Central Thailand Bird Watching 7 Days Trip

Our 7 days tour in central Thailand focus mainly in 2 national parks, Khao Yai and Kaeng Krachan National Park. Other birding sites that we will also explore comprise of Limestone mountain in Saraburi Province, Pak Thale salt-pans, Laem Phak Bia sand spit, rice fields and wetlands in Phetchaburi Province. Khao Yai National Park is the first established national park in Thailand.

Khao Yai together with other adjacent national parks and forest reserves were declared as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2005, which called Dong Phayayen-Khao Yai Forest Complex. Khao Yai NP is the most visited park in Thailand as its location is not far from Bangkok and the park contains very good facilities for tourists. It is also well-known for the great place for birds and wildlife watching. Kaeng Krachan National Park is the largest park in the country and declared as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2021. It renowned for its high diversity of birds and wildlife, many birders named it “the capital of Thailand birdwatching”. Its location is a conjunction point between the upper and the lower part of the country. The high season for birding in this park extends longer than other parks in Thailand. However, tourist facility in this park is completely different from Khao Yai NP, it is very limited as the whole area is a very steep mountain and caught much less attention from tourists. There is only one road go through the park from the entrance to the top peak, a first half of the road is a good paved road but a second half is a rough and steep dirt road. Pak Thale salt-pans is situated along the shoreline of the Inner Gulf of Thailand, it is one of the country largest traditional salt production area. These salt-pans are well-known as the international important site for migratory shorebirds in Southeast Asia, where it is a suitable wintering site for some of critically endangered species such as Spoon-billed Sandpiper and Nordmann’s Greenshank (over 10% of global population of Nordmann’s Greenshank wintering in the inner gulf of Thailand), as well as considerable numbers of many other shorebirds. Laem Phak Bia sand spit located nearby Pak Thale salt-pans, it holds other few species of rare shorebirds that restricted to a sand bar habitat. We must take a boat through mangroves to get to this sand spit, on the boat we can also connect with more species inhibit the mangroves too. Rice fields in Phetchaburi Province are also very interesting to explore, some of birds that spend their winter in rice paddies is a critically endangered species such as Yellow-breasted Bunting. Rice paddies are apparently a fabulous habitat that holds a high diversity of birds, hang around for few hours in this habitat can be very productive afternoon.

Please look at the itinerary for expected species that we stand a high chance to see at each destination.