Birdtour Asia Cambodia and Vietnam tour 2010

Cambodia and south and central Vietnam

24th January - 13th February 2010

Leader: James Eaton

Participants: Barry and Sharon Edmonston, Michael Duffy,
John and Jane Hopkins, Rob Leighton, Mike Leven and Simon Roddis

White-shouldered Ibis, Tmatboey © tour participant John Hopkins

The fourth Oriental Bird Club fund-raising tour had a twist on previous years as we spent a week in Cambodia followed by two weeks in southern and central Vietnam, exploring these wonderful areas of Indochina in search of the endemic species that make it so special, and recording an impressive total of 413 species. In Cambodia we first visited the northern plains, home of the critically endangered Giant Ibis and White-shouldered Ibis, both of which we saw wonderfully on multiple occasions. White-rumped Falcon, Chinese Francolin and Spotted Wood, Brown Wood and Oriental Scops Owls made for a good supporting cast before we moved to the grasslands of the Tonle Sap floodplain. Here we had quite brilliant views of several Bengal Florican along with Manchurian Reed Warbler, Sarus Crane and Pied Harrier. Finally a cruise along the Mekong produced the recently described Mekong Wagtail and playful Irrawaddy River Dolphins. A week in south Vietnam took in stunning views of Bar-bellied and Blue-rumped Pittas, Germain’s Peacock Pheasant, Green Peafowl and Blyth’s Frogmouth at Cat Tien National Park while the highlands of Dalat provided plenty of endemics including stunning views of Collared and Orange-breasted Laughingthrush, Grey-crowned Crocias, Vietnamese Cutia and a wonderful Hodgson’s Frogmouth. Our final week in central Vietnam was highlighted by Sooty Babbler, Limestone Leaf Warbler, Indochinese Wren Babbler, Indochinese Green Magpie, Black-hooded and Red-tailed Laughinthrush and to top it all off, several Black-crowned Barwing.

Meeting up for the first of several scrumptious Khmer lunches we headed straight for the temples of Angkor. Visiting Ta Prohm and Angkor Wat temples gave us a nice introduction to these architectural delights that even the most ardent birder has to stop to admire. Birding around the temples was a welcome introduction to the regions commoner species and a few of the more desirable species. Starting with the showpiece Angkor Wat we headed to the surrounding forest, a sweetly-singing Hainan Blue Flycatcher took little effort followed by a surprisingly co-operative and showy Pale-legged Leaf Warbler, a brief Black Baza and rather better views of several Shikra.
Ta Prohm, ‘the jungle temple’, was a delight in the late afternoon sun as the descending sun made for some spectacular shadows on the crumbling root-infested walls. The parakeet colony overhead comprised large number of raucous Red-breasted Parakeet and smaller number of the less social Alexandrine Parakeet, and as dusk approached Asian Barred Owlet and a roosting White-rumped Shama tried unsuccessfully to conceal themselves in the gathering gloom.

Up and out early on our first morning was to become standard over the following three-weeks, this morning particularly so, as we went in search of the first of our critically endangered targets, Bengal Florican. As the sun rose so did the Striated Grassbirds, Zitting Cisticola’s and numbers of Pied and Eastern Marsh Harrier including a wonderful male of the former. Migrants where present in numbers, including several showy Bluethroat, skulking Lanceolated Warblers and Pintail Snipes. Eventually two female Bengal Floricans were sat out enjoying the early morning sunshine in the ever-deminishing grasslands.

Spotted Wood Owl and White-rumped Falcon, Tmatboey © James Eaton

With the heat soon engulfing us we headed north into the remote Preah Vihear province, passing through the ever-changing mix of cultivation, forest and road works; reaching our destination, the small rural village of Tmatboey in time for our first of several pleasant meals here. We had two full days exploring the different micro-habitats within the open, dry dipterocarp forest that surrounds the village and we managed to pin-down most of our hoped-for species.
The northern plains of northern Cambodia rose to prominence 10 years ago with the discovery of a small population of the critically endangered Giant and White-shouldered Ibis. As each year passes both species have become noticeably less shy and this year was no exception as we watched 10 White-shouldered Ibis fly in to their roosting tree on the first evening and a pair of Giant Ibis sitting above their feeding area shortly after first light the following morning! This was just the beginning as we obtained plenty of flight and perched views of both species during our stay.

