Return to trip reports.This report describes the travel and logistic part of the trip, which can be supplemented by the separate annotated species lists for the individual countries (available from the authors; some are on-line here - follow the links), or the more concise species list for the trip as a whole (included).
It should be emphasized that the birding was at all times casual. The objective was not to run up high species counts, but to enjoy fairly relaxed world travel, gain a passing familiarity with the avifauna of the region, and to feel the exhilaration of sheer discovery -- finding birding 'hotspots' while the professionally guided tour groups are elsewhere. Above all, the objective was to do it on the cheap. No tour guides, no taxis, no hired cars, no excess baggage of field guides. No effort was made to reach remote habitats or to seek out rare birds. The total cost came to $3,800 for two round-the-world air tickets (we know now it can be done cheaper) and $5,200 for everything else, which comes to $9,000 for eight months. That's $550 per person per month, including air fare. Food and lodgings were Spartan, which requires a certain philosophical approach. For $9,000, we could have bought a package three-week tour of an exotic birding locale and maybe even seen 430 species. This account describes a different slant on birding, and the two should not be confused.
The first day started when our friend picked us up before dawn in Madison, Florida to drive us to Tallahassee airport, and 26 hours later we tucked ourselves in for a good night's sleep in a cheap hotel just off the main drag in downtown Seoul, South Korea. Seoul struck us as a remarkably safe-looking city, and we felt perfectly comfortable as an English-speaking acquaintance led us through the back streets searching for the Lonely-Planet-recommended hotel. It was the first time either of us had been in Asia, and we found Seoul to be a refreshingly peaceful and orderly city, considering it is the world's fifth largest.
The next morning, two things became clear. First, the city is not a place to bird, and second, South Korea is not a place for budget travellers. Prices are not as high as Japan, but much higher than the travellers meccas in southeast Asia. Food is especially dear, in restaurants or supermarkets. So we quickly headed for the countryside, with Sorak-san National Park our destination.
Our first real birding was on the morning of September 17, arising on a quiet side street in the little town of Sorak-san, adjoining the national park. Wires and antennas were covered with various tits and colorful Daurian redstarts, and we were burning with desire to plunge headlong into these mysterious unfamiliar Old-World bird families. That was soon blunted with our arrival at the Park itself, where there were nearly 100 busses extruding thousands of uniformed school children, being marshalled into groups by bullhorn-wielding wardens. Vacationing is like this in an affluent country the size of Indiana with no crossable land borders and 50-million inhabitants. We immediately left the parking lot, and walked the three miles back to the town, where we could consult maps and look for fresh birding ideas. That was the day the North Korean submarine went aground and spies headed for the hills. Which hills? Why, the hills of Sorak-san National Park, of course -- although we didn't know about that until several days later. News is hard to get when you don't know the language.
Next came Hupo, and we fell in love with the place. The little fishing village had a bus station, a hotel or two, a deserted beach, and a few rice paddies backed up by gentle wooded hills. None of the several thousand inhabitants spoke a word of English, but they were all hospitable, and the birding restored our faith. We had zero preparation for birding Korea -- solicitations on the Internet had failed to come up with a single contact who could tell us much about birding there, and we didn't even have a field guide. To keep weight down, King and Woodcock's 'Southeast Asia' would have to do. We did, finally, find a very inexpensive little Korean book of bird photos, which identified every single bird we saw that was not in King/Woodcock.
After Hupo, came optimism, and went on to equally fruitful birding in Kyong-ju. That, too, is a major tourist attraction, featuring historic site of Pulguk-sa. Kyong-ju is quite a large city, and the main part of town lies on a river bank. Remarkably, nothing lies on the opposite bank, and the birding is good and easy, right across the main bridge. At Pulguk-sa, the parking lot was much like the one at Sorak-san, but the tourist attraction lies inside the walls, and the birding is in the quiet forest lands just outside the walls. Again, good, easy birding.
South Korea took ten days, and a huge chunk of our budget, but in return, it yielded 50 species to us green-horn novices who spent days sorting out things like Eurasian jays. We were reinventing the wheel, and loving it, and heading for Taiwan.
We arrived there in a typhoon. Didn't understand the TV news. Taipei is the opposite of the planned and well-ordered Seoul. It is dirt and chaos, but just as expensive as plan and order. Food is better in Taiwan (but still mostly tofu), but everything is still just as expensive. In Taipei we sat in the pouring rain for two days, thought it was letting up, and went to Wulai, the crown jewel of Taipei-area birding. Our only luck there was the four teenagers collecting plant specimens for a children's workshop they do, and they let us have their umbrellas and rain-coats. It was our first of many wonderful impressions of the Chinese people: What do kids do on rainy weekends? They go out and get drenched, to help younger kids better themselves, and in the process, they guide dumb Americans on a fruitless bird walk, with never a gloomy moment. To the end of China, we would be continually astonished at the patient generosity of these good-natured people.
On September 30, the rain stopped and we headed down the west coast to the Central Cross-island Highway. Taiwan is even more densely populated than South Korea, but the vast mountainous interior is rugged and remote, transected only by a couple of spectacular roads. Our stops crossing the island were Lishan and Tienhsiang, which have lodgings. Birding is disappointing at both places, although either could be a starting point for more ambitious ventures into the mountains which I think deserve more attention from world birders. Taiwan has 14 endemic species, which are thankfully described and illustrated in a brochure distributed free at the tourist information booth at Taipei airport. Half the endemics are fairly common and easy to see.
From Tienhsiang, Sister Andre from Louisiana offered us a lift in her car down to Taitung. As she made a few parish stops along the way, we had an occasional half-hour to bird the countryside on the old coastal road from Hualien to Taitung. Taitung then proved to be one of those unusual cities that has quite good urban birding. Commonplace birds, of course, but new to us. A day trip to the nearby resort town of Chihpen also yielded some new birds, but was unspectacular.
The train trip back up to Taipei was one of those exasperating experiences in which birds were everywhere, but we were held prisoner by the train, and could only watch them tantalizingly flit by. Coincidentally, the Taiwan visit was the same number of days as Korea, we spent the same amount of money (almost to the dollar), and saw an almost equal 48 species. Our day-to-day expenses in each country came to $50 a day.
Hong Kong would also have been a budget-breaking visit, if not for our our old acquaintance who offered to let us sleep on the floor in his tiny flat in Junk Bay. More of a social visit than a birding experience, but we were rewarded with a fascinating look at what life is like in a Hong Kong working-class suburb. Rushing about arranging China and Vietnam visas and tracking down travel lore took up a lot of our time, as well, and we only had one day of real birding. We went to Tai Po Kau, and there we met Samson So, a local birder who was kind enough to accompany us for the rest of the day and show us sites that would have otherwise remained unguessed. Mai Po did not make it into our itinerary, due partly to the necessity to make advance arrangements to go there. And, once we had made commitments to dated visas for China and Vietnam, we no longer had the luxury of hanging around. We also went to Macao and included a morning of diligent birding on Coloane Island, but saw little. Our species list for Hong Kong/Macao includes 36 birds. Not impressive, but it includes most of the species I have seen on other people's lists, except those of Mai Po.
