Thailand – North to

South

December 2014 – January 2015

Here is a brief trip report for my first visit to Thailand.

The trip was focussed predominantly on travelling through the country, sampling the places,

culture and cuisine as much as possible in our limited time. One week of the trip had been

set aside to volunteer at the excellent Elephant Nature Park in Chiang Mai province, with the

remainder of the time divided to allow us to visit a number of locations.

We visited the following areas; Chiang Mai, Doi Suthep, Bangkok, Khao Yai National Park,

Khao Sam Roi Yot National Park, Ko Tao and Ko Samui.

Our trip was organised independently, but we were able to gather plenty of information

before we left. Accommodation in Thailand is inexpensive and generally of a good quality,

though we found all the beds on the “firm” side – something worth knowing if you suffer with

a bad back. Getting about in the country is also very easy and cheap, most of our journeys

were undertaken on sleeper trains or by minibus, but flying internally in the country is also

affordable and can save a lot of time if covering large distances in a short period of time.

Thai people are very friendly and helpful, learning basic phrases goes a long way.

The food in Thailand is internationally renowned, and with good reason. We ate exclusively

at local restaurants and all the food was excellent. Food from street vendors is very cheap,

and if freshly cooked perfectly safe.

Finally if visiting the country the only book you will really need is the excellent “Birds of South

East Asia” by Craig Robson. Some calls downloaded onto an mp3 player or phone may be

of use.

Chiang Mai & Elephant Nature Park

Chiang Mai was our first port of call and my first chance to get out and do a bit of birding. We

were staying very close to Wat Phra Singh, and I adopted this as my patch whilst we were in

Chiang Mai. Considering that this is a busy temple with no water bodies I was quite

surprised at the number of species I recorded in just a few morning visits. Many of the birds

were common in the country, but new to me; Asian Koel, Oriental Turtle and Spotted

dove, Brown and Taiga flycatchers, Coppersmith barbet, Scarlet backed flowerpecker,

Oriental white-eye, Olive backed sunbird… In the end I recorded some 25 species in the

temple grounds.

The Elephant Nature Park was set up by an amazing woman called Lek, who wanted to

provide a home for elephants which have suffered years of abuse at the hands of their

mahoots. I hadn’t realised the mechanisms of how elephants are “trained” and I was pretty

shocked by the stories we were told. Needless to say I didn’t ride any elephants in Thailand

and I never plan to. The park not only provides the elephants with the chance to live in a

more natural state, but it also allows visitors to observe the animals at fairly close range

without interaction.

I did manage to sneak off from time to time once volunteer duties had been completed, and

as the park lies roughly 15km south of Chiang Dao National Park it put me in a good area for

birding! Around the park were many Pied bushchat, Siberian Stonechat and Taiga

flycatchers, and the more forested areas held Yellow browed, Greenish, Two barred,

Arctic and Pale legged/Sakhalin leaf warblers. A river runs through the area and attracted

a flock of Common rosefinch one morning, whilst White rumped and Scaly breasted

munia were more frequent visitors. A White breasted kingfisher was seen daily, whilst

Wire tailed, Asian Red rumped, Striated and Barn Swallow hawked over the water’s

surface.

I explored along one of the roads along the valley one afternoon and caught up with a

variety of interesting species including Yellow streaked, Radde’s and Thick billed

warblers, Brown and Long tailed shrike, Greater Coucal, Green Billed Malkoha and

Little spiderhunter. In the fields were Eastern Cattle egret and some small pools attracted

Chinese pond heron and leucopsis White wagtail. Raptors were represented by Oriental

Honey buzzard and Shikra and one afternoon I saw a large eagle spp, much too distant to

put an ID to though. One afternoon we visited a temple at Tambon Kuet Chang where a pair

of Crested treeswift and at least 3 Brown backed needletail flew above the canopy.

We enjoyed a full week at the sanctuary, but soon enough our time came to an end and we

were ready to hit the road. We planned to stay in Chiang Mai a few days afterwards, hoping

to spend a day in Doi Inthanon National Park (my Christmas present) and a day at a cookery

school (my partners Christmas present!).

Doi Suthep

We had originally planned to spend a day in Doi Inthanon National Park after our time at

ENP, but on the day of the trip our guide (penguin tours) didn’t turn up and left us waiting for

an hour and a half at our hotel. We abandoned this plan and instead opted for a much

cheaper option – visit Doi Suthep temple and split up for a couple of hours.

