Bueng Boraphet - The Crown Jewel of Thailand Marshbirding

If I had to bird in one spot for the rest of my life it would be here at Thailand’s largest natural freshwater lake.  In my nine trips to Thailand, I have gone there at least once a trip.  As a marsh bird aficionado, Bueng Boraphet draws me like no other birding spot in Thailand.  Let’s face it, most of central Thailand is a wetland and BB just happens to be smack dag in the middle! 

There are so many birders, bloggers, bird tour leaders, and the like who have meticulously detailed the avifauna of this historic wetland that for me to do so would be redundant and most probably incomplete.  Therefore, I will write what I want to say about BB and my experiences there.  For really good birding info, check out thaibirding.com, the The Phuket Birder, and North Thailand Birding.

From the various literature and websites, Bueng Boraphet (or Boraphet Marsh as some call it) encompasses an area of approximately 52,400 acres (212 square kilometers, 81.9 square kilometers, 132,500 rai, or 21,200 hectares).  I think you get the picture, it’s quite large.  The central body of the wetland is a shallow lake with a variety of varied habitats including reeds, rushes, grass, and lotus that surround the property.  The open waterway is dotted with several islands that, at the right time of year, play host to thousands of breeding long-legged waders.  

The best way to bird the lake is via flat bottom boat.  I use Pa Nom:

 and his phone number is:

He is very nice, reasonably priced, and does not speak a word of English.  I’ve had my friends and fiancé speak with him in Thai to indicate what I’d like to do and he obliges as best as possible.  He is no spring chicken but he’ll jump off the boat and unclog the long tail propeller or push the stuck boat through the tangles with his long bamboo pole.  Basically, he’s really cool.

The location of Bueng Boraphet is to the east of the confluence of two (2) rivers - the Ping River and Nan River.  These two waterways, with additions from the Wang River and Yom River, combine together to make a single river called the Chao Phraya River. The Chao Phraya then runs its course southward through Bangkok  before flowing into the northern reach of the Gulf of Thailand.  Evidently, the Boraphet Marsh used to be called "Chom Beung" which translates into Northern Lake.  According to the Phuket Birder, the Boraphet Marsh water levels rose and fell at the mercy of the seasonal rains.  In 1926, "a royal decree was set forth to construct a dam as a means of conserving the water for the dry season and to preserve the area as a natural breeding station for freshwater fish in the central basin. Two years later the Treasury department declared the area a protected zone which in effect turned the lake into one of Thailand’s first national wildlife reserves."  I couldn't have said it better myself! 

As I said, Bueng Boraphet is extremely well documented on how to, what to find, and when to go birding.  I wouldn't do it justice -yet.  I will concentrate on my trips there relating my thoughts, feelings, impressions, and photos.  Stay tuned for posts about this beauty.

Trip 9 - Nam Nao National Park & Needletails - October 18-21, 2019

This October trip was scheduled to be a 4 day vigil at Khao Dinsor in Chumphon raptor watching.  Two days before I was to travel down there, the weather forecast looked really bad with 5 days of easterly winds and heavy, heavy rain.  After consulting with Rick Heil, I changed plans and decided to Nam Nao National Park for 4 days.  Why not!

Nam Nao NP is really spectacular.  The traditional drive-your-car-around and stop and hike birding was not what I had hoped for.  It is more of hike your butt off birding (I love Kaeng Krachan NP!).  I soon realized I was woefully wrong.  Nam Nao NP is huge and is not confined to the paid entrance to the visitors center and sprawling camp grounds.  It is huge.  During our first day there, we stopped at sunrise view point and then birded the "park".  Around 10, it got dead so Na and I decided to drive to nearby waterfalls.  We left the paid area and drove to the waterfalls in the middle of the day.  We hiked in and much to our chagrin, they were dry.  We missed that giant sign in the parking lot that said "waterfalls dry".

However, on our way there, we had passed a helipad that had this small pond adjacent to it with some open areas and pines as well as elephant licks.  So we headed back there to try our luck for afternoon birding.  What a fortuitous choice.

Birding here was pretty easy.  A small field with scrub and pines in the back with a pond dotted with dead trees with lots of woodpecker activity.  What happened next, this was on the 18th, was one of the most amazing birding experiences in my 30+ years of birding.  Around 1630, seemingly coalescing out of nowhere from the sky above, a few needletails starting coming into view.  This didn't stop as more arrived.  The group of birds kept circling lower and lower towards the pond.  With each passing circle, the grouping soon turned into an echelon of tightly knotted Brown-backed Needletail.  Of course I was snapping away but these suckers were really moving.   White-throated Needletail are the fast flapping speed birds out there at 105 mph (170 kph) and these Brown-backs were surely nearing 90-100 mph.  Needless to say, getting photos of these birds in flight in fading light was a challenge.

Then the most amazing thing happened.  The birds started speeding by my head, about 10 feet above me, as they seemingly checked me out.  Without further ado, they started surface drinking and bathing then fffffffffffffttttt they would blast by me standing there on the pond's shore edge.  This first group of Brown-backed Needletail included 36 birds.  They finished their evening duties and rose up and sped off quickly to the south east.

This repeated again over the next hour with groups of  23, 12, 4, and 3 for an evening total of 78.

10:19/19:  Of course we did this on the evening of the 19th.  This time I was better prepared for photo ops.  The total county was 87 broken down into groups of 26, 17, 34, 4, 5, and 1.

Here is a shot of them bathing at the pond's surface:

 Shots of them flying around my head:

 Here I was able to capture a sequence of one bird drinking at the surface!

10/20/19:  The evening of the 20th produced similar results with 56 broken down into groups of 17, 11, 2, 20, 3, 2, and  1.

Today included two new surprises.  A lone White-throated Needletail,

An unidentified needletail (probably a Brown-backed):

A lone Bank Swallow (Sand Martin):.

and 4 Crested Tree-Swift.

And what a way to end an evening but with a super sunset and high flying Brown-backed Needletail.