noreply@blogger.com (Black Woodpecker) — Wed, 27 Jun 2007 10:35:00 +0000

Introduction

I wanted to try something different so I thought it would be nice to show pictures of some of the Birds, Butterflies and Mammals seen while in Thailand.

I thought that you might find it interesting to have some information on travel & accommodation etc, who knows you, may wish to go there one day. To that end I hope you find this blogger interesting and useful. While there I stayed at Ban Dang and Nam Nao.

All that’s left for me to say is ENJOY.

Ban Dang

I stayed in a village called Ban Dang some 30 km's from Khon Kaen (this is where Maurice lives). The surrounding area is made up of paddy fields with small scattered woodlands and a river of sorts. The birding here is of course quite different, you will find birds like the Barred Buttonquail, Asian barred-Owlet, Scarlet-backed Flowerpecker, Fulvous Woodpecker and Grey-breasted Prina. The butterflies are also different here.

Nam Nao National Park

The park covers an area of about 966 square kilometres in Petchabun and Chaiyapum provinces in northeast Thailand. Nam Nao is mainly dry dipterocarp, mixed deciduous, hill evergreen and pine forests. The open and dry deciduous and pine forests, are lush with grasses, this allows for some good un-obscured views of the birds in that area.

I went from Khon Kaen by car which cost me 1500 Baht (£22.98) or you can get the bus at a cost of around 120 Bhatt (£1.83). The journey takes about two hours by bus and one and half by car at a steady speed.

From Khon Kaen by bus it is important to get your connection by two o'clock in order to arrive at Nam Nao before the park closes at 17:00 hrs. The drive is two hours long but allow for any problems on route. When on the bus tell the conductor you want to get off at Nam Nao and they will stop at the right place for you, at the 50 km point, heading towards Lomsak.

At the gatehouse you have to pay an entrance fee of 200 Baht (£3.10), from here you can either walk the 2 Km's to the main building which is next to the restaurant (do not go to the HQ as they will only direct you to the main building which is further down the road) or you can hitch a ride, sometimes the staff on the gate will call for a lift if you ask them. The park staff are friendly and are interested in what you are doing and are keen to help.

In country help

My friend Maurice Newell lives in Ban Dang where he runs a general store which is the Thai version of 'Open all Hours'. Maurice can take you to where you need to go, for a small fee of course and he can arrange accommodation for you.

His contact details are:

Mobile (Thailand): 0066 850 065 250

E-mail: mauricenewell2@hotmail.com

Accommodation

You can book this on the internet at www.dnp.go.th. The lodges are in very good order although I am not keen on the French style toilets. The cost for me was 1000 Baht (£15.35) per night paid each day in advance. There is no fan or air conditioning in the rooms either. However I had a nice five man room all to myself, which works out at 200 Baht (£3.10) per person per night, not a bad price at all.

Others Costs

The one hour flight from Bangkok was just under 3000 Baht (£45.96) I returned to Bangkok by VIP Bus which cost me just over 300 Baht (£4.60) this was a six hour drive. Important to note here that you will have to get a taxi either to the airport (400 Baht plus 60 Baht for the toll charge, the taxi driver asked for the toll money once we were on the road, not much choice after that) or to the bus station then get the bus direct to the airport.

Check out this site for converting your money www.xe.com/ucc/

PARK WILDLIFE

Butterflies

The national park of Nam Nao lists some 200 species of butterfly. I guess I saw around 50 plus and at one point I had wished that I also had a field guide for butterflies with me as it would have been nice to know there names…then I realised that I did not need one, as the words I uttered seemed to be more fitting as names instead.

Names like the Wow Butterfly, The Amazing Butterfly, and the Wonderfully Stunning Butterfly…

Mammals

The park boosts Tiger, Leopard and Elephant of which I saw none, but I did hear elephant. However there were plenty of much smaller rodent like mammals of which I saw mostly squirrels. However the best of all, was while looking for owls one night I looked up to see a Hugh flying squirrel gliding over my head by about 2 meters…it was enough to take your breath away, in fact it did.

Birds

I have listed the birds seen on my trip below in no particular order the * represents new birds for me.

* Large Nitava

* Black-shouldered Kite

* Collared Falconet

Dark-necked Tailorbird

Common Tailorbird

* Sooty-headed Bulbul

Puff-throated Bulbul

Red-whiskered Bulbul

Streak-eared Bulbul

Black-crested Bulbul

* Black Bulbul

* Red-billed Scimitar Babbler

Hill Myna

Golden-crested Myna

White-vented Myna

Common Myna

Black-collared Starling

Ashy Wood Swallow

Pied Bushchat

* Common Woodshrike

White-rumped Shama

Oriental Magpie Robin

* Large-billed Crow

* Lesser Laced-necked Laughingthrush

* White-crested Laughingthrush

Eurasian Jay

* Crested Treeswift

* Chestnut-bellied Nuthatch

* Velvet Fronted Nuthatch

* Common Green Magpie

* White-throated Fantail

* Pied Fantail

Common Lora

Bar-winged Flycatcher Shrike

* Scarlet Minivet

* Green Bee-eater

Black –hooded Oriole

Bronzed-winged Drongo

Black Drongo

Ashy Drongo

Greater Racket-tailed Drongo

Spangled Drongo

* Golden-fronted Leafbird

Blue-winged Leafbird

* White-crowned Forktail

* Blossom-headed Parakeet

* Grey-breasted Prina

* Plain Prina

* Brown Prina

* Rufescent Prina

Cinnamon Bittern

* Black Baza

Crested Serpent Eagle

* Bersa

Barn Owl

* Asian-barred Owlet

* Collared Scops Owl

* Emerald Dove

* Mountain Imperial Pigeon

* Thick-billed Green Pigeon

* Red-collared Dove

Spotted Dove

* Brown-backed Needletail Swift

Asian Palm Swift

House Swift

Indian Roller

Green-billed Malkoha

Lesser Coucal

Lesser-whistling Duck

Red-headed Trogon

Great Hornbill

* Blue-throated Barbet

Great Barbet

Coppersmith Barbet

Grey-faced Woodpecker

Fulvous-breasted Woodpecker

* Grey-capped Pygmy Woodpecker

* White-bellied Woodpecker

* Common Flameback

* Greater Yellow-napped Woodpecker

* Lesser Yellow-napped Woodpecker

Jungle Fowl

Asian Paradise Flycatcher

Eurasian Tree Sparrow

Plain-backed Sparrow

Paddyfield Pipit

* Sultan Tit

* Blue Pitta

Olive-backed Sunbird

* Brown-throated Sunbird

Hoopoe

Scaly-breasted Munia

* Buff-breasted Babbler

* Indochinese Bushlark

* Large Woodshrike

* Asian Keol

* Barred Buttonquail

* Peaceful Dove

* Zitting Cisticola

* Chestnut-crowned Warbler

* Scarlet-breasted Flowerpecker

* Fire-backed Flowerpecker

Yellow-vented Flowerpecker

* White-bellied Yuhina

Lesser Whitethroat – I have had some feedback from Thailand questioning this sighting so I have now renamed it LBJ. Ah well Happy days, maybe I will have to go back?

Thailand: Ban Dang to Nam Nao