge-tailed Green Pigeon perched low down at the bottom of a slope.

We eventually began walking clocking up Golden-throated Barbet, more Green-backed Tits, Grey Bushchat and a lovely pair of Vietnamese Cutias in pines. Both Mountain Fulvetta and Black-crowned Fulvetta (the latter with it's distinctive feeding behavoir of sticking to mossy-covered branches) followed until we stumbled upon a small feeding flock that contained Olive-backed Pipit, Plain Minla, White-tailed Leaf Warbler and Black-headed Sibia. Then we left the pines and entered denser evergreen forest. The highlights here were a very showy Snowy-browed Flycatcher, a group of c5 Collared Laughingthrushes which moved past us but remained elusive with mainly just low flight views, 2 Grey-headed Tesia (which I got a very nice views of early doors but others spent some time looking for), White-spectacled Warbler, Grey-headed Canary-flycatcher and Yellow-vented Flowerpecker.

Hume's Treecreeper

Wedge-tailed Green Pigeon

Chestnut-vented Nuthatch

Vietnamese Cutia

Green-backed Tit

Black-headed Sibia

 Plain Minla

 Snowy-browed Flycatcher

After our usual lunch stop back in Dalat (where by now we were choosing from the menu and I could have some western food for some variety!) we headed to a new location Ta Nung Valley. This very picturesque location is a strange one for sure. It has numerous twee and rather tacky 'romantic' posing places for couples and guys to take pictures of their posing girlfriends! These include swings covered in fake flowers, posing platforms overlooking the valley and numerous heart-shaped items - I kid you not! Turning up in the afternoon when the place was crowded with parading visitors didn't bode well but I have to say the place exceeded expectations. A group of bulbuls were showing nicely in bare dead trees and included Mountain Bulbul, Black Bulbul, Flavescent Bulbul and Black-crested Bulbul. Further along 2 Rufous-backed Sibias, 3 Scarlet Minivets, Black Cuckooshrike and a Black-throated (Langbian) Sunbird were added as we moved slowly along the winding main track. A flowering bottlebrush tree gave us some lovely close views of a pair of Annam Sunbirds and then c6 White-rumped Munias flew past and into the deep cover of a conifer. 2 Streaked Spiderhunters, 2 Grey Wagtails, Clicking Shrike-babbler, Mountain Imperial Pigeon, a Cambodian Striped Squirrel and Green-billed Malkoha followed. Then I found a very welcome Rufous-capped Babbler high in shrubs. At the bottom of the track 2 Hill Prinias were showing beside a pond and a group of c55 Indian Spot-billed Ducks plus a single Mallard were on the main lake. At the far end of the lake the inlet stream really came up trumps with a pair of lovely Slaty-backed Forktails. Things finished with a calling Annam Barbet on top of a tree. I was very much looking forward to a return visit in the morning, minus the crowds!

Black Bulbul

Mountain Bulbul

Annam Sunbirds

Cambodian Striped Squirrel

Indian Spot-billed Duck

Slaty-backed Forktail

Annam Barbet

        

A date with a Tawny Owl plus lots more! 17 February 2019

I've been wanting to visit everybodies favourite Tawny Owl for a little while now and today was the day. Luckily the lady (possibly?!) didn't stand me up and was present in her favourite hole near the top of an ancient oak. The light wasn't fab but I did my best photographically and vowed to return later in the day when the sun had swung round.  An early Buff-tailed Bumblebee was also enjoying the sun there.

So, with one other target in mind I headed up to Cley next. The 1w Glaucous Gull flew west as I was halfway up East Bank and was then watched bathing on North Scrape. This wasn't what I'd hoped for, I wanted it on it's delicious rotting seal carcass! So, I walked half a mile east to the spot and lay in wait! Luckily there was a flock of c40 Snow Buntings and a really close Red-throated Diver on the sea to keep me amused. Within about an hour the Glaucous Gull flew in as I (literally) lay on the shingle and showed at point blank range. The plan had worked! I was also spared the gory sight of it feeding as it obviously wasn't hungry, just guarding it's supper!  Ringed Plovers and Marsh Harriers were displaying and Skylarks singing heralding, maybe, the start of spring.  