Ahhh, China!! What can I say in a million words or less about China? China (along with a total solar eclipse) is on my very short list of the most amazing and incredible and indescribable and unexpected experiences in my life. GO TO CHINA! Find the smallest towns you can get to and sleep at (there aren't many) and go out and bird. An easy place is Yangshuo, a couple of days from Hong Kong, in eastern Guangxi province. Its a popular hangout for international back-packers, but still retains a fairly Chinese flavor, and its very small. Good birding is an easy walk into the countryside, and whatever you may have heard about China, there are still birds in the countryside. Outside the cities,its surprising how far away those billion Chinese seem to be, and how quickly you have left them behind. The people you do meet will be perfectly nonchalant. They will greet you as they would nod to a neighbor they see every day, and exhibit no suspicion as to why you are walking through their paddyfield. As everywhere, learn how to say "I'm looking at birds" in the local language.
Another day's travel, and we were in Longshen, near the border with Guizhou province, with Common kingfishers and Plumbeous redstarts working the river just below our hotel balcony. The road into Longshen came down out of a mountain forest, so the next morning we caught a bus about ten miles back up that road and just got off. The birding was equal to what one would expect walking along a little-used road in the mountains of Virginia or Missouri, and the surroundings not dissimilar. After four hard days on the road in this little-travelled part of China, we arrived in our only other birding spot, Anshun, a fairly large town in Guizhou province. Our hotel was at the edge of town where the city dropped off quickly into agricultural land, which afforded some nice birding. There is also a lake on the edge of the town, with still different birds in that habitat. We had also hoped to bird around Xingyi, in southwest Guizhou, but four days of steady rain there prevented both birding and departure over the muddy roads, so our time was spent eating spectacular Chinese food to the point of extravagance. Once the roads opened, it was off to Nanning and on November 7, the train to Vietnam.
Hanoi is a genuinely beautiful city in a world that is becoming more architecturally grotesque by the minute. There is French bread, pate', cheese, and cafe-au-lait. The only way out of town is by booking a 50 dollar a day tour to a place where there might not be birds and certainly no opportunity to view them. Everyone told us not to try to go independently to anyplace -- a tour would be cheaper and less stressful in the long run. They were right, but we tried anyway. We tried to go to Tam Dao, an old French hill station on the itinerary of the prestigious bird tours. With absolute assurances from everyone in Hanoi that there was a bus to Tam Dao, we set out. The bus put us off at a place where the sign said "Tam Dao -- 10 km", and two men with motorcycles offered to take us there for twenty dollars each. We started walking back toward Hanoi, and arrived there by virtue of the fact that almost everyone in Vietnam is very nice, although people who prey on travellers may not be. And a few other people are not, either, but that's a non-bird-related story.
We took an overnight train from Hanoi to Hue, which would give access to the only land border point for crossing into Laos. In Hue it was raining, and it had been raining for a month. We met other travellers a month later who said it was still raining in Hue. No birding in Hue. No going anywhere from Hue, except by Tour-bus. The only way to the Laos border was on a tour-bus visiting the nearby Demilitarized Zone, and sure enough, a motorcycle waiting to taxi us to the actual border. So now it is November 20, and we arrive at the Laos border post with a five-day transit visa. That turned out to be less than enough -- and more than enough. Less than enough because Laos is such a charming and relaxing country, of genuinely pleasant people who have seen so few tourists, the children don't even know how to say 'hello' in English. More than enough because collecting birds for the cage and pot is the national cottage industry in Laos, and few birds have survived the carpet-bombing of the 70's and the collecting since. Most of our time was in the southern town of Savannakhet, a timeless place that defies description, and walks out of town might yield about one bird-song per mile. We saw 13 species.
As we entered Thailand, 25 days had passed in the month of November, and not one of them was even a fairly good bird day. The border town is Nongkhai, and it seemed like more species of birds while walking with our bags from the bus station to our hotel, than we saw in all of Laos in five days. Suddenly we're excited again -- for two days we rushed about Nongkhai looking on riverbanks, and back yards, and vacant lots and monasteries for birds. Well, we saw 15 species in Nongkhai, same ones over and over again, but there were dense populations, and we headed up the Mekong river.
Sangkom was the first stop. Lovely bamboo huts along the river for about two dollars a night, and a ten minute walk out of town in any direction. Most walks looked like great habitat, but no birds. But a few hot spots that were quite productive, so still a good bird stop. We soon learned that Thailand would offer very few places like Sangkom. As in most of South America, Thai infrastructure tends to be concentrated at the center of sprawling urbanity. If the bus stops, there is sure to be concrete from horizon to horizon, and birding can only be done at set-aside places.
One such set aside place is Old Sukhotai. Like Pulguk-sa in Korea, it is a walled-in archaeological site, covering a fairly large area, with plenty of grass and water and trees amidst the monuments. The birding is rewarding, and even better outside the walls in the back, where nobody ever goes except the local farmers. The site is easily accessible from New Sukhotai, a modern city with good and convenient lodgings.
Around Chiang Mai, in northwest Thailand, there are two national parks that are well-known among birders, but access is problematic except for those with private cars, or on group tours, so we gave them the miss. Instead, we simply changed busses at Chiang Mai and went on to Pai, an agricultural town part way up the mountains towards Burma. Pai, like Sangkom, has lodgings catering to the backpack set, and is small enough to enable quick walks out of town in any direction. And, the birding is very good, yielding 31 species for a couple of morning walks.
A few hours ride further up toward Burma lies the village of Soppong, which is the access point for the Lod Caves -- and finally we were in a glorious birding hotspot! The caves are central to a small well-laid-out National Park, and we saw 50 species there in three days, many from the deck of our bamboo hut beside the river. Only eight of the Pai and Soppong birds overlapped, so the total species for the two sites was 73.
We resolved to stop again at Soppong on the way back north, for spring birding, and headed for Bangkok and our onward flight to Singapore. We would need to return overland to Bangkok, to fly on to Nepal. Our visa expired on Christmas day, so we rushed on, wanting to be settled in somewhere then, hopefully a place where public observances would cause us the least inconvenience. Long-haul travellers hate holidays.
Singapore can also be a budget-buster, but the enclave of Little India is a life-saver for the backpacker, where there are modestly-priced guest houses and fabulous, cheap Indian food. Settled in, we called Birdchatter Victor Yue, whom we had met on the Internet. He proved to be the kind of host one dreams of, and he set about to ensure that we would see every bird in Singapore. To him, we will be grateful forever. But we had no opportunity to explore Singapore on our own for accidental hot spots, and our bird list in this case is the one that arises with the aid of a knowledgeable patron.