The temple itself is situated on a mountain overlooking Chiang Mai and is really a wonder to

behold. We entered the main grounds and paid our respects to the Pagoda before

separating for a couple of hours.

I walked around the grounds and spent time looking down into the forest, which paid off as a

few “waves” moved through. There were several bulbuls moving through, with Black

crested, Red cheeked and Stripe throated present. A pair of Scarlet minivet caught flies,

whilst Grey cheeked fulvetta, Dusky, Yellow browed, Arctic and a Pale legged/Sakhalin

leaf warbler flicked about. I caught a glimpse of the head of a Luscinia very briefly, which

was possibly a Siberian blue robin, though I didn’t get any further views and left it

unidentified.

Around the main temple were Grey tit, Black throated sunbird and Blue throated barbet,

whilst Dusky woodswallow, Palm swift Blue tailed bee-eater and a single Oriental

Honey buzzard flew overhead.

Khao Yai National Park

After spending time in the north, we had planned to head down to Bangkok and from there to

head to Khao Yai National Park for Christmas. We flew down to Bangkok and then boarded

a train for Pak Chong where we would be picked up ready for our tour.

The train to Pak Chong passed through some pleasant countryside and chugged along at a

slow enough speed to see a few birds. Indian Roller, Chestnut capped, Blue throated and

Blue tailed bee-eaters were evident along the wires, whilst I noted a few Black winged kite

hovering over open areas. At one point the train rather conveniently came to a stop opposite

some paddies, and scanning the area with my bins I noted Great, Intermediate and Little

egrets, Asian open bill, White breasted waterhen and many Black winged stilt.

We had opted to do a day and a half tour with Greenleaf tours, and to stay at their

accommodation. The tour was excellent value and I can recommend it as a good way of

seeing the park if strapped for time and funds! Our accommodation was basic, but the

immediate area was productive. I quickly added Pied fantail, Olive backed pipit and Plain

backed sparrow to my growing list, and some nearby farmland attracted several Indian

roller as well as Red wattled lapwing. Not bad for a quick look before bed, and we had an

early night ready for a full day in the park.

The next day we awoke to the most unusual Christmas day either of us had experienced;

26° and clear blue skies.

We entered the park at about 7am and practically the first bird we encountered was Great

hornbill. This was a great start to the day as this had been a target species for me (lowered

expectations!) The birds came thick and fast as we drove along the road to the HQ –

Crested serpent eagle, chestnut-tailed starling, Golden fronted leafbird, Wreathed

hornbill, Spangled drongo… We reached the HQ so that the group could have a toilet

break and for our guide to get some gen. I located Arctic warbler as well as Brown and

Slaty backed flycatcher around the lodge, whilst our guide called us over to view some

White handed gibbon.

We spent a while watching the primates, then we were whisked away to see a bull Asian

elephant, which was showing well apparently. Soon enough we spotted a crowd of people

staring into some bushes and we could see the violent shakes of the animal as it striped

branches. Whilst we watched the elephant, several Vernal hanging parrot flew over, whilst

an Oriental turtle dove fed along a dirt track. I was quite surprised by how close some

tourists got the elephant – less than 3m away – especially as the elephants here have a

reputation for being wild.

After the elephant episode we headed into the forest in order to see some more specialist

species. Sadly we didn’t enter the track until 11:30am – a bit too late for many species, and

a bit too hot for some in the group! Nevertheless our guide was very good with his calls and

soon had us watching White crested laughingthrush, Grey headed canary-flycatcher,

White rumped shama and White-browed Scimitar Babbler. A few bird waves came

through and I managed to pick out a Sulphur breasted warbler which I was rather pleased

to see. A very confiding Red headed trogon flew in and perched about 4m away from the

group, allowing some great photographs to be taken. Trogons are a personal favourite of

mine, so this was the icing on the cake.

We continued along the trail and encountered a cracking male Red junglefowl, the moment

only marginally spoiled by one of the group saying “why are we stopping for a bloody

chicken?!”… Other good species encountered included Greater flameback, Black billed

cuckoo-shrike, Pale legged and Two barred Greenish warblers, Verditer flycatcher and

Moustached barbet.