After a Stonechat and a coffee in the visitor centre I decided to chance my luck at Sculthorpe Moor and it paid off big style. The Coues's Arctic Redpoll was showing in the sun high in an alder upon arrival. Jammy or what?! After it flew off I wandered to one of the hides and photograph some Bramblings which included a male in almost full summer plumage.  Curiously I didn't see a single other redpoll there. A nice group of Scarlet Elf Cups on the walk back was a lovely way to justify the £5 entrance fee 'donation'!

Back where I started the Tawny Owl was curiously absent, she had stood me up after all!

Tawny Owl

Red-throated Diver

Snow Bunting

Glaucous Gull

Coues's Arctic Redpoll

 Bramblings

         Scarlet Elf Cups

Lackford Lakes and an 'apparant' Kumlien's Gull, 16 February 2019

I spent this morning in Bury St Edmunds getting a few things done and enjoying a Thai lunch at the awesome 'Lekky Thai Street Food' stall on Bury market. Cooked fresh in front of your very eyes this is the best Thai food I've had outside of Thailand itself!

After that it was an afternoon spent at Lackford Lakes SWT reserve. I was there way too early for the gull roost so amused myself photographing birds around the feeders by the centre - Siskins, Lesser Redpolls, Marsh Tit etc. It seemed like a bit of a repeat of species from last weekend but this time the pics are much better! Wandering down to a hide just past the sailing pit I was lucky to jam in on a Kingfisher within 5 minutes complete with freshly caught fish.

I then began my vigil by the sailing pit where the 2w Kumlien's Gull finally came in to roost at c16.00. I picked it up as soon as it came in but have to say it left me a little underwhelmed. If it is a Kumlien's it is very much at the Iceland Gull end of the spectrum with just a hint of dark primary centres and a faint grey wash on the flanks. There were also 2 adult Yellow-legged Gulls and a 1w Caspian Gull in the roost. While waiting and scanning a Peregrine circled over and on the pit were 4 Goldeneye and 2 Pintail of note.        

Kingfisher

Siskins

Lesser Redpoll

Marsh Tit

Reed Bunting

Hybrid goose - Greylag x Canada

Kumlien's Gull

Yellow-legged Gull

Vietnam, Day 6, 26 January 2019 - Bidoup National Park & Tuyen Lam Lake, Dalat

This morning, after a nice breakfast of bacon baggettes and plenty of coffee (!) we headed north out of Dalat to the Bidoup National Park.  

On the way we scored with a roadside Blue Whistling Thrush hopping around a small carpark.

Initially our efforts were concentrated on a roadside area of open pine woodland where we stopped for a little while. A Black-naped Woodpecker flew into the top of a bare pine and began calling in the early morning sun quickly followed by c4 Slender-billed Orioles which is a habitat specialist of these open coniferous woodlands. The same spot also held a few Vietnamese Greenfinches, a fly-over White-faced (Eurasian) Jay and Black Bulbul.

Further up the road, again at a roadside stop by a vegetated stream we scored with Mountain Fulvettas, Grey Wagtail and a White-tailed Leaf Warbler before we began a longish walk along a track that would it's way up and down through promising looking evergreen forest. Things were very quiet however until we came across a pair of Chestnut-crowned Warblers nesting under an overhang. A little further on I eventually got onto White-spectacled Warbler and we then hit a little pocket of birds which included 2 Scarlet Minivets, Grey-chinned Minivet, Little Pied Flycatcher, Plain Minla, 2 Mrs Gould's Sunbirds, Bar-winged Flycatcher-shrike and White-bellied Epornis. It was then that Minh heard a familiar (to him) call some way away in the woodland to the left. After much playback and a lengthy trek into the trees to a large depression we finally clapped our eyes on 2 Collared Laughingthrushes. What a special moment and what a looker! On the walk back a Mountain Hawk Eagle soared over when we were nearly back at the bus. It was here that I bumped into Tim Dinh, a local birder who I'd made contact with on Facebook. After introducing myself he apologised profusely because he thought I was a girl - lol!

Black-naped Woodpecker

Slender-billed Oriole

Chestnut-crowned Warbler

 Collared Laughingthrush

After lunch at the 'Restaurant Chocolate' (our designated eatery while we were in Dalat) and a break we ventured out again for our afternoon session. It was to the west side of Tuyen Lame Lake, specifically the area known as the 'Secret Garden'. On the way we connected with a White-breasted Waterhen, Little Grebe, 2 Ospreys and Burmese Shrike. Unfortunately it proved to be one of the most disappointing sessions of the whole trip. A distant Common Crossbill, Dalat Shrike-babbler, Chestnut-vented Nuthatch, c5 Mountain Bulbuls, a Large Niltava sat still in dark woodland and a an elusive flock of 11 White-cheeked Laughingthrushes that played 'follow-my-leader' through the undergrowth but refused to show well was about it.