Our brief forays into the forest pre-dawn and post-dusk proved rewarding; our dusk search for Spotted Wood Owl was cut short as we found the bird fast asleep. While a Collared Scops Owl flew around, a Brown Wood Owl distracted us with a distant hoot before flying straight in, silhouetted against moonlit sky before coming to life perched in our beam before whereupon it was pestered by several Greater Racket-tailed Drongo and Red-billed Blue Magpies!
Our final night-birding led us to the tiny Oriental Scops Owl and after giving us a bit of a run-around he posed brilliantly close-by on several occasions, this being the sedentary, vocally distinct form from the migratory, montane-breeding Chinese ‘species’. Finally, a sleepy Spotted Owlet sat track-side for us.

The number of woodpeckers in this forest type is quite astounding, several great views of the striking Black-headed, a mesmerised White-bellied and best of all, four huge Great Slaty Woodpeckers doing their thing, waving their wings around, calling incessantly, perching one on top of another while peering down at us with their huge, black eyes. The last main target of this area, White-rumped Falcon took a bit of searching until we ventured further away from the village and a female flew in to inspect us as we walked through her territory, regularly zipping overhead with its distinctive, undulating, fast-flapping flight before perching up nicely on several occasions. Amusement was found nearby as a canopy-dwelling Cambodian Striped Squirrel eyed up a tree at the edge of its jumping range, then chickening-out before heading back and leaping out only to fall just short and was sent spinning downwards where it hit the ground some 15 metres below its intended target – fortunately it survived!

Walking through the forest over our six birding sessions brought a whole range of enjoyable species which we were able to watch at length due to the open nature of the forest. The more notable species including a circling Indian Spotted Eagle, recently confirmed as a breeding species in Cambodia after several provisional field records (most of which has occurred on our tours!), several universally scarce Brown Prinia, grotesque Lesser Adjutant, a range of raptors including two Short-toed Eagle (2nd for Cambodia), Changeable Hawk Eagle, Rufous-winged Buzzard and Oriental Honey Buzzard, several Chinese Francolin, three species of parakeet included several gorgeous male Blossom-headed, Banded Bay Cuckoo, White-browed Fantail, Ruby-cheeked Sunbird, Large and Common Woodshrikes, Yellow-footed and Orange-breasted Green Pigeons, Oriental Pied Hornbill, arboreal Indochinese Bushlark, regular Large and Indochinese Cuckooshrikes, Gold-fronted Leafbird, beautifully marked Chestnut-bellied Nuthatch, bullish Burmese Shrikes, Black-hooded and Black-naped Orioles and a whole stack of other wonderful birds – a quite remarkable area particularly given the views of all of these species.

Bengal Florican, Wat Pra Hut and Crested Treeswift, Tmatboey © James Eaton

Bidding farewell to the bush we headed back to the Tonle Sap floodplain to bird a wonderful mosaic of grassland. After admiring the much underrated, yellow-hued Plain-backed Sparrow we began our walk in the grassland quickly locating two male Bengal Florican in the rice-field. Heading through the grasslands up popped a couple of Small Buttonquail and even a pair of the declining Blue-breasted Quail, hundreds of Red-throated Pipits and both Oriental Skylark and Australasian Bushlark song-flighted overhead. Approaching some taller grass a brief churr indicated the presence of a wintering Manchurian Reed Warbler that took some time to pull out but eventually succumbed, in the intervening time we enjoyed watching the large numbers of Sand Martin flying through (no Pale Martins unfortunately!), and several Sarus Crane flew-by to feed more distantly.
Last up was a striking male Pied Harrier quartering close to our vehicles along with several less-striking though still mighty attractive Eastern Marsh Harriers.

Venturing to a different area of grass and scrub the following morning, a scrub-fringed pool played host to numbers of Black-browed Reed and Oriental Reed Warblers. The Black-broweds in particular were nice to study after the previous days grass-loving Manchurian Reed Warbler. The calls of Lanceolated and Dusky Warbler betrayed their presence as Brown Shrikes proved a little more conspicuous! The harriers passed over in numbers totalling over 200 from their unknown roosting site and Black-shouldered Kites hovered close-by. The hedgerows were favoured by Yellow-breasted Buntings and Baya Weaver though a White-shouldered Starling and Racket-tailed Treepie proved less visible.