We spent much of the afternoon driving about the park, stopping at the ubiquitous Sambar

deer and Pig tailed macaque, but other than a few Brown shrike and another more distant

view of Great hornbill we didn’t really see many more species. One final bonus was a

cracking Water monitor that I saw clambering down a bank and into a stream.

The next morning was free, as our half day tour began in the afternoon and culminated in a

very special crepuscular spectacle. I went for a walk for a few hours and added a few more

species; Greater racket tailed drongo, Black naped oriole and Lineated barbet, with

further individuals of Radde’s, Greenish, Thick billed and Dusky warblers, Shikra, Plain

backed sparrow and more Olive backed pipits. We left for the bat roost and spent about

45 minutes witnessing the most incredible emergence of bats imaginable. Approximately 3

million bats leave this particular cave each evening and it was quite the fitting end to our time

in Khao Yai National Park.

Khao Sam Roi Yot National Park

The journey south on public transport to SRY was particularly long and arduous, though one

particular highlight was when we accidentally “hired” a public bus – we had asked a bus

driver to take us to the end of the line where we would get a taxi to our accommodation on

the edge of the national park, but he misunderstood this and drove us (in an empty single

decker bus) right to our accommodation, some 20km off of his route from Hua Hin!

We had two full days in the area, which would allow me to spend time on the pans, whilst

giving Dr K chance to relax on the beach. I hired a moped and headed south into the park.

The pans were truly alive with birds, and it offered some excellent opportunities to study

waders, often at close range. Black winged stilt, Greenshank, Marsh sandpiper, Kentish

and Pacific Golden plovers were very numerous, whilst closer scrutiny reveiled Long toed

& Red necked stint, Broad billed sandpiper, Greater & Lesser sandplover, as well as

more familiar species such as Wood, Common & Green sandpipers, Common & Spotted

redshank, Greenshank and Curlew. I spent a bit of time on the well-known spot

immediately south of the HQ, where after some careful scanning I managed to locate 3

Malaysian plover on the beach.

There we other good waterbirds on offer too; Grey, Purple, Striated, Reef, Chinese &

Javan pond herons were joined by Great, Intermediate, Cattle & Little egrets, as well as

Yellow & Cinnamon bittern. Little cormorant were very numerous, whilst with a degree of

patience & luck I added Ruddy breasted crake, Slaty Breasted rail, White breasted

moorhen, Bronze winged Jacana & the slightly less exotic Moorhen…

It wasn’t all about the waterbirds, as I had my first encounter with White bellied sea-eagle

of the trip, as well as a Peregrine. Most frustrating was a falcon that I couldn’t stop to look at

on a post which looked good for Oriental hobby, but sometimes you have to let birds go. I

also managed a good (if rather distant) view of a male Eastern Marsh harrier hunting over

the large reed bed inland.

Around the general area I logged Burmese & Brown shrikes, Asian pied & Collared

starling, Eastern & Western Yellow wagtail along with a single Citrine wagtail. Spotted

dove were also fairly numerous & I also saw a few Thick billed, Dusky & Radde’s

warblers. To round up the birding highlights were Whiskered & Gull billed tern, Pied,

Stork billed, Black capped, White breasted & Common kingfisher!

One of the highlights of the trip came with another cracking mammal sighting in the form of a

troop of Dusky langur which hung around the HQ. These were particularly confiding and

allowed for some excellent photographic opportunities.

The islands

We continued our journey south, and after travelling a fair distance in the space of just five

days we were both looking forward to some R&R on the Islands. We had organised to head

to the islands from Chumpon via ferry, before hopping across the islands to reach Surat

Thani & catching a flight back to Bangkok for our final few days. The biggest challenge came

in getting to the islands, as I don’t really enjoy spending time on boats, even less so on

choppy seas… The journey out to Kho Tao was particularly eventful, with about 30% of the

top deck losing their last meal over the side. I managed to compose myself, but Dr K was

fairing badly. I’d hoped to spend some time scanning the waves, but I was being the dutiful

boyfriend. I did happen to see 2 Pomarine skua flapping past at close range, but most

annoyingly a large shearwater spp. flew by at an inopportune moment.

Birding was limited during the time on the Islands, as I had promised to be social and party

the night away… still, I managed a few interesting sightings. Dollarbird was a new species

for me, and it roosted each evening on a tree opposite our balcony, during the day a Shikra

took up residence on the same branch. Both allowed for decent phone ‘scoping attempts.