               

Vietnam, Day 5, 25 January 2019 - Di Linh & Tuyen Lam Lake, Dalat

It was  mega early start today with a quick coffee in the hotel lobby and a visit to a local bakery at 04.30 for baggettes. Can you imagine finding a bakery open at that time at home?! We were back up at the top of the Nui Sam Pass for a breakfast in the field and straight into birding.

The plan was pretty much the same as yesterday but being early morning the bird activity was much greater, and thankfully the traffic was much quieter too. We walked downhill from the top of the pass notching up Mountain Imperial Pigeon, Mountain Fulvetta and Annam Barbet before we came across a 'bird wave' close to a hut which a guy was sleeping in! The next 20 minutes or so flashed by in a blur of activity and at times it was difficult to know what to look at - Long-tailed Broadbill, Grey-crowned Tits, Black Bulbuls, Ashy Bulbul, Mountain Bubuls, Scarlet Minivets, Ashy Minivets, Black-winged Cuckooshrike, Maroon Oriole, Black-chinned Yuhinas, Grey-cheeked Warbler, White-tailed Leaf Warbler, Verditer Flycatcher and Mugimaki Flycatcher! After recovering from that excitement a little further down the hill were Red-headed Trogon, 4 Grey-throated Babblers, Black-headed Sibia (of the 'spectacled' race), White-bellied Epornis, 3 Bay Woodpeckers and Hainan Blue Flycatcher.

Ventures off the road along small forest paths were undertaken a couple of times. The first time it was to persue a Long-tailed Broadbill but inadvertently gave us 2 Vietnamese Cutia high in the canopy. The second time was truly memorable in that we finally scored with a pitta - a mega male Blue Pitta which did laps around us responding to playback. I got some great views although the bird always kept its distance. 

A stop on a bend for a perched Square-tailed Drongo-cuckoo also gave us a couple of White-cheeked Laughingthrushes, Streaked Spiderhunter and a typically skulking singing Spot-throated Babbler which I luckily saw very well through a 'window' in the dense undergrowth.

We visited the viewing screen for 2nd dabs at the Orange-breasted Laughingthrushes and this time had 7 plus a female Siberian Blue Robin. Down near the small shop/cafe where we were picked up in the minibus was an obliging Brown Shrike plus Spangled Drongo.

It had been an awesome morning but we had to drag ourselves away and get to Dalat via a lunch in Di Linh.

Red-headed Trogon

Black Bulbul

Ashy Minivet

Grey-crowned Tit

Long-tailed Broadbill

Scarlet Minivet

Ashy Bulbul

Brown Shrike

Siberian Blue Robin

Orange-breasted Laughingthrush

Square-tailed Drongo-cuckoo

Arriving in the former French colonial city of Dalat we immediately headed SW to the south side of the picturesque Tuyen Lam Lake. Roadside birding here got off to a great start with several Vietnamese Greenfinch in the bag quickly plus a Chestnut-vented Nuthatch, Annam Minivet, Dalat Shrike-babbler and then a brief view of a calling roadside Collared Owlet.  A little further along a superb male Clicking Shrike-babbler showed very nicely followed by Little Pied Flycatcher and Plain Minla. 

We then walked through an area of open pine forest adding Grey Bushchats, White-throated Fantail, several Green-backed Tits, 2 Sooty-headed Bulbuls and Flavescent Bulbul. Then Minh heard a distant call of Oriental Scops Owl from down a steep slope and after much effort we got to see 2 these, both of the rufus phase. We finished with a couple of distant Black-collared Starlings and a considerably closer Grey-capped Pygmy Woodpecker.  

The lake area itself gave us our first Osprey plus 3 Little Grebes and Grey Wagtail.

Checking in to the Dreams Hotel in central Dalat I was delighted to find our home for the next 4 nights was really rather nice!

Annam Minivet

Vietnamese Greenfinch

Clicking Shrike-babbler

Grey Bushchats

 Oriental Scops Owls

Black-collared Starlings and Black Bulbuls

Grey-capped Pygmy Woodpecker