A drive east, across the mighty Mekong, eventually saw us reach the charming riverside town of Kratie by the mid-afternoon. With time to spare we visited the local marshes. Many Pallas’s Grasshopper Warblers fled from under us offering surprising prolonged, close fly-bys that wouldn’t look out of place on Fair Isle, though the Racket-tailed Treepies might! Another fine sunset was accompanied by Pheasant-tailed Jacana, Black-backed Swamphen, Dusky Warblers and several Blue-tailed Bee-eater.
Our final morning in Cambodia saw us on a boat on the calm Mekong River in search of the recently described Mekong Wagtail which performed right on-queue as a pair guarded their territory, singing from open stems and feeding on the bushy islets. A small colony of Grey-throated Martin was a pleasant surprise and finally some playful Irrawaddy Dolphins saw us finish our Cambodia leg most pleasantly.

We took an evening flight to Vietnam, arriving in Siagon, and following a hearty breakfast the next morning we travelled east to Cat Tien National Park. Cat Tien is one of the most important protected areas in Indochina as it harbours a number of Indochinese endemics, many of which are largely restricted to Vietnam. With two full days to play with we managed an impressive haul of the parks specialities helped by the fine weather and some very co-operative birds.
We were particularly lucky with one of the main targets inside the park, the Galliformes. An excursion into the open grasslands soon provided us with the wonderful sight of a cock Green Peafowl walking casually away from the roadside, still in the heat of the afternoon. Along the main track cutting through the centre of the park a couple of false alarms brought us to fine Red Junglefowls until a movement in the forest alerted us to a party of Siamese Fireback, though only the females showed well this time we enjoyed further views of males the following day. Scaly-breasted Partridge were found feeding quietly by the trailside on two occasions but to top off proceedings, with some strategic positioning for a calling Bar-bellied Pitta a Germain’s Peacock Pheasant came into view right where the pitta was supposed to be causing some initial identification confusion! Though the pitta could well have shown superbly we stuck with the pheasant and procured fine views over several minutes as he didn’t seem sure where exactly he wanted to go.

Mekong Wagtail and Irrawaddy River Dolphin, Kampi Pool © James Eaton

Most of the other big targets of the park gave us few problems; Bar-bellied Pitta stole the show several times in one morning with four different birds all giving prolonged views either feeding on the trail in front of us or circling around us, calling. Although vocal, Blue-rumped Pittas refused to budge from the denser thickets this mattered little as a male was found staring at us not three metres away, seemingly sitting still trying to conceal himself for several minutes!
Blyth’s Frogmouth took some finding but on our second attempt, with four minutes to go until we were to give up, he finally hit the right spot and sat in the spotlight for well over our allocated time. Collared Scops Owl was much more straight forward, waiting for prey from the roadside wires, and Great Eared Nightjar floated by in the early evening while Large-tailed Nightjars flew around us.

Apart from these stand-out species we recorded a huge number of other highly desirable species. Woodpeckers included the scarce Black-and-buff, Laced Woodpecker overhead and a vocal pair of Heart-spotted Woodpeckers at the top of the highest, bare tree! Red-vented Barbet, a regional endemic, sat out nicely as did Green-eared, Blue-eared and Lineated Barbets. A big family of Oriental Pied Hornbills dust-bathed on the track ahead of us though the 3 Great Hornbills flying over then back were always going to steal the show from their little brother. Orange-breasted Trogon provided a splash of colour. Asian Drongo Cuckoo fed at eye-level, and green pigeons were typically in evidence with Thick-billed and Ashy-headed seen well. Banded Broadbill flew straight in as expected, while in the feeding flocks we found wintering Swinhoe’s Minivet, Ducky Broadbills, Great Iora, Indochinese Tit Babbler (Grey-faced Tit Babbler being the commonly used English name despite the confusing name of the Grey-cheeked Tit Babbler that occurs on Java), Scaly-crowned Babbler, confiding Puff-throated Babbler, Banded Kingfisher, a quietly perched White-throated Rock Thrush, Spot-breasted and Rufous Woodpeckers, Indian Cuckoo, Forest Wagtail, Ruby-cheeked, Van Hasselt’s, Crimson and Purple-naped Sunbirds, Brown-backed and Silver-backed Needletails, and Blue-bearded Bee-eater. A fruiting tree by our accommodation always hosted the nomadic Golden-crested Myna, over 60 being present on occasions, though it was Mike’s lunch-time forays by the accommodation which brought about the most luck with a male Japanese Paradise Flycatcher and Indochinese Green Magpie. A troop of Black-shanked Douc Langur appeared on two days, sitting up with their beautiful silvery tails, blue faces with big yellow eye-patches.