Also in the general area were Japanese Sparrowhawk, Pied imperial Pigeon & Thick

billed green pigeon, whilst every morning a White bellied sea eagle would hunt over the

bay in front of our hotel. We enjoyed the more lively side of Kho Tao & brought the New Year

in on the beach. The birding wasn’t great, but the island was a slice of pure paradise.

Our next port of call was Ko Samui, where we would be based for a few more days of beach-

bumming before returning to Bangkok. I did manage a window seat on the ferry, but the only

bird I saw during the entire crossing was a single distant immature gull spp. but the flat calm

sea and lack of “incidents” made up for the lack of birds!

Ko Samui was very developed by contrast to Ko Tao, and it appears that the progress is

eating into the core of the island, which at this time is still rather heavily forested. We did

look at options for a day trip, but the prices we were quoted seemed very high to everywhere

else, and the roads are notoriously dangerous for scooters. As a result my birding was

limited to the immediate area around the hotel, but I still managed to add a few new species;

Orange breasted pigeon, Jungle crow, House swallow, Yellow vented bulbul and

Brown throated sunbird, though there were also a few Greenish & Yellow browed

warblers, Black naped oriole and Blue tailed bee-eater to keep me entertained. The avian

highlight came as we were leaving the island as I watched a White bellied fish eagle

successfully fishing in the harbour.

We left the islands for Surat Thani airport where we would fly to Bangkok, and one final

sighting of interest came from a few Black eared kite, which hawked over the settling pools

behind the airport.

Bangkok

So this was it, the final stage of our trip and a last chance to add any new species. Our hotel

was the Pinnacle Lumphini, the very first hotel we had booked. The hotel boasted a rooftop

swimming pool, panoramic city vistas and a king-sized bed, but best of all it was a 5 minute

walk from Lumphini park – ideal for a couple of hours birding before breakfast.

The park itself is basically a green square, with a couple of lakes and a stream running

through it, there are also a few open areas as well as some scrub and mature trees. It is for

this reason that the park is attractive to birds, and would make for an excellent local patch,

though nothing to make Dave Gandy lose any sleep over!

The usual suspects were pretty evident without much effort, but species such as Yellow

browed, Arctic & Two barred greenish warblers, Brown shrike, Taiga & Brown

flycatchers, Chinese & Javan pond heron are always great to see for any European

birder. Black naped oriole, Coppersmith barbet, Zebra dove, Plain prinia Collared &

Pied starling were conspicuous, whilst there were a few surprises in store. I added

Plaintive cuckoo, leucogenis Ashy drongo, Common iora & Black naped monarch

were new species, whilst I had excellent views of Large billed crow, Magpie robin, Pied

fantail and Asian koel.

There were other attractions to the park; even before first light there were hundreds of

people in the park. The diversity of activities was astonishing – over 60’s bodybuilding,

karaoke, yoga, roller blading, dance lessons, joggers and even somebody else looking at

birds! The park is also home to a large population of monitor lizards and turtles – no doubt

refugees of the exotic pet trade.

We spent the two days taking in the usual tourist hotspots, and thoroughly enjoyed doing so.

The trip had been an excellent introduction to Asia, and I hope to return soon. Maybe next

time I’ll make an effort and see some Pitta’s and endangered waders!