Indonesia provided us with some decision problems. Visas are good for 60 days, travel is slow, and several major holiday encumbrances were approaching, including Chinese New Year, which shuts down virtually every business enterprise in the country for nearly a week, and Ramadan, which culminates with a festive weekend that places a premium on every transportation ticket for a fortnight. We decided to lay low in a hospitable place, and we moved in for the duration with a family on the tiny, depressed island of Singkep, a few minutes south of the Equator off the east coast of Sumatra. It was time for a rest, so we took it easy from New Years Day to February 20, never venturing further from our house than we could walk. Singkep is a tin-mining island, and the mines closed some 15 years ago, leaving a skeleton populace and a crumbling infrastructure, holding the fort in a town called Dabo, about 6 blocks square. A once-attractive public library, surrounded by gardens and a moat, is quietly being reclaimed by the jungle. We counted 43 species around Dabo, all but 5 of them in the 300-yard long lightly-wooded pasture between our house and the hospital. The list must be nearly complete -- we added no new species in our final two weeks.
We left Singkep Island on the first boat after the holiday rush, with barely a week left on our visa for the return to Singapore. We used that week to cross central Sumatra and back, with birding stops in Bukittingi and Maninjau. Bukittingi is an old hill resort town in the highlands, with a spectacular and beautiful canyon right out its back door. The walk down the canyon is easy and delightful. I believe we were there on a slow bird day, but we had to push on to Maninjau which offered much more promise.
And it delivered. In three days, we saw 34 species within about 300 yards of our beautifully situated hillside hotel overlooking the lake and the mountains that surround it. And then back to Singapore to touch base with old friends, buy Kate a replacement pair of binoculars,and the trip north.
Additional Indonesia information.
Malaysia is bird heaven. Mersing, a few hours up the east coast from Singapore, was our first night stopover. Early in the morning, Kate went out to buy fruit, and came running back into the hotel shouting "Hornbills!". There they were, a dozen Southern pied hornbills, hopping about on the roof ledge and antennas of the 3-story building right behind our downtown hotel. The first birds she saw in her new binoculars. And, it kept getting better. Mersin was too urban for birding, so we headed up the coast for a suggested stop in Rompin, requiring a bus change in Endau. Well, Rompin looked generally ugly and uninviting with concrete everywhere, so we decided to backtrack to Endau -- more like our kind of sleepy backwater, and Kate had seen a little hotel sign by the bus stop. Endau, Johore, was the high point of our entire trip. We spent the first week of March being fussed over by the extended family of the Chinese hotel proprietor, all amazed that anyone would ever stop there for the night, much less a week. The first morning we walked through the city dump and along an abandoned road through a mangrove forest to a disused ferry landing, and saw 35 birds by 9 AM. After trying that for a few days, we sought fresher pastures, and walked the other end of town behind the post office along a drainage canal, and saw 34 birds by 10 o'clock. Total Endau list was 73 species, and we couldn't drag ourselves away. BTW, Endau's city dump is ten times worse than the famous birding hotspot at Fraser's Hill.
But leave we did, for the spring crept on in northern climes and we had an agenda. A couple of days in a tiny fishing village of Penyabong, near Endau, had fewer birds, but the seafood was great. And then it was on to Fraser's Hill to compare dumps. Only one bus a day goes by Fraser's Hill, dropping passengers at The Gap, consisting of a wonderful old British colonial hotel and a barricade that controls the alternating one-way traffic eight miles up to Fraser's Hill. There's good birding around The Gap, and its easy to hitch a lift up the hill, because drivers have to wait for the gate to open. So easy, you can stay cheaper at the Gap and commute for Hill birding. The dump really is the best birding at Fraser's Hill, which arguably makes it the best birding in Malaysia, and a case could therefore be made for calling the Dump the best birding in the world. Caught alone there in the rain (a daily occurrence), we built a shelter out of a door, two oil drums, and some plastic sheeting. Our Canadian acquaintance, Halsey Bradford, suspected we'd be there, and came to rescue us in his rented car.
We were of two minds about Taman Negara National Park, but we finally decided to go, and regretted it. It is dense jungle birding, which is difficult, few target birds are actually seen. Costs are high for access, and poor budget lodgings, and competitive marketing is aggressive in a park that is now under private ownership. There is no bird information or interpretation on site, and rangers are ornithologically ignorant. Yes, we saw birds there, but no, we did not see more birds there than we saw in the suburban gardens of the town of Kuala Lipis, just outside the northwestern park boundaries. In fact, Kuala Lipis is a nicer, cheaper place than Taman Negara, with more visible birds and easier walks, and it's right there on the main rail line.
Already March 25, with a ton of spring birding to do, we crossed into Thailand, and immediately remembered all the things we did not like about that country. And, Peninsular Thailand was worse than the north. Concrete everywhere, traffic horrendous, and the countryside looking like it had been strip-mined. Little places that look on the map like minor provincial towns are burgeoning cities whose bus stations are five miles from the center. Noise that never stops, most of it coming from loud speakers. Target destination: Thale Noi, the famous aquatic bird refuge. Before Thale Noi, absolutely nothing that looks birdable. Thale Noi town sits right on the lakeshore of the refuge. We asked about hiring a boat, but nothing exists without an outboard motor. We asked for a bird list, but none in any language, and there is no information at all in English, nor any staff that speaks it. The town has a festive market at night, with giant loudspeakers blaring. At 6 PM we hitchhiked to the next town. But we saw the Pheasant-tailed jacana. After Thale Noi, absolutely nothing that looks birdable, all the way to Bangkok.
A footnote here on Burma, which is accessible for birding with a one-month visa, but entry is permitted only by flying in and out of Rangoon. By all accounts, it is a wonderful country to visit, but I have heard no birding reports. We entered Burma on a day-pass, which can often be arranged at several border points with Thailand. We crossed as early as possible from Ranong, Thailand, to Victoria Point, at the southern extremity of Burma, but it is quite late in the day before any birding areas could be reached. We hired a taxi to take us out of town and made a couple of quick reconnaissance stops, but saw very few birds, although the opportunity to see the country was more than worth the effort. We would rather have stayed in lovely Burma than go back to Thailand.
By then, we were fed up with Thailand, and decided to go directly to Bangkok and book our flight to Nepal, writing off the planned spring birding in the northwest, and on April 10, we flew to Kathmandu. Since Burma's land borders are all sealed off to any travel, flying is the only way, but cheap fares to Nepal (and everywhere else) can be found in Bangkok. The first thing we did in Kathmandu was look up Rabindra Manandhar, at the Wisdom Bookshop in Chetrapati district. He's one of Nepal's most knowledgeable birders, and although he is a professional guide, he is happy to talk birding sites with anyone who expresses an interest. His advice was invaluable -- the more so because there is not yet a usable field guide to the birds of the Indian subcontinent. Salim Ali's latest edition still covers only 550 species. However, we found that about 95 percent of the species we saw in Nepal and eastern India were covered in King/Woodcock, since there are records of so many of them in the highlands of western Burma. So King/Woodcock is the book, anywhere beyond the Ganges.