Next it was time for some true Vietnamese endemics as we headed east to the Dalat highlands. Firstly we made two excursions to Deo Nui San, a beautiful area of hill forest with a winding road cutting through the heart of it. We made a good start with two feisty Black-crowned Parrotbills jumping towards us, a near-endemic. White-cheeked Laughingthrush, yet another near-endemic, appeared in a large and noisy but skittish flock, so typical of the species. The jewel of this forest, Orange-breasted Laughingthrush finally whistled away their sweet, loud tunes, though with just the one pair heard we had to make some careful manoeuvring to secure nice, perched views of this bright-breasted beauty before they scurried around us and away.
Having found a fruiting tree in the afternoon full of Annam Barbets, we returned full of hope in the early morning as flocks of Yellow-vented Green Pigeon flew in and called all around us, though after 15 minutes of daylight the sun disappeared in the thick fog that was to blight us for the first 3 hours of daylight, and once the sun appeared again the birds were gone! A couple of Alstrom’s Warblers popped out of the bushes for us, and our only flock of Vietnamese Greenfinch of the tour appeared in the mist and presumably helped us getting within a few metres of them.

Collared Scops Owl and Golden-crested Myna, Cat Tien © John Hopkins and James Eaton

A Collared Owlet calling from the canopy brought about plenty of agitated passerines including White-bellied Erpornis, Grey-crowned Tits, Indochinese Yuhinas and Black-crowned Parrotbills. As we tired of the incessant owlet overhead we concentrated on an under-storey flock containing a bucket-load of White-cheeked Laughingthrush, several Maroon Oriole, yet more Black-crowned Parrotbills and a White-browed Scimitar Babbler.
Plenty of birds were in full song once the sun appeared, a gaudy Chestnut-fronted Shrike Babbler clicked away above us (this is an anticipated split from other members of the complex) and likewise the White-browed Shrike Babbler in the neighbouring tree looks likely to become a Dalat endemic in a four-way split of White-browed Shrike Babbler. Kloss’s Leaf Warblers sang all around us while several Rufous-bellied Eagle soared at various points.
A big surprise was the flock of White-throated Needletail swooshing just over the pass giving scintillating views in great light – these birds should still be in Australia!

Based in our comfortable Dalat hotel for two full days we birded a couple of sites. Mount Lang Bian was to be the most productive as we searched for Collared Laughingthrush, perhaps the most striking yet elusive laughingthrush of the region. Usually the views obtained make the field guide illustration seem rather over the top but with the views we obtained of 3 birds sat side-by-side preening, a heady mix of orange, black, green and yellows. The star of the mountain had plenty of competition on this morning, Black-headed Sibia sang from the tree-tops, agitated Black-crowned Fulvetta just feet away, ocularis White-spectacled Warblers and as we gained elevation Blyth’s Leaf Warblers started to appear. Feeding flocks were few and far between though a couple of good ones contained most of the expected; Chestnut-crowned and Ashy-throated Warblers, Hume’s Treecreeper, Mountain Fulvetta (a sure-fire split from the sundaic Mountain however), Mountain Bulbul, Yellow-cheeked and Grey-crowned Tit and a single White-browed Scimitar Babbler though sadly just a single Silver-eared Mesia appeared highlighting the bird-trapping that still occurs here.
We ventured a little higher than usual until eventually the distant sounds of Vietnamese Cutia were heard and after a prolonged wait the male flew in to a nearby tree, calling away and creeping around the mossy branches in classic cutia style.
Walking through the pine forest back to the vehicle showed up Grey Bushchat, Chestnut-vented Nuthatch and a single Mugimaki Flycatcher.

