A Visit to Kaeng Krachan National Park, Phetchaburi, Thailand

Located to the south of Bangkok, and in the province of Phetchaburi, a minor district named Kang Krachan which was later on upgraded to a full district of a small Township. What lies here is the biggest national park of Thailand - Kaeng Krachan National Park, which is one of the 3 national parks that make up Kaeng Krachan Forest Complex (KKFC). 

A group of us, from colleagues to friends of the same hobby, finally get to travel after the long Covid shutdown. We were so excited that one of us actually started counting down one month before for this long waited trip. Finally arrived at the airport of The Land of Smiles, Thailand. We met up with our guide and our journey down South commenced here. We arrived at the KKFC at about 3~4pm in the afternoon, set up our shooting gears, and we headed straight to our first Hide (Hide 1) to catch the Bar-Backed Partridge which can only be seen here in the whole forest complex. 

Other birds spotted and seen in Hide 1 include: white-crested laughingthrush, lesser-necklaced laughingthrushs, greater necklaced laughingthrushs, racket-tailed treepie, jungle fowls, black-naped monarch, streak-eared bulbul, red-legged crake, white-rumped shama, greater racket-tailed drongo, indochinese blue flycatcher, stripe-throated bulbul, and the puff-throated babbler.

I was lucky to be able to see the Green-Legged Partridge in the same place.

The second day is the most adventurous day of our trip which includes alot of river crossing and hiking through the Kaeng Krachan forest. We were going to get a very rare kingfisher which had just started its nesting only recently, and we were the first group to get it. We were told to set off at 5:30am in the morning, and with a quick breakfast, we changed into our rubber boots, gathered our stuffs and off we went. We were led by a local Guide and together with our guide, we arrived at the nesting site after 45 mins of river walk and hike. We were all panting and perspiring by the time we arrived, and within 15 mins of waiting in the Hide, the male Blue-Banded Kingfisher arrived with his food in mouth to feed his chicks.

Male Blue-Banded Kingfisher, Photo by Mr Yip Peng Sun

Minutes later, the female also flew in with her food in mouth, posing nicely for us to get some beautiful shots of it. The male appeared to feed only once when the surroundings are still pretty dark, and luckily we managed to get some shots of it.  The female continued to fly in and out to feed her chicks. 

We spent our morning admiring and taking photographs of the critically endangered Blue-Banded Kingfisher, afterwhich we left the place around 10am plus to head out for early lunch. One of our buddy requested for the Banded Kingfisher, therefore after lunch, the Local Guide brought us to a location A where it was last seen before. After calling and waited for awhile for the Banded Kingfisher, the Local Guide brought us to another location B along the river bank to photograph the beautiful Silver-Breasted Broadbills.While we were waiting and photographing the Broadbills, the Local Guide continued to call out for the Banded Kingfisher for us to have a glimpse of it. We could hear the calls echoing through the forest but the Kingfisher was nowhere in sight. A pair of Orange-Breasted Trogons flew by to visit while we were photographing the Broadbills at the river bank.

Female Orange-Breasted Trogon, Photo by Mr Yip Peng Sun

Male Orange-Breasted Trogon, Photo by Mr Yip Peng Sun

After spending a couple of hours photographing the Broadbills, we returned back to Location A to continue to try our luck on the Banded Kingfisher. The kingfisher really didn't bothered to pay us a visit, but instead a Hornbill came. It was making alot of noise above us but we were heavily blocked out by the thick towering trees. We heard it's flapping and took off, then our Guide shouted to us from inside some vegetation and we bashed towards him following his voice. He found an opening through the trees for us to photograph the iconic bird of this park - the Great Hornbill.

We gave up on the Banded Kingfisher and decided to make an early return to our hotel. We had our usual sumptuous Thai dinner and fall in early for the night. We did some milky way shots in the later part of the evening but see nothing. One interesting buddy even said that he was able to see a very faint image of the milky way which was just in front of us but was actually clouds coming in. 

Times flies and we were into Day 3 of our trip. This morning, we would be shooting in another Hide 2 which was known to be called the Woodpecker Hide. 

We sat there waiting before the sunlight came in, and slowly, birds started to fly in as the sun rose up. As usual the show always start with the most common bird, the White-Rumped Shama - territorial and selfish, chasing away whatever small birds that came by alone.

After a round of bird wave which kept us busy for awhile, the star bird finally came, at least it didn't make us waited too long for it. It was a beautiful woodpeck with a yellow armani hairstyle - the Greater Yellownape Woodpecker.

Some of the birds seen here had appeared before in Hide 1, but because of the improved lighting, the birds here seemed to stand out more.  Birds spotted and seen here in Hide 2 includes: stripe-throated bulbul, streak-eared bulbul, indochinese blue flycatcher, abott's babbler, puff-throated babbler, large scimitar babbler, greater necklaced laughingthrush, black-crested bulbul, and greater coucal. 