Our first Nepal birding was the short bus trip out to Godavari, in the southeast part of the Kathmandu Valley. We did not do the top of Godavari, despite the importance of the highland birding up there, because it is a long and arduous walk or an expensive taxi ride to the top. But a lot of species can be counted on the lower slopes. Birding Godavari's Botanical Gardens should not be missed. There are no lodgings in Godavari, but Mrs. Thapa will find visiting naturalists a room in her Rooftop Restaurant, a mile back toward Kathmandu from the Godavari bus park. Living nearby is her brother, Mahendra Singh Limbu, perhaps Nepal's foremost lepidopterist.
The number of birding options in Nepal is mind-boggling, but transportation within the country is gruelling. We chose Pokhara as our major stop in the west. It's a nice, comfortable town with a good infrastructure for visiting travellers, and excellent birding within walking distance of the town. Pokhara is also far enough up out of the tropical lowlands that April is still somewhat temperate. Again, the calendar cut us short, and we left Nepal to try to bird Assam and Bangladesh before the monsoons, Kossi Tappu would have been a birding stop in eastern Nepal's lowlands, but this late in the year, the wetlands were again quiet, but we saw a few birds there as the bus passed through a part of the refuge.
Ahhh, India!!! India is notorious for its infuriating red-tape and bureaucracy, but once you have your Indian visa, you'll have been through the worst of it. India: where no language is spoken by more than a quarter of its citizens, and all cars (there are no imports) are 1952 models -- even the '97's.
Crossing from eastern Nepal, the first look at urban India is Siliguri, after a lovely, bucolic half-hour ride through green countryside, naming birds flitting from the roadside. Siliguri's cluster of tourist hotels are across busy main highway from the bus station, but Siliguri also had an interesting message about birding in India. In a two block walk along the side street behind our hotel, I counted 20 species of birds in a half-hour walk. In India, birds are everywhere -- even in the heart of cities.
From Siliguri, upwards, to the Himalayan slopes that we did not really penetrate in Nepal. Sikkim, a generation ago, was a sealed off kingdom of mystery, but now a popular destination for Indian holidays, and the birding is wonderful. The scenery on the drive up to Pelling is breathtaking, and the town is freezing, even on April 25. Birds are abundant everywhere, especially on the walk up to the Pemiyangtse Monastery. Birders and other early risers get great views of Kanchanjunga, the world's third highest mountain. After three days of bone-chilling Sikkim weather, we headed for the lowlands, in a race with the monsoons.
All roads lead from Siliguri, as does the train to Guwahati, capital of mysterious Assam. This is the odd appendage of northeast India, connected precariously to the motherland by a pencil-thin corridor that separates Nepal from Bangladesh, and the Assamese pay an equally tenuous homage to Indian sovereignty. So much so, that the entire region was off-limits to foreigners and Indians alike until 1995, when three states relaxed the restrictions and permitted free access. From our seat on the train into Assam, we identified 31 species -- Is there no bad birding in India?
After an overnight stop in Guwahati, we got to Kaziranga National Park in the nick of time. In anticipation of the monsoons, the park closes for the season on the first of May, officially, but if it hasn't rained yet, park operations continue for a few days. Lucky for us, it hadn't rained yet, and we shared a tour with a German couple, seeing the rhinos and elephants, and a look at the big birds. Park access is expensive, though, and visitors have to remain in the jeep with an armed guard, so passerine birding is just as good on the outside, where we spent the next two days. The highlights included our first look at a genuine monsoon downpour, from the balcony of our luxurious room at the lodge, now at low-season rates. The rain was also our warning to head for Bangladesh, for the downpours would be daily occurrences in a few weeks.
Going from Assam to Bangladesh is still on the dwindling list of real travel adventures. The Bangladesh High Commission is in Agartala, so for a visa, we needed to travel through the states of Assam, Meghalaya and Tripura. The first two are pretty straightforward, but the opening up of Tripura for travel may have been a bit premature. Owing to native terrorists, traffic moves to Agartala in a daily convoy, which for reasons unknown, goes at night. It was truly spectacular to see the chaos when the two convoys of over a hundred trucks and busses met each other along the way, with the Indian drivers still determined to overtake each other at every opportunity, and to stop in the road for tea. We later learned part of the reason -- an Indian security forces patrol had been ambushed earlier in the day, twenty of them killed, and they were not available for duty that night to keep things orderly. Nevertheless, the rebels missed their opportunity to massacre us all, and we arrived safely in Agartala. That state capital, too, has fine birding right downtown, but our attention was on the Bangladesh border formalities.
Everyone tried to act un-astonished, but it was clear that the visa officer, Indian and Bangladesh immigration, and the railroad ticket master in Bangladesh had seen few if any foreigners, and had very unclear ideas about the protocol to be followed. But their determination to be nonchalant overcame any inclination to be obstructive, so the process was as painless as any other border crossing, although we had to shake a lot of hands and drink a lot of tea. The only transport from the border post to the railway village was bicycle rickshaw, and it was wonderful to pass through the fields many miles from the nearest internal combustion machine, while fence-post birds remained unfazed by our passing. Once in Bangladesh, our three-hour wait for the Dhaka train was the most exciting thing that had happened there since the last derailment. The boldest bystanders offered various personal assistances, or at least expressions of concern for our well-being in the most non-threatening place on earth. When finally the train came, an ad-hoc committee escorted us to our correct seats, and dozens more shook hands with us through the train window to wish us a good journey. The whistle blew and we started out for Dhaka laden with gifts and goodies.
That was our last great adventure. In Dhaka, we met one of the two native Bangladeshi birders, Dr. Ronald Halder, who drove us to Madhapur Preserve a couple of times for the only remaining good birding in the country at that late spring date. We were tired, I was losing weight from amoebas, and we checked into an air-conditioned room with cable TV. With skies darkening from the great cyclone of '97, Ronnie drove us to the airport for our flight to Dubai and on to America, from where we are determined to one day return to India. In Dubai, on May 22, we saw the Indian Silverbill -- bird #430.
Location code:
T = Thailand 12/96
Nongkhai, Sangkhom, Sukhotai, Pai, Soppong
(Peninsular) Thale Noi, Koh Chao 4/97
M = Malaysia 3/97
Endau, Fraser's Hill & Gap, Taman Negara, Kuala Lipis
S = Singapore 12/96
Sungei Buoh, Bukit Timah, Bukit Khalang, Pulau Ubin
I = Sumatra, Indonesia 1-2/97
Dabo (Singkep Is.), Bukittingi, Maninjau (Sumatra)
N = Nepal 4/97
Godawari, Pokhara, Koshi Tappu
A = Assam and Sikkim, India 5/97
Pelling (Sikkim), Siliguri, Kaziranga N.P. (Assam)
B = Bangladesh 5/97
Madhapur Preserve
K = South Korea 9/96
Hupo, Kyong-ju, Soraksan
W = Taiwan 10/96
Wulai, Lishan, Tienhsiang, Taitung, Chihpen
H = Hong Kong and Macao 10/96
Tai Po Kau (H) and Coloane Island (M)
C = China (south-central) 11/96
Yangshuo, Longshen (Guangxi), Anshun (Guizhou)
V = Vietnam (Hanoi) 11/96
L = Laos (Savannakhet) 11/96
Y = Burma (Victoria point) 4/97
E = United Arab Emirates (Dubai) 5/97
Species number and nomenclature according to King/Woodcock's Birds of Southeast Asia (Number blank if not listed in King/Woodcock)
Absence of "remarks" implies bird seen at several locations or multiple sightings, and is fairly common and/or widespread.