We concentrated most of our efforts at the small, well-forest valley called Ta Nung. This valley is home to Dalat’s most famous and elusive endemic; Grey-crowned Crocias, only known from a handful of sites. Though our afternoon visits generally proved rather unproductive other than the large numbers of Annam Barbet it was the single morning that we spent here that really came up trumps as the on-form Rob picked out the Crocias as soon as I had finished explaining which trees should be carefully inspected! With the sun hitting the canopy the Crocias were delightful as we were able to watch them feed in the mid-canopy before flying towards us then back again especially as it was the most-wanted bird of the trip for several of us.
Feeding flocks came and went, containing several new, exciting species for us; nuthatch-like Rufous-backed Sibia, Rufous-capped Babbler, Fire-breasted Flowerpecker, Long-tailed, Scarlet and Grey-chinned Minivets, Bay Woodpecker, Little Pied Flycatcher, Green-backed Tit, though only Rob got onto the Indochinese Green Magpie.
The flowering bushes attracted Mrs Gould’s and Black-throated Sunbirds, Streaked Spiderhunters, Blue-winged Siva, Black-crowned Parrotbill and roving White-cheeked Laughingthrushes though a Grey-cheeked Warbler proved so confiding it made its way high onto the Bird-of-the-tour list! Bulbuls loved this area in the early afternoon, sunning themselves after bathing under the bushes with 9 species present including good numbers of Red-whiskered, Flavescent and Ashy.
Inside the forest Orange-breasted Laughingthrushes teased us, singing sweetly from the dense undergrowth, as did bouncing Grey-bellied Tesias, a Rufous-browed Flycatcher was jumpy, perching only briefly a few times and a Siberian Blue Robin favoured the forest edge.

One of the biggest and most welcome surprises near to Dalat came in the form of a fantastic Hodgson’s Frogmouth, having chosen a nice looking spot we waited for dusk and speculatively played a brief snatch of call only for a bird to alight on the closest branch to us and sit in our spotlight for the next 20 minutes offering ‘walkaway views’! Our nocturnal forays also included a Lesser Giant Flying Squirrel doing its best to impersonate a flying eagle owl, though the excellent perched views followed by a glide indicated otherwise!

A short flight back to Saigon in the early morning saw us say good-bye to three participants and gain one extra before we took a lunch-time flight north-east to Danang, situated half-way up the Vietnamese coastline and the gate-way to our central Annam extension. A full afternoon’s drive did little to stir the imagination apart from counting the number of Long-tailed Shrike and White-breasted Kingfisher along with a Peregrine snatching a bat in mid-air at our dusk pit-stop before arriving at Phong Nha village in the evening.
An exciting full-day was had inside the usually difficult to access Phong Nha-Ke Bang National Park. The park protects a vast area of limestone karst forest. Although much of it still remains heavily degraded due to the intense bombing the region received during the American War it still plays host to a number of mammals virtually unknown outside the park.
The jaw-dropping landscape revealed itself as the light improved with huge, limestone cliffs towering over us on each side of the beautiful open gorge we walked along in the morning. Literally our first bird was a Limestone Leaf Warbler that sang its little heart out really close-by, a species only described new to science last year and known only from the limestone regions of eastern Indochina. Walking a little further on some distant brown blobs scurrying along a rock-face didn’t take much to identify – a party of Sooty Babbler, the foremost reason of our visit! Though distant it gave us a nice impression of how this species acts as they hopped around the limestone in almost Wallcreeper-like fashion, a most bizarre stachyris and what a way to start the day. 30 minutes later we would come across another pair, this time just metres away as they fed in the dense, roadside undergrowth. Harsh chattering in the undergrowth led us to play cat-and-mouse with a Spot-necked Babbler, and after what seemed an eternity of playing hard-to-get it jumped out of the undergrowth, and being joined by two mates it just went crazy, sitting right out and calling incessantly for as long as we wanted. During this frenzy some primates above us eventually came to sit out on the karst and groom each other, Stump-tailed Macaques, a very difficult species to see well. Further on a group of Assamese Macaque climbed up another rock-face giving a good comparison to its muscular relative.
With our two targets seen so quickly we relaxed and enjoyed the birding, trying different spots. Mountain Hawk Eagle was a regular sight through this and the following morning. A family group of Silver-breasted Broadbills led us to another pair of Sooty Babbler, our best views yet as they fed along the open rocks just above our heads. Brightening things up a pair of Long-tailed Broadbill literally glowed in the sunlight, wagging tails, sitting side-by-side just below eye-level; despite seeing this species hundreds of times I have never seen the colours quite like they were here! A pair of Sultan Tit came in to inspect us and a pair of range-restricted Black-browed Fulvetta also appeared at the roadside.
Back out to the forests in the afternoon we tried a different area, only to find it literally devoid of birds apart from a skittish pair of Large Scimitar Babbler. It was tough going and species of the afternoon went to the 3 Hatinh Langur that sat up on the limestone, grooming each other. This species is one of the harder primates to come to grips with as their numbers have been decimated by hunting and they are restricted to a tiny area of the Annamite mountain range.
A final mornings birding took us to yet another area, flushing up a roadside Malayan Night Heron en-route. Though our strategic dawn vantage brought about no dawn flight-pasts we did tease out a Black-throated Laughingthrush into full view, singing his fine fruitful tunes before we headed off in search of rocky pinnacles in an unsuccessful search for the recently described Bare-faced Bulbul, still just known from the Lao side of the annamites. A large flock crossing the road contained plenty of Greater and Lesser Necklaced Laughingthrushes, yet another brief Indochinese Green Magpie, Puff-throated Bulbuls, Racket-tailed and Ratchet-tailed Treepies and a single Black-throated Laughingthrush.

