Dartford Waffler

Wetland Birding in Khorat | Birding in Thailand

Thailand is full of Birds Thailand is an extremely popular birding destination because of a number of top-quality sites around the country that provide the opportunity to see a wide variety and number of species, including many that are hard to see elsewhere or have very limited global ranges. Many species of birds are more [...]

North Sulawesi Highlight Species | Birding in Indonesia

After leading the highly successful 2026 edition of the Calidris Birding Tours North and Central Thailand tour, I had some time to spare and decided on a return to Indonesia. previously, in 2024 to focus on North Sulawesi’s endemic species. This trip report covers top sites on Sulawesi’s Minahasa peninsula — Gunung Mahawu, Dumoga-Bone and [...]

Gull Feeding Frenzy at Samut Sakhon | Birding in Thailand

Birds in a Park in Bukhara | Birding in Uzbekistan

Top 5 Birds of Vietnam Birding Tour 2025 | Birding in Vietnam

Wetland Birding in Khorat | Birding in Thailand

May 17th, 2026

Nick

Thailand is full of Birds

Thailand is an extremely popular birding destination because of a number of top-quality sites around the country that provide the opportunity to see a wide variety and number of species, including many that are hard to see elsewhere or have very limited global ranges. Many species of birds are more accessible in Thailand than elsewhere. However, another facet that adds to Thailand being a great birding destination is that one can find places to see good numbers of birds almost anywhere in the country; just pick somewhere to stay and find some interesting places to go birding that few other people have visited, and that is exactly what I found myself doing in Khorat recently.

A trip with my wife, to visit some temples in and around the city of Khorat (Nakhon Ratchasima), gave me the opportunity to stay in a nice hotel in the city and spend a few hours each morning birding nearby wetland sites. These sites were listed on eBird but do not receive large numbers of visits by birders and it is always a bit of fun to see how many species can be seen at a location I have not previously visited. The result was plenty of nice wetland and open country species before returning to the hotel each morning for a very good breakfast.

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North Sulawesi Highlight Species | Birding in Indonesia

April 5th, 2026

Nick

I had birded the well-travelled backpacker route of Java, Bali and Flores and had been itching to see more of this vast archipelago and its exciting birds. With the most endemic bird species of any country, Indonesia demands repeat visits for anyone serious about world birding and seeing a good proportion of the country’s specialities.

I quickly settled on Sulawesi as my destination. Sulawesi is the smallest of the four Greater Sundas (after Borneo, Sumatra and Java) and the only one situated east of the Wallace Line, Sulawesi (formerly Celebes) is a unique K-shaped island stuffed to the gills with beguiling endemic birds.

This article is a guest post by Joma Blair.

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Gull Feeding Frenzy at Samut Sakhon | Birding in Thailand

January 25th, 2026

Nick

A beautiful sunrise, thousands of birds, the sound of the sea; all the ingredients for one of the world’s birding hotspots, but in reality this is the atmosphere I was able to enjoy on a short morning excursion from Bangkok when visiting the “Red Bridge” coastal boardwalk in neighbouring Samut Sakhon province. Rather than being a cutting edge birding location the “Red Bridge” has become a well-known local tourist spot where people come to escape the city, enjoy the sea view, take photos on the boardwalk and connect with nature by feeding a flock of up to one thousand wintering Brown-headed Gulls. When things get busy here, at the weekend, the car park can be full and the restaurants without a free table but I arrived at dawn and with disturbance at its least I saw a good selection of birds along the boardwalk and surrounding mangrove fragments but, of course, it is the gulls that make the biggest spectacle. Read more »

Birds in a Park in Bukhara | Birding in Uzbekistan

January 2nd, 2026

Nick

Uzbekistan is one of those countries that is great for birding and at the same time extremely interesting in touristic terms too; an ideal place to travel with a non-birding partner and then to find time to go birding in locations near the tourist spots and to visit some really spectacular scenery. In late April 2025 I found myself in the historic city of Bukhara, enjoying the sites this amazing location has to offer, with my wife. Having visited Uzbekistan before and done a fair bit of birding this trip was most certainly not planned to maximise the birding potential, however, I still found time to look for birds in the early morning before our hotel served breakfast. Staying at Hotel Atlas we were placed at the heart of Bukhara old town and it was only a ten minute walk to Samonids Park, the closest place that might attract birds, particularly at this time of the year when migrants were passing through.

Join me on my next Central Asia birding trip - Central Asia Birding Tour.

I visited this park on two consecutive mornings and was pleasantly surprised how many species I was able to find, including the first adult Barred Warblers I had ever seen.

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Top 5 Birds of Vietnam Birding Tour 2025 | Birding in Vietnam

August 27th, 2025

Nick

ietnam is the country in mainland Southeast Asia with the highest number of endemic species and the best place to see a number of regional endemics too as well as a fantastic supporting cast of more widespread birds. Leading the Calidris Birding Tours trip to Southern and Central Vietnam in March/April 2025 gave all participants the opportunity to see a wide variety of fantastic birds in this interesting country. With high quality species such as Siamese Fireback, Blue-rumped Pitta, Vietnamese Cutia, Rusty-naped Pitta, Silver Pheasant, Spotted Forktail, Grey-crowned Crocias, Green Peafowl, Pale-headed Woodpecker, Black-crowned Barwing, Chestnut-eared Laughingthrush and Short-tailed Scimitar Babbler all being seen but not making this list it is clear that this Vietnam birding tour provided some exceptional birds.

Join me to see the best birds of Vietnam on next year’s trip - Vietnam Birding Tour.

At the end of this successful trip I asked all members of the group and our local guide, Tai, for their birds of the trip. Using the order in which they ranked their favourite species I allocated points and constructed this list of the top five birds of this Vietnam birding tour.

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A Day Birding in Qatar | Birding in Qatar

August 21st, 2025

Nick

My annual migration between Thailand and UK has not only seen the cost of direct flights rise dramatically but I have grown very tired of sitting on a plane for twelve hours, if only I was able to make the journey under self-powered flight like a Bar-tailed Godwit! Indirect flights are, of course, a solution to this and while fiddling around in a second airport is also annoying it provides birders such as myself the opportunity to go birding somewhere along the way, with stopovers of one, two or even three days often being cheaper than simply boarding the next plane. On this note I found myself in Qatar, with around twenty four hours to play with and a few key target birds to look for as well as several more species that I have seen only a few times as additional distractions. It was easy to deal with a hotel for the night, car rental and driving around Qatar and despite the brutal heat in early August I got great views of species I was hoping for such as Egyptian Nightjar, Greater Hoopoe-lark and Cream-coloured Courser with plenty of others thrown in for good measure.

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Parakeets & Peafowl | Birding in Thailand

June 20th, 2025

Nick

One thing I have learned over the years that I have been bird watching is that there are many different ways for people to enjoy birds. I started birding by going on long country walks in England with birds being perhaps the most accessible category of wildlife to enjoy along the way. Friends of mine enjoy sitting in hides for long periods to photograph and observe birds at close range while others drive the length of the country to see rarities. Done with respect to the birds and to other people, all of these methods, or any other, is the right way to go birding if that is what you enjoy. However, another thing I have learned is that it is good to combine different methods of birding, sometimes walking, sometimes sitting and waiting or sometimes covering a lot of ground quickly but standing in an observation tower and waiting for birds to arrive is a birding style that does not present itself to most birders very often. However, at the base of Doi Inthanon, over the course of several visits in early 2025, doing exactly this resulted in great views of a lot of birds, including highlights such as the magnificent Green Peafowl and Blossom-headed Parakeet. Read more »