?? = Identification difficulty (In all such cases, the species chosen is the most probable given range, habitat, abundance, etc.)
No. Name Country Latin name Remarks ---- ---- ------- ---------- ------- 2 Little grebe A K Podiceps ruficolis 11 Spot-bill pelican A Pelicanus philippensis In Kaziranga NP 15 Great cormorant W Phalacocorax carbo One, Taitung 16 Indian shag A P. fuscicolis In Kaziranga NP 18 Little cormorant T A P. niger 19 Oriental darter A Anhinga melanogaster In Kaziranga NP 24 Great bill heron K Ardea sumatrana River, Kyongju 25 Gray heron S A K A. cinerea 26 Purple heron T SI A A. purpurea 27 Little heron TMS Butorides striatus 28 Indian pond-heron NAB Ardeola grayii 29 CHinese pond-heron TM H A. bacchus Common 31 Cattle egret T INAB W Bubulcus ibis 32 Pacific reef-egret TM K H Egretta sacra All dark phase 34 Great egret TMS NA KW E. alba 35 Plumed egret S E. intermedia Pulau Ubin 36 Little egret TMS NABKWH V E. garzetta 37 Black-crown hight-heron BK Nyct. nycticorax 39 Yellow bittern T I Ixobrychus sinensis One, Dabo & Thale Noi 41 Cinnamon bittern M I. cinnamomeus One, Endau 46 Asian openbill A Anastomus oscitans FC, In Kaziranga NP 47 White stork NA Cic. ciconia FC, roadsides 52 Lesser adjutant A Leptoptilos javanicus Several, roadsides 64 Lesser treeduck T Dendrocygna javanica Few, Thale Noi 68 Common pintail A Anas acuta In Kaziranga NP 72 Spot-bill duck K A. poecilorhyncha Many in lake, Hupo 74 Gadwall K A. strepera lake, Hupo 76 Eurasian widgeon K A. penelope River, Kyongju 77 Garganey K A. querquedula Lake, Hupo 86 Mandarin duck K Aix galericulata Lake, Hupo 95 Osprey I Pandion haliaetus One, Dabo 97 Black baza T SI Aviceda leuphotes Fairly common 100 Black shoulder kite T I A Elanus caeruleus 101 Black kite INAB H Milvus migrans Common 102 Brahminy kite TMSINA Haliastur indus Common 103 White-belly sea-eagle TMSI B Haliaeetus leucogaster 104 Pallas' fish-eagle A H. leucoryphus One, In Kaziranga NP 108 Egyptian vulture NA Neophron percnepterus 109 White-rump vulture NA Gyps bengalensis 110 Long-bill vulture NAB G. indicus --- Indian griffon vulture N G. fulvus 111 Red-head vulture N Sarcogyps calvus 114 Crested serpent-eagle M B V Spilornus cheela 120 Northern goshawk K HC Accipiter gentilis ?? 121 Japanese sparrowhawk I A. gularis ?? One, Singkep 123 Northern sparrowhawk N K A. nisus ?? 124 Crested goshawk W A. trivirgatus ?? 126 Shikra T A. badius ?? 129 Gray-face buzzard S Butastur indicus 130 Common buzzard T Buteo buteo 133 Black eagle N Ictinaetus malayensis One, Godavari 135 Greater spotted eagle N Aquila clanga One, Pokhara 144 Blyths hawk-eagle M Spizaetus alboniger Fraser's Hill 146 White-rump falcon T Polihierex insignis Sangkhom 147 Collared falconet T Microhierex caerulescens Pai & Soppong 151 Eurasian kestrel T N C Falco tinnunculus 152 Amur falcon N F. amurensis One, Godavari 154 Northern hobby K F.subbuteo ?? 158 Peregrine falcon C F. peregrinus One, Anshun 159 Chinese francolin C Francolinus pintadaenus Bevy, Yangshuo ?? --- Hazel grouse K Tetrastes bonasia ?? Kyongju 179 Kalij pheasant NA Lophura leucomalana FC, Kaziranga --- Ring-neck pheasant K Phasianus colchicus 186 Red junglefowl A Gallus gallus In Kaziranga NP 195(Great argus) M Argusianus argus Heard, T. Negara NP 215 White-breast waterhen TMSINA H Amaurornis phoenicurus Common 217 Common moorhen M Gallinula chloropus One, Endau 218 Purple swamphen T Por. Porphyrio Thale Noi 223 Pheasant-tail jacana T Hydrophasianus chirurgus Thale Noi 224 Bronze-wing jacana T A Metopedius indicus Common, Thale Noi 228 Gray-head lapwing T Vanellus cinereus Pai 229 Red-wattle lapwing M A V. indicus 232 Lesser golden plover S Pluvialis dominica Sungei Buloh 234 Little ringed plover T W Charadrius dubius 242 Whimbrel S Numenius phaeopus Sungei Buloh 248 Common redshank S Tringa totanus Sungei Buloh 249 Marsh sandpiper T S T. stagnatilis 250 Common greenshank S T. nebularia Sungei Buloh 253 Wood sandpiper K T. glareola ?? Hupo 255 Common sandpiper MS Actitis hypoleucos 266 Red knot W Calidris canutus ?? One, river, Taitung 268 Rufus-neck stint W C. ruficolis ?? River, Taitung 281 Pied avocet K Recurvirostra avosetta 10-15, seen from bus 292 Herring gull K Larus argentatus 293 Slaty-back gull K L. schistisagus ?? 298 Whiskered tern T Chlidonius hybrida River, Bangkok 300 Gull-bill tern I Gelochelidon nilotica ?? Common, Lake Maninjau 302 River tern A Sterna aurantia Kaziranga 303 Common tern K S. hirunda 304 Roseate tern MS S. dougalii 305 Black-nape tern I S. sumatrana ?? Interisland ferry 318 Yellow-vent pigeon M Treron seimundi Fraser Hill Gap 321 Thick-bill pigeon TM T. curvirostra 325 Pink-neck pigeon MSI T. vernans Fairly common 326 Orange-breast pigeon M T. bicincta Kuala Lipis 330 Green imperial pigeon A Ducula aenea Kaziranga 332 Mountain imperial pigeon M D. badia Fraser's Hill 334 Rock pigeon TMSINABKWHCV Columba livia Common urban 339 Little cuckoo-dove M Macropygia ruficeps Fraser's Hill 340 Oriental turtle-dove T BKW Streptopelia orientalis 341 Collared dove A S. decaocto Siliguri (pos.escape) 342 Red turtle-dove T A S. tranquebarica 343 Spotted dove MSINABH S. chinensis Common --- Little brown (Palm) dove A E S. senegalensis A-Kaziranga/E-common 344 Peaceful dove TMS Geopelia striata 345 Green-wing