Next site was Bach Ma National Park for a two-night stay after seeing plenty of wintering Chinese Blackbirds en-route. Special permission gave us access to the upper limits of the park which are currently closed for road repairs and there we spent a peaceful day with no noisy visitors. We got off to a good start as a White-gorgeted Flycatcher sang away on with his pearly-white throat dazzling through the dark undergrowth, a White-crowned Forktail favoured the gulley bottom, though an Indochinese Wren Babbler called at just the wrong moment as the flycatcher was ready to show and disappeared – this species would have to wait its turn!
Bach Ma is renowned for its appalling misty weather, however we were treated to a rare day of glorious (too glorious?!) sunshine, klossi Blue-throated Flycatchers were in full song and seemingly everywhere, certainly a sure-fire split, several more White-gorgetted Flycatchers appeared, a pair of Ratchet-tailed Treepie put on quite a performance, rocking back-and-forth, throwing their spiky tails into the air each time they called in duet. In the midst of the Treepie duet a pair of Indochinese Green Magpies finally flew in and showed themselves to all present, after so many single-observe sightings, so we could all agree just how yellow the bird is and wrong the field guide illustration really is!
Black Eagles seemed to be overhead throughout the day and a Rufous-bellied Eagle joined in on the fun on one occasion. While a Scaly Thrush appeared on the road twice, male Siberian Bluetail, Grey-cheeked Warblers, Silver-eared Mesia, ‘Annam’ Fulvetta, Slaty-backed Forktail, White-browed Shrike Babbler (‘Blyth’s Shrike Babbler when part of the four-way split of White-browed) and Grey-crowned Tit all appeared, as did an aggressive threesome of Sultan Tits that literally followed us around all day long, the birds of the localized, black-crested gayeti race.
As the afternoon wore on we finally got a break as a female Silver Pheasant ventured through the roadside undergrowth before flying up a gulley. Following the gulley led us to a favourable-looking area for Indochinese Wren Babbler – a quick burst revealed an instant response before he came bounding down giving us several stunning views as it perched, motionless, just feet away at times; a fine way to finish the day and enjoy a leisurely walk back in the beautiful early evening sunshine.

On our final morning here we visited the lowland areas of the park. A group of White-winged Magpie left their roost early on, tree-hopping down the slopes above us, a pair of Buff-breasted Babbler appeared by the roadside as did a pair of confiding Black-browed Fulvetta and Fork-tailed Sunbirds. Venturing along a forested trail was relatively quiet though a pair of Indochinese Wren Babbler appeared, feeding by the trail and a flushed Rufous-tailed Robin came back for us, bringing along his mate with two of them perching for prolonged periods at eye-level. Leaf-rustling ahead of us kept going for 5 minutes but patience wore off as a pair of Large Scimitar Babbler eventually came up and perched right out over the trail for us, looking super-huge compared to the Indochinese Wren Babblers we had just been studying!
Just as we prepared for lunch a quick check of my e-mails in the park office revealed an Orange-headed Thrush scratching around, fortunately it lingered for as long as we needed giving exceptional views and even being joined by a Rufous-tailed Robin and a snake busy attempting to swallow a poor frog head-first! Determined to fit in as many birds as possible here, once lunch was finished a very short detour took in a roving, noisy group of Masked Laughingthrushes in the nearby scrub.