Systematic bird list

1. Red Jungle fowl – 1 in Khao Yai NP 25/12/15 2. Cotton Pygmy-goose – 3 present Sam Roi Yot NP 3. Little grebe – several present Sam Roi Yot NP 4. Painted stork – seen on several occasions 5. Asian openbill – seen on several occasions 6. Little Cormorant – 50+ present Sam Roi Yot NP 7. Indian Cormorant - 2 seen well from train 8. Yellow bittern – 1 seen Sam Roi Yot NP 9. Cinnamon bittern – 1 Sam Roi Yot NP 10. Striated heron – 3+ Sam Roi Yot NP 11. Grey Heron – seen on several occasions 12. Purple heron – 5+ Sam Roi Yot NP 13. Chinese Pond heron – widespread 14. Javan Pond heron – fairly widespread 15. Eastern Cattle egret – widespread 16. Great Egret – widespread 17. Intermediate egret – 10+ Sam Roi Yot NP 18. Little egret – widespread 19. Pacific reef heron – 2-3 Sam Roi Yot NP & 5+ Ko Samui 20. Common kestrel 21. Peregrine – 1 present Sam Roi Yot NP 22. Black shouldered kite – fairly widespread throughout 23. Black eared kite – 2 present Pranburi airport 24. Brahminy kite – 1 present Koh Tao 25. Eastern marsh harrier – adult male seen distantly Sam Roi Yot NP 26. Crested Serpent eagle – 1 Khao Yai NP 27. White bellied sea-eagle - Sam Roi Yot NP, Koh Tao, Koh Samui 28. Shikra - Sam Roi Yot NP, Ko Tao 29. Japanese Sparrowhawk – Ko Tao 30. Oriental Honey Buzzard – Chiang Mai district, Doi Suthep, Khao Yai NP 31. White breasted waterhen – 2 Sam Roi Yot NP 32. Slaty breasted rail – 2 Sam Roi Yot NP 33. Ruddy breasted crake – 2 Sam Roi Yot NP (1 moribund) 34. Grey headed swamphen – 10+ Sam Roi Yot NP 35. Bronze winged jancana – 2 Sam Roi Yot NP 36. Black winged stilt - Sam Roi Yot NP 37. Red wattled lapwing – fairly widespread 38. Greater Sandplover – 3+ Sam Roi Yot NP 39. Lesser sandplover – 50+ Sam Roi Yot NP 40. Kentish plover – 100+ Sam Roi Yot NP 41. Pacific Golden plover – 30+ Sam Roi Yot NP 42. Malaysian plover – 3 on beach Sam Roi Yot NP 43. Curlew – 5 Sam Roi Yot NP 44. Common sandpiper – 4 Sam Roi Yot NP 45. Green sandpiper – 1 Sam Roi Yot NP, 1 Chiang Mai district 46. Wood sandpiper – 80+ Sam Roi Yot NP 47. Spotted redshank – many Sam Roi Yot NP

48. Common redshank – 20+ Sam Roi Yot NP 49. Greenshank – 2 Sam Roi Yot NP 50. Marsh sandpiper – 30+ Sam Roi Yot NP 51. Red necked stint – 80+ Sam Roi Yot NP 52. Long toed stint – 3 Sam Roi Yot NP 53. Broad billed sandpiper – 2 Sam Roi Yot NP 54. Whiskered tern – 15+ Sam Roi Yot NP 55. Gull billed tern – 20+ Sam Roi Yot NP 56. Pomarine skua – 2 present on crossing to Koh Toa 57. Brown headed gull – 15+ Sam Roi Yot NP 58. Black tailed gull – 1 present on crossing Koh Toa to Koh Samui 59. Pied imperial pigeon – 10+ Koh Toa 60. Oriental Turtle dove – 1 present Chiang Mai 61. Red collared dove – widespread 62. Spotted dove – widespread 63. Zebra dove – widespread, mostly in south 64. Thick billed green pigeon – 5+ Koh Tao 65. Orange breasted green pigeon – several Koh Samui 66. Vernal hanging parrot – 5+ Sam Roi Yot NP 67. Plaintive cuckoo – 1 present Lumhini park, Bangkok 68. Asian Koel – widespread 69. Green billed Malkoha – 3 present Chiang Mai district 70. Greater coucal – widespread 71. Himalayan swiftlet – widespread in North 72. Germain's swiftlet 73. Edible nest swiftlet – widespread in south 74. Brown backed needletail – 3 present Chiang Mai district 75. Fork tailed swift – fairly widespread 76. House swift – widespread 77. Crested treeswift – 2 present Chiang Mai district 78. Red headed trogon – 3 present Khao Yai NP 79. White throated kingfisher – widespread 80. Stork billed kingfisher – 1 present Sam Roi Yot NP 81. Black capped kingfisher – 2 present Sam Roi Yot NP 82. Common kingfisher – 1 present Sam Roi Yot NP, 1 present Lumphini park, Bangkok 83. Pied kingfisher – 1 Sam Roi Yot NP 84. Indian roller – widespread 85. Dollarbird – 2 present Koh Tao 86. Blue bearded kingfisher - Khao Yai NP 87. Little green bee-eater – widespread 88. Blue tailed bee-eater – widespread 89. Chestnut headed bee-eater – fairly common in south & islands 90. Great hornbill – 5 present Khao Yai NP 91. Wreathed hornbill – 8+ Khao Yai NP 92. Lineated barbet - Sam Roi Yot district 93. Blue throated barbet – Doi Suthep 94. Coppersmith barbet – widespread 95. Greater flameback – 2 present Khao Yai NP 96. Black winged cuckooshrike – 5 present Khao Yai NP 97. Scarlet minivet – pair present Doi Suthep 98. Black naped oriole – widespread