pigeon M Chalcophaps indica Kuala Lipis 348 Rose-ring parakeet A E Psittacula krameri Common 349 Red-breast parakeet A P. alexandri 350 Long-tail paraket MS P. longicauda 351 Blossom-head parakeet T P. roseata Soppong 353 Blue-rump parrot M Psittinus cyanurus Kuala Lipis 354 Vernal hanging-parrot A Loriculus vernalis In Kaziranga NP 355 Blue-crown hanging-parrot M L. galgulus T. Negara & K. Lipis 358 Large hawk-cuckoo T A Cuculus sparverioides 359 Common hawk-cuckoo B C. varius 361 Hodgson's hawk-cuckoo T N C. fugax 362 Indian cuckoo NAB H C. micropterus 363 Common cuckoo NA C. canorus 364 Oriental cuckoo NA C. saturatus 366 Banded bay cuckoo M Cacomantis sonneratii 367 Plaintive cuckoo T I AB C. merulinus 369 Asian emerald cuckoo A Chrysococcyx maculatus One, Pelling 372 Malayan bronze cuckoo S C. malayanus One, Sungei Buloh 373 Drongo cuckoo TMS Surniculus lugubris 374 Common koel S NAB Eudynamys scolopacea FC urban 375 Black-belly malkoha M Phaenicophaeus diardi Fraser's Hill 376 Chestnut-belly malkoha MS P. sumatranus 377 Green-bill malkoha T B P. tristis 378 Raffles malkoha TM I P. chlorophaeus 380 Chestnut-breast malkoha MS P. curvirostris 383 Greater coucal TM A Centropus sinensis Common 384 Lesser coucal TMSI L C. bengalensis 390(Mountin scops owl) M Otus spilocephalus Heard, Godavari 400(Collared owlet) M A Glaucidium brodiei Heard, Fraser's Hill & Pelling 402(Asian barred owlet) T G. cuculoides Heard, regular 404 Spotted owlet N Athene brama Seen, Pokhara 416 Malaysian eared nightjar M I Eurostopodus temminckii Seen, Fraser's Gap 417(Great eared nightjar) T E. macrotis Heard 419(Large-tail nightjar) TM Caprimulgus macrurus Heard 420(Indian nightjar) T C. asiaticus Heard, Pai 421(Savanna nightjar) W C. affinis Heard, near Taitung 423 Edible nest swiftlet MSI Collocalla fuciphaga 424 Black nest swiftlet A C. maxima ?? 426 White-belly swiftlet TM C. esculenta 432 Fork-tail swift T Apus pacificus Abundant, Soppong 433 House swift TM INA A. affinis 434 Asian palm swift TM I B L Cypsiurus batasiensis Common 435 Crested treeswift T N Hemiprocne coronata 436 Gray-rump treeswift M H. longipennis Fraser's Hill 443 Red-head trogon M Harpactes erythrocephalus Fraser's Hill 446 Pied kingfisher N Ceryle rudis Bus, Kossi Tappu 448 Common kingfisher TMSINA W C Alcedo atthis Regular 454 Stork-bill kingfisher TM I A Pelargopsis capensis 457 White-throat kingfisher TMSINAB H Halcyon smyrnensis Common 458 Black-cap kingfisher TM I H. pileata 459 Collared kingfisher MS H. chloris 462 Blue-tail bee-eater INA Merops philippinus Common at Dabo 463 Green bee-eater T AB M. orientalis 464 Blue-throat bee-eater MS M. viridis Fairly common 466 Blue-bearded bee-eater T Nyctyornis athertoni One, Soppong 467 Indian roller T NAB Coracias benghalensis 468 Dollarbird TMS Eurystomus orientalis 469 Hoopoe A E Upupa epops A-Kaziranga 475 Wreathed hornbill M Rhyticeros undulatus ?? Taman Negara 478 Indian pied hornbill T Anthracoceros albirostris One, Koh Chao 479 Southern pied hornbill M A. convexus Fairly common 483 Fire-tufted barbet M Psilopogon pyrolophus One, Fraser's Hill 484 Great barbet T NA H Megalaima virens 486 Lineated barbet T N B M. Lineata 487 Green-eared barbet T M. faiostricta Soppong 488 Gold-whisker barbet M M. chrysopogon Common, Frazers Hill 492 Black-brow barbet W M. oorti Chihpen 493 Blue-throat barbet NAB M. asiatica Common 497 Coppersmith barbet TMSINAB M. haemacephala Common 505 Rufous woodpecker M B Micropternus brachyurus 506 Laced woodpecker S Picus vittatus One, Pulau Ubin 513 Crimson-wing woodpecker M P. puniceus Endau 515 Checker-throat woodpecker M P. mentalis Taman Negara 516 Banded woodpecker MS P. miniaceus 519 Common goldenback M AB Dinopium javanense 526 Great slaty woodpecker M Mulleripicus pulverulentus Flock, Taman Negara 527 White belly woodpecker M Dryocopus javensis Pair, Kuala Lipis 534 Yellow-crown woodpecker NA Picoides mahrattanesis 535 Gray-cap woodpecker T B P. canicapillus 537 Grey & buff woodpecker M Hemicircus concretus Pair, Kuala Lipis 541 Orange back woodpecker M Chrysocolaptes validus Endau --- Japanese pygmy-woodpecker K Dendrocopus kizuki --- White-back woodpecker K D. leucotis 544 Black & red broadbill M Cymbirhynchus macrorhynchus Taman Negara 548 Long-tail broadbill M Psarisomus dalhousiae Fraser's Hill 562 Singing bushlark T Mirafra javanica ?? Sangkhom 567 Oriental skylark A Alauda gulgula ?? 569 Plain martin W Riparia paludicola Wulai 570 Sand martin Y R. riparia 572 Barn swallow TM INA KW C Hirunda rustica Common 573 Pacific swallow MSI H. tahitica Common 575 Red rump swallow T S N H. daurica 576 Common house martin T Delichon urbica 579 Bar-wing flycatcher-shrike M Hemicus picatus Endau 580 Black-wing flyctchr-shrike M I H. hirundinaceus 581 Large wood-shrike B Tephrodornis virgatus 582 Common wood-shrike N T. pondicerianus Godavari 583 Large cuckoo-shrike NAB Coracina novaehollandiae 588 Black-head cuckoo-shrike B C. melanoptera 589 Pied triller M Lalage nigra Endau 590 Ashy minivet M Pericocrotus divaricatus FC, Endau 592 Small minivet T N B P. cinnamomeus 595 Gray-chin minivet TM P. solaris 597 Long-taill minivet N P. ethologus Godavari 598 Scarlet minivet A HC p. flammeus 599 Green iora M Aegithina viridissima Endau 600 Common iora TMSINAB A. tiphia 