The afternoon drive inland from Danang took us along the famous Ho Chi Minh trail, the supply-line to the north during the war and renowned as one of the great achievements of military engineering of the 20th century, cutting through vast forests viewable as far as the eye can see before reaching our comfortable guesthouse and to enjoy dinner with the locals who were in fine festive mood (!) in preparation for Tet, Vietnamese New Year.
Up and out early ready for a full days birding along a road that slices through a forested valley, leading to the Lao border, once again the weather was a belter. This both helped and hindered the birding with great activity early and late on in the day but decidedly quiet in the middle sector. Attempting to devour yet another baguette and laughing crow orientated breakfast we kept getting disrupted as the birdlife at sunrise was phenomenal. A surprise pair of Jerdon’s Baza flew low-overhead before perching nearby, Spot-throated Babbler were in typical form, singing their hearts out but proving skulking in the roadside vegetation though they gave themselves up in parts during the morning. A single White-winged Magpie flew past before the jewel in the crown was suddenly singing and following a quick dash we picked out a pair of Black-crowned Barwing in the distant trees, a species found as recently as 1996 and described three years later. The shouts of ‘got it’ soon sorted out the confusion, as while most of us got onto the pair 300 metres away Mike was watching a pair less than 10 metres from us! Moving our attention we were treated to a real show as the pair called from the roadside at point-blank range for as long as we wanted.
After all the initial excitement we spent the rest of the morning walking uphill, enjoying the vast expanse of forest and occasional birdlife, a cacophony of noise emanating from the forest led us over a stream and into a flock of striking, arboreal Black-hooded Laughingthrushes at long last after missing them in Dalat.
A sweet-singing Pale Blue Flycatcher took some time to reveal itself but when it did it was in shaded light, though the Asian Emerald Cuckoos that were in prime-form positively glistened and glowed emerald singing from exposed perches.
Small feeding flocks came and went, usually involving the same species, cute and curious Black-chinned Yuhina, Grey-chinned Minivet, Yellow-cheeked Tit, Orange-bellied Leafbird, blue-winged Blue-winged Siva (as opposed to the drab looking Dalat birds), Silver-eared Mesia, Kloss’s Leaf Warbler, Black-winged Cuckooshrike, Red-tailed Minla creeping around the mossy branches, Grey-crowned Tit, several White-browed Piculet and Black-eared Shrike Babbler. In between the bouts of feeding flocks we observed Small Niltava popped up from the undergrowth, singing from the roadside wires, White-tailed Robin, Red-headed Trogon, White-crowned Forktail and what appeared to be Short-billed Minivets – well out of the known-range. Lunch at the pass was enjoyable, peering over to Lao in the not-so-distant valley bottom with a pair of Black-crowned Barwing to keep us company along with Green-tailed Sunbird, completing our clean-sweep of 13 possible sunbirds on the tour. Peering over to the border eventually paid off as a group of the wonderfully plumed, gaudy, Red-tailed Laughingthrushes appeared, feeding high-up for a while before petering off into the bamboo.
Our afternoon walk back turned into a bit of a nail-biter as despite the excellent birding we still hadn’t come across Yellow-billed Nuthatch, as we were yet to really come across a really good feeding flock. As the sun began to disappear over the hillside so seemingly did our chances of the nuthatch. A Crested Argus started calling across the valley offering a welcome distraction and renewed hope, especially five minutes later when a flock started to filter across the road – 3 Rufous-backed Sibia offered a real hope, surely this must be THE flock when Michael said calmly ‘got a nuthatch’, the rest of us weren’t quite so calm as the directions flowed so did the birds and the nuthatch made a dash for it before we could see a yellow-bill! A Bolt-like sprint up the road was a wise move as we caught up with the flock and 3 Yellow-billed Nuthatches calling vigorously in the roadside trees. Typically they hung on too long and eventually our eyes wandered off thinking of others things in true birder-style! Having a final, unsuccessful play with a Lesser Shortwing just before we jumped into the vehicle, 3 White-winged Magpie gave us a wonderful fly-past in great light, a fitting end to a marvellous last full day, well, until a Grey nightjar flew along the roadside 20 minutes later!

A brief birding spell before we headed off the next morning brought about yet another pair of Black-crowned Barwing, a group of White-cheeked Laughingthrush and a few of the regulars before we followed our tracks back to Danang, flying back to Saigon and waving good-bye to a wonderful, endemic-filled tour.

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