After feeling happy and satisfied for the fruitful morning, we ended our session and headed to a secret place in the village to catch a glimpse of the very rare Eared Pitta. We arrived at a location after bashing through some vegetation with thorns which cut our clothes and skin. The place felt like a dried up stream, quickly, we setup our Hide and started to wait for the Pitta to return to her nest. We took a picture of the Pitta's nest as they were not around, probably went out to feed. 

We had our yummy Beef Basil Rice lunch in the Hide and sat there for whole 3 hours waiting for the Pitta to return. Finally we decided to give up waiting, and we returned back to Hide 1 again to chance upon any new birds. 

We were already into Day 4 of our trip and this afternoon, we will start to travel out of KKFC to Ayutthaya. We started our morning by shooting the birds that came to the feeding station for breakfast at our accommodation. We had our breakfast together with the birds, but we could not eat in peace. Birds kept visiting to feed the fruits, keeping us busy, resulting in me not being able to eat in peace. 

Other birds that visited the station included the streak-eared and striped-throated bulbul. A Banded Bay Cuckoo flew in to join the crowd too. But it was on a very high perch on the electrical cables. Nevertheless, we still managed to catch a glimpse of it. A hoopoe also came in, but was very far away.

We loaded up our luggages and bags, checked out of our accommodation of 3 nights from Samarn Bird Camp, and set off to do some morning shooting before the long drive. We will be photographing the Kalij Pheasant at Hide 3, where the villager mentioned that they would visit the watering hole almost everyday. We took a 15 mins walk into the vegetation upon reaching the Hide which was located in the forest. We setup our gears and started to wait for the movie to start. The jungle fowls were the first to show up, and there were alot of them. Seems like they arrived in a battalion. 

After which, as usual, the White-rumped shama flew in. There is always this shama in almost every Hide we went. Then the other birds started to fly into the watering hole. Together with both the Lesser and Greater Necklaced Laughingthrush, some bulbuls also came in together. Then we saw another flock of jungle fowls coming in from the left side of the Hide, from the higher ground marching down the slope towards the watering hole, and among them, we had the Kalij Pheasants, both male and female. Immediately, we went silenced and waited for them to descend down to a favourable view. 

Our Guide suddenly came in and informed us that the Eared Pitta is currently in her nest incubating her eggs, and asked if we wanted to have a record shot of it. And of course YES, we wanted it. Luckily we had gotten both the pheasant shots, therefore we quickly packed up and returned back to the Pitta site. Because the Pitta is in her nest, we were told to move in as quietly as possible, keeping a very safe distance away as they are very sensitive to dangers. We got a very far shot of the Eared Pitta's head.

Finally gotten a record shot of the Pitta, but only its beak and abit of head. It was better than nothing as we waited 3 hours plus on the previous day with no show at all. As there were still time available, we went for an early lunch, then back to Hide 3 for more bird shots. This time, we managed to get the juvenile Black-Naped Monarch, both male and female.

After this last in flock of bird movie in the Hide, we set off for Ayutthaya at around 1:15pm. It was a long journey which took us around 4~5 hours with some traffic congestion along the way. Finally we arrived at our guesthouse at around 6pm, settled down for awhile and went out to find dinner. 

So sad that today, Day 5, is the last day of our trip. We checked out of the guesthouse at 7:15am and our finale bird was the Pied Kingfisher, a resident in Ayutthaya along the Chao Phraya River. But before that, our Guide brought us to a famous local place for breakfast, Jieb Tom Lueat Mu, selling mixed pork soup and kway chap. We were all a super big fan of pork blood, and after so many days, we finally get to eat it. I have two brothers whom went out early in the morning before we checked out, to hunt for pork blood, and I thought that I am going to miss it because the plan came in last minute. Luckily, our Guide saved the day for me or else I will be in regrets.

After filling up our fuel and energy, we set off to the Kingfisher location. It was a hot, sunny and humid morning, and the river breeze made us sweaty and sticky as usual. 

It was a beautiful day and upon arrival at the location, the two Pied Kingfishers were already flying around the area, perching on the opposite river bank. It was really super far away and to get my record shot first, I enabled digital zoom on my little camera to 1200mm, though still very tiny. 

We sat there waiting for them to fly in to a nearer perch. They were pretty active in the morning flying to and fro the river banks, and we just needed one perch with a clear view and that's it. Finally our wish came true!

Pied Kingfisher, Photo By Mr Yip Peng Sun

There were other birds spotted here too such as the Baya Weaver, the Javan Pond Heron, the Pied Starlings, some Egrets and also the Asian Openbills. The main star was the Kingfisher! We left the place at around 11:15am, had our lunch at a nearby restaurant called ร้านครัวมะนาว, and food was great. 

After lunch, we took a slow drive to the airport.................. Our trip ended feeling tired but with great satisfaction. 

Our Bird Guide is Mr U Thai (Facebook name: Uthaichiangmai Birding, อุทัย เชื่อมมะรัง)

Our team members:

Thank you for reading and that's all folks!!