601 Great iora M A. lafresnayei Endau 602 Lesser green leafbird M Chloropsis cyanopogon Taman NEgara 604 Golden-frnt leafbird T B C. aurifrons 605 Blue-wing leafbird TMS C. cochinchinensis 606 Orange-belly leafbird N C. hardwickii One female, Pokhara 608 Collared finchbill W C Spizixos semitorques 609 Straw-head bulbul M Pycnonotus zeylanicus K.Lipis & T.Negara 610 Striated bulbul A P. striatus Pelling 612 Black-head bulbul TM P. atriceps 613 Black-crest bulbul TM N P. melanicterus 616 Red-whisker bulbul T AB H V P. jocosus Common 618 Light-vent bulbul T HC P. sinensis Both races common 619 Red-vent bulbul NAB E P. cafer Abundant 620 Sooty-head bulbul T I P. aurigaster 622 Stripe-throat bulbul M P. finlaysoni 624 Yellow-vent bulbul TMSI P. goiavier Abundant 625 Olive-wing bulbul MSI Y P. plumosus 626 Streak-eared bulbul T L P. blanfordi Sukhotai 628 Red-eyed bulbul M I P. brunneus --- White-cheek bulbul N E P. leucogenys Common 633 Ochraceous bulbul M Criniger ochraceus FC, Fraser's H. & Gap 636 Hairy-back bulbul T Hysipetes criniger Koh Chao 638 Grey-eyed bulbul T H. Propinquus Soppong 642 Ashy bulbul T H. flavala Sangkhom 644 Black bulbul T NA H. madagascariensis --- Brown-eared bulbul K H. amaurotis Common 646 Black drongo T NAB W v Dicrurus macrocercus Abundant 647 Ashy drongo T N D. leucophaeus 648 Crow-bill drongo T D. annectans Soppong 649 Bronzed drongo TM N B D. aeneus 650 Lesser racket-tail drongo M D. remifer Fraser's Hill 651 Spangled drongo T N B D.. hottentottus 652 Greater racket-tail drongo TSM D. paradiseus Common 654 Black-nape oriole TMSI A Oriolus chinensis 656 Black-hood oriole AB O. xanthornus 657 Black & crimson oriole M O. cruentus Fraser's Hill --- Golden oriole N O. oriolus Pokhara 650 Asian fairy bluebird M Irena puella Taman Negara 662 Eurasian jay T K Garrulus glandrius 664 Green magpie M Cissa chinensis Fraser's Hill 667 Gold-bill magpie N Urocissa flavirostris Pokhara 668 Black-bill magpie K H Pica pica Common 669 Rufous treepie NAB Dendrocitta vagabunda 670 Gray treepie NA W D. formosae Common 677 House crow S NAB E Corvus spendens Common urban 681 Large-bill crow TMSINAB WH L C. macrorhynchos Common 684 Black-throat tit NA W C Aegithalos concinnus --- Varied tit K A. varius Fairly common --- Long-tailed tit K A. caudatis 686 Marsh tit N K Parus palustris 688 Coal tit K P. ater 688.Yellow-belly tit C P. venustulus Longshen 690 Great tit NABK HCV P. major Common 691 Green-back tit NA W P. monticolus 692 Yellow-cheek tit NA H P. spilonotus 693 Sultan tit T Malanochlora sultanea Soppong 695 Chestnut-vent nuthatch NA Sitta nagaensis 696 Chestnut-belly nuthatch N S. castanea One, Godavari 699 Velvet-front nuthatch M NAB S. frontalis 701 Blue nuthatch M S. azurea Fraser's Hill --- Eurasian nuthatch K S. europaea 719 Abbott's babbler A Trichastoma abbotti --- Indian scimitar-babbler N Pomatorhinus horsfeldii Pokhara 743 Bar-wing wren-babbler A Spelaeornis troglodytoides Pelling 750 Rufous-capped babbler W Strachyris ruficeps Lishan 751 Golden babbler M S. chrysaea Fraser's Hill 753 Grey-throat babbler M S. negriceps Fraser's Hill 760 Striped tit-babbler TMSI B Macronous gularis Common 764 Yellow-eyed babbler T Chrysomma sinense Pai --- Jungle babbler A Turdoides striatus 770 Masked laughingthrush H Garrulax perspecillatus 772 White-crest laughingthrush N G. leucolophus Pokhara 773 Lesser necklaced l'thrush T G. monileger ?? Soppong 789 Chestnut-cap l'thrush M G. mitratus FC, Fraser's Hill 792 Hwamei H G. canorus --- Steere's liocichla W Liocichla steerii Common, Lishan 804 Silver-eared mesia M Leiothrix argentauris Fraser's Hill 805 Red-bill leiothrix A l. lutea Pelling 809 Green shrike-babbler A Pteruthius xanthochlorus Pelling 817 Blue-wing minla H Minla cyanouroptera Introduced 819 Red-tail minla A M. ignotincta Pelling 829 Brown-cheek fulvetta T Alcippe poioicephala Soppong 830 Moutain fulvetta M A. peracensis Fraser's Hill & Gap 831 Gray-cheek fulvetta W A. morrisonia 832 Nepal fulvetta NA A. nipalensis 838 Long-tail sibia M Heterophasia picaoides Abundant, Fraser's H. --- Black-cap sibia NA H. capestrata 839 Striated yuhina C Yuhina castaniceps One, Longshen 841 Whiskered yuhina A Y. flavicolis Pelling 843 Stripe-throat yuhina A Y. gularis Pelling 846 Black-chin yuhina A Y. nigrimenta Pelling 847 White-belly yuhina I Y. zantholeuca Bukittingi --- Taiwan yuhina W Y. brunneiceps 854 Vinous-throated parrotbill K Paradoxornis webbianus Common 861 Gray-head parrotbill L P. gularis Savannakhet 863 Lesser shortwing I Brachypteryx leucophrys Manimjau 873 Indian blue robin A Erithacus brunneus Pelling 879 Magpie robin TM INAB HC Copsychus caularis Abundant 880 White-rump shama TM B C. malabaricus 882 Black redstart NA Phoenicurus ochruros 886 Daurian redstart K C P. auroreus Common 887 Plumbeous redstart N W C Rhyacornis fuliginosus 889 White-tail robin A Cinclidium leucorum Pelling 900 Stonechat T N B H L Saxicola torquata Fairly common 902 Pied bushchat T NA S. caprata 904 Grey bushchat T S. ferrea 905 River chat N Thamnolaea leucocephala Godavari 908 Chestnut-belly rock-thrush A Monticola rufiventris Pelling 909 Blue rock-thrush T A W C M. solitarius 911 Blue whistling-thrush N Myophonus caeruleus Pokhara --- Taiwan whistling-thrush W M. insularis Tienhsiang 913 