99. Ashy woodswallow – widespread 100. Pied fantail – wide spread 101. Black naped monarch – 1 present Lumhini park, Bangkok 102. Black drongo – widespread 103. Ashy drongo – fairly widespread (leucogenis seen in Bangkok) 104. Bronzed drongo - Khao Yai NP 105. Greater racket tailed drongo - Sam Roi Yot district 106. Large billed crow – widespread 107. Jungle crow – common on islands 108. Common iora – fairly widespread 109. Brown shrike – widespread 110. Long tailed shrike – 1 present Chiang Mai district 111. Burmese shrike – several Sam Roi Yot NP 112. Temminck’s sunbird - 113. Black throated sunbird – widespread 114. Little spiderhunter – Chiang Mai district 115. Brown throated sunbird – widespread on islands 116. Olive backed sunbird – widespread 117. Yellow vented flowerpecker – widespread in North 118. Scarlet breasted flowerpecker – widespread 119. Golden fronted leafbird – 4 present Khao Yai NP 120. White rumped munia – widespread 121. Scaly breasted munia – widespread 122. Javan munia – widespread in Chiang Mai district 123. House sparrow – Bangkok 124. Tree sparrow – widespread 125. Plain backed sparrow – several in Khao Yai district 126. Olive backed pipit – 9 present Khao Yai district 127. Richard’s pipit – widespread 128. Paddyfield pipit – widespread 129. White wagtail – widespread in North 130. Grey wagtail – widespread 131. Eastern Yellow wagtail – 5+ present Sam Roi Yot NP 132. Western yellow wagtail – 2 present Sam Roi Yot NP 133. Citrine wagtail – 1 present Sam Roi Yot NP 134. Common rosefinch – flock present Chiang Mai present 135. White vented myna- widespread 136. Common myna – widespread 137. Chestnut tailed starling – several Khao Yai NP 138. Black collared starling – widespread 139. Asian pied starling – widespread 140. Oriental skylark – several present Sam Roi Yot NP 141. Blue rock thrush – Doi Suthep, Khao Yai NP 142. Oriental magpie robin –widespread 143. White rumped shama – 2 present Khao Yai NP 144. Siberian stonechat – widespread in North 145. Pied bushchat – widespread in North 146. Slaty backed flycatcher – 1 present Khao Yai NP 147. Taiga flycatcher – widespread 148. Grey headed canary-flycatcher – Khao Yai NP 149. Brown flycatcher – widespread

150. Verditer flycatcher – Khao Yai NP 151. Grey tit – Doi Suthep 152. Red whiskered bulbul 153. Brown breasted bulbul 154. Sooty headed bulbul 155. Black headed bulbul 156. Black crested bulbul 157. Stripe throated bulbul 158. Olive winged bulbul 159. Streak eared bulbul 160. Yellow vented bulbul 161. Barn swallow 162. Pacific swallow 163. Wire tailed swallow 164. Red rumped swallow 165. Striated swallow 166. Thick billed warbler 167. Sulphur breasted warbler – 3 Khao Yai NP 168. Pale legged leaf warbler 169. Greenish warbler 170. Arctic warbler 171. Two barred greenish warbler 172. Yellow browed warbler 173. Radde’s warbler 174. Yellow streaked warbler – 3 present Chiang Mai district 175. Dusky warbler 176. Grey cheeked Fulvetta – 4 present Doi Suthep 177. Oriental white-eye 178. White browed scimitar babbler – Several Khao Yai 179. White crested Laughingthrush 180. Zitting Cisticola – 2 present Sam Roi Yot NP 181. Dark necked tailorbird – Several Doi Suthep 182. Common tailorbird – widespread 183. Plain prinia – 5+ Lumhini park, Bangkok

Other species seen but not assigned to particular species Large shearwater spp – one was observed on crossing to Koh Tao Luscinia spp – one at Doi Suthep Oriental hobby – probable at Khao Yai NP