Orange-head thrush M Zoothera citrina Fraser's Hill 924 Grey-wing blackbird A Turdus boulboul Pelling 925 Common blackbird N T. merula ?? Godavari --- White's ground thrush K T. dauma One, Hupo 934 White-spectacle warbler A Seicercus affinis Pelling 935 Golden-spectacle warbler N S. burkii Godavari 936 Grey-hooded warbler NA S. xanthoschistos 942 Rufous-faced warbler W Abroscopus albobularis Lishan 945 Buff-throat warbler A Phylloscopus subaffinis Pelling 946 Dusky warbler T P. fuscatus 950 Inornate warbler T NAB Cv P. inornatus Common 953 Arctic warbler K P. borealis Kyongju 955 Greenish warbler N P. trochiloides FC at Godavari 959 White-tail leaf-warbler T P. davisoni Soppong 975 Common tailorbird TM NAB HCV Orthotomus sutorius Common 976 Dark-neck tailorbird TMSI O. atrogularis 977 Ashy tailorbird MSI O. ruficeps 979 Mountain tailorbird M O. cuculatus Fraser's Hill 980 Grey-breast prinia T B Prinia hodgsonii --- Graceful warbler E Prinia gracilis 981 Rufescent prinia TM P. rufescens 983 Yellow-belly prinia I P. flaviventris Dabo 986 Hill prinia I P. atrogularis ?? Maninjau --- Bar-wing prinia I P. familiaris Common, Maninjau 987 Zitting cisticola I H Cisticola juncidis 1009 Asian brown flycatcher M I Muscicapa latirostris 1012 Ferruginous flycatcher TM A M. ferruginea 1013 Verditer flycatcher M NA M. thalassina Fairly common montane 1017 Red-throat flycatcher TM N C Ficedula parva Fairly common 1020 Rufous-brow flycatcher M F. solitaria Fraser's Hill 1022 Rufous-chest flycatcher M F. dumetoria (Mugimaki??) Endau Mangroves 1023 Slaty-back flycatcher N F. hodgsonii Godavari 1024 Little pied flycatcher M A F. westermanni 1027 Sapphire flycatcher T F. sapphira Soppong 1029 Large niltava M Niltava grandis Fraser's Hill 1032 Rufous-belly nlitava A N. sundara Pelling 1044 Mangrove blue flycatcher M Cyornis rufigastra FC at Endau 1046 Greyhead flycatcher M NAB Culicicapa ceylonensis 1047 Yellow-belly fantail N Rhipidura hypoxantha Gocavari 1048 White-throat fantail MS NA R. albicollis 1051 Pied fantail T S R. javanica Common 1052 Black-nape monarch TM B Hypothymus azurea 1056 Asian paradise-flycatcher M Terpsiphone paradisi 1061 White wagtail T KWHCL Motacilla alba Common 1062 Grey wagtail T I H M. cinerea Common 1063 Yellow wagtail A KWHCV M. flava Common 1064 Yellow-hooded wagtail A M. citreola Kaziranga --- Japanese wagtail K M. grandis One, Soraksan NP --- Large pied wagtail N M. maderaspatensis Pokhara 1066 Olive tree pipit T N Anthus hodgsoni 1067 Richard's pipit T I AB H A. novaeseelandiae Fairly common 1069 Red-throated pipit T C A. cervinus 1074 Ashy wood-swallow B Artamus fuscus One, roadside wire 1075 Brown shrike TM I A W V Lanius cristatus Common 1076 Bull-headed shrike K L. bucephalus Hupo 1077 Tiger shrike MSI L. tigrinus 1078 Burmese shrike T L. collurioides 1079 Grey-backed shrike T A L. tephronotus 1080 Long-tailed shrike T NA HC L. schach (+race H) Common 1082 Philippine glossy starling TMSI Aplonis panayensis 1084 Chestnut-tail starling NAB Sturnus malabaricus Common 1087 Purple-back starling MS S. sturninus 1090 Asian pied starling AB S. contra Common 1091 Black-collar starling T H S. nigricollis --- Rosy pastor A S. roseus 1093 Common myna TMS NAB EL Acridotheres tristis Abundant 1094 Jungle myna NAB A. fuscus 1095 White-vent myna TM A. javanicus 1097 Crested myna S WH V A. cristatellus 1099 Hill myna MS Gracula religiosa 1101 Brown-throat sunbird MSI Anthreptes malacensis Common 1103 Ruby-cheek sunbird TM A. singalensis 1106 Purple-throat sunbird M Nectarina sperata 1107 Copper-throat sunbird M N. calcostetha FC Endau 1108 Olive-back sunbird TMSI N. jugularis Common 1109 Purple sunbird T N E N. asiatica 1110 Gould's sunbird A Aethopyga gouldiae Pelling 1111 Green-tail sunbird A A. nipalensis Pelling 1112 Fork-tail sunbird H A. christinae 1113 Black-throat sunbird M A. saturata FC, Fraser's Hill 1114 Crimson sunbird MSINA A. siparaja Fairly common 1117 Little spiderhunter MS Arachnothera longirostra 1119 Long-bill spiderhunter M A. robusta 1121 Yellow-eared spiderhunter` M A. chrysogenys 1123 Streaked spiderhunter M A, magna Common, Frasers Hill 1129 Yellow-vent flowerpecker TM Dicaeum chrysorrheum 1131 Orange-belly flowerpecker MSI D. melanoxanthum Common 1133 Plain flowerpecker B D. concolor 1134 Scarlet-back flowerpecker TMSIN V D. cruentatum Common 1135 Buff-belly flowerpecker TM A D. ignipectus 1137 Japanese white-eye T WHCv Zosterops japonica Abundant 1138 Oriental white-eye IN B Z. palpebrosa 1140 Eurasian tree-sparrow TMSINABKW Cv Passer montanus Abundant 1143 House sparrow NAB E P. domesticus Common urban 1144 Baya weaver A Ploceus philippinus One, Kaziranga 1148 Pin-tail parrotfinch I Erythrura prasina One, Maninjau 1151 White-rump munia TM W Lonchura striata 1154 Scaly-breast munia TMSI WH L. punctulata Abundant 1155 Chestnut munia I L. malacca 1156 White-head munia I L. maja 1159 Yellow-breast greenfinch N Carduelis spinoides Godavari --- Oriental greenfinch K C. sinica Hupo 1184 Yellow-throat bunting K Emberiza elegans --- Siberian meadow bunting K E. cioides One, Hupo --- Less sulphur-crest cockatoo S H ?? Introduced --- Indian silverbill E Euodice malabarica HYBRIDS -x- White-cheek X Red-vent bulbul Dubai, UAE -x- Magpie robin X White-rump shama Pai, Thailand