Doi Angkhang (from 8-11 till 13-11-2002)
From 8-11 till 13-11-2002 we were staying in the Angkhang Nature resort,
near Ban Khum Village and the Royal Agricultural project (about 1300-1400
m asl). (Angkhang Nature Resort 1/1 Moo 5 Baan Koom, Mae Ngon,
Amphur Fang, Chiang Mai 50320; tel: +66 (0) 5345 0110; fax: +66 (0) 5345
0120; E-mail: angkhang@amari.com)
We did not have a car, so we were walking only. We visited twice the birding
spot KM 21,5. Also an open hill with fruit-trees on the other side of
the road, approximately at KM 22.
The staff of the resort was very friendly bringing us by car to the beginning
of the Rhodondendron route (about KM 19), that leads over
the highest point of Angkhang (a little bit over 1900 m asl). We made
also several trips on the grounds of the project and the naturetrail there
and walked to Nor Lae (Palaung) Village and back.
We did not use a tape recorder to attrack birds.
We were not only birding, but paid also a lot of attention to butterflies
and other (small) animals, to the vegetation and the landscape and we
did a lot of photographing of the beautiful mountain scenery and hill
tribe village. Totally we saw 87 species of birds.
Other animals: at least 2 species of Squirrel (Himalayan Striped Squirrel-Tamiops
macclellandi and ?) and 2 Northern Tree-shrews (Tupaia belangeri) just
above the resort.
All the birds observed (following the sequence in Robson,
Birds of South-East Asia, 2002)
1. Grey-capped Pygmy Woodpecker Dendrocopus canicapillus*
2. Stripe-breasted Woodpecker Dendrocopos atratus
3. Indian Roller Coracius benghalensis
4. Green-billed Malkoha Phaenicophaeus tristis
5. Greater Coucal Centropus sinensis*
6. Himalayan Swiftlet Collocalia brevirostris*
7. Fork-tailed Swift Apus pacificus*
8. Collared Scops Owl Otus bakkamoena*
9. Spotted Dove Streptopelia chinensis*
10. Oriental Honey-Buzzard Pernis ptilorhynchus
11. Black-shouldered Kite Elanus caeruleus
12. Shikra Accipiter badius*
13. Common Buzzard Buteo buteo*
14. Black Eagle Ictinaetus malayensis*
15. Mountain Hawk Eagle Spizaetus nipalensis*
16. Common Kestrel Falco tinnunculus*
17. Brown Shrike Lanius cristatus*
18. Burmese Shrike lanius collurioides
19. Long-tailed Shrike Lanius schach (all ssp. longirostris)*
20. Grey-backed Shrike Lanius tephronotus
21. Grey Treepie Dendrocitta formosae
22. Long-tailed Minivet Pericorotus ethologus
23. Short-billed Minivet Pericrocotus brevirostris*
24. Bar-winged Flycatcher Shrike Hemipus picatus
25. White-throated Fantail Rhipidura albicollis
26. Black Drongo Dicrurus macrocercus*
27. Ashy Drongo Dicrurus leucophaeus*
28. Bronzed Drongo Dicrurus aeneus*
29. Blue Rock-Thrush Monticola solitarius*
30. Blue Whistling Thrush Myophonus caeruleus*
31. Red-throated Flycatcher Ficedula parva*
32. White-gorgeted Flycatcher Ficedula monileger
33. Verditer Flycatcher Eumyias thalassina
34. Large Niltava Niltava grandis
35. Pale Blue Flycatcher Cyornis unicolor
36. Hill Blue Flycatcher Cyornis banyumas*
37. Grey-headed Canary Flycatcher Culicapa ceylonensis
38. Rufous-tailed Robin Luscinia sibilans #*
39. Siberian Rubythroat Luscinia calliope
40. Oriental Magpie Robin Copsychus saularis*
41. Daurian Redstart Phoenicurus auroreus
42. Common Stonechat Saxicola torquata (both stejnegeri and przewalskii)*
43. Grey Bushchat Saxicola ferrea*
44. Chestnut-bellied Nuthatch Sitta castanea
45. Fire-capped Tit Cephalopyrus flammiceps
46. Great Tit Parus major*
47. Barn Swallow Hirundo rustica (singing and displaying on and
in houses with straw roofs at Ban Nor Lae)*
48. Crested Finchbill Spizixos semitorques
49. Striated Bulbul Pycnonotus striatus
50. Black-crested Bulbul Pycnonotus melanicterus*
51. Red-whiskered Bulbul Pycnonotus jocosus*
52. Brown-breasted Bulbul Pycnonotus xanthorrhous
53. Sooty-headed Bulbul Pycnonotus aurigaster*
54. Flavescent Bulbul Pycnonotus flavescens
55. Mountain Bulbul Hypsipetes mcclellandi
56. Black Bulbul Hypsipetes leucocephalus
57. Hill Prinia Prinia atrogularis
58. Oriental White-eye Zosterops palpebrosus*
59. Japanese White-eye Zosterops japonicus*
60. Aberrant Bush Warbler Vettia flavolivacea
61. Pallass Leaf Warbler Phylloscopus proregulus
62. Yellow-browed Warbler Phylloscopus inornatus*
63. Arctic Warbler Phylloscopus borealis*
64. Greenish Warbler Phylloscopus trochiloides*
65. Two-barred Warbler Phylloscopus plumbeitarsus
66. Blyths Leaf Warbler Phylloscopus reguloides
67. White-tailed Leaf Warbler Phylloscopus davisoni
68. Grey-cheeked Warbler Seicercus poliogenys
69. Chestnut-crowned Warbler Seicercus castaniceps
70. Chestnut-crowned Laughing-Thrush Garrulax erythrocephalus
71. Red-faced Liocichla Liochichla phoenicea
72. White-browed Scimitar Babbler Pomatorhinus schisticeps
73. Streaked Wren Babbler Napothera brevicauda*
74. Silver-eared Mesia Leiothrix argentarius
75. Blue-winged Minla Minla cyanouroptera
76. Grey-cheeked Fulvetta Alcippe morrisonia
77. Dark-backed Sibia Heterphasia melanoleuca
78. Plain Flowerpecker Dicaeum concolor*
79. Scarlet-backed Flowerpecker Dicaeum cruentatum*
80. Mrs. Gould Sunbird Aethopygia gouldiae
81. Black-throated Sunbird Aethopyga saturata*
82. Streaked Spiderhunter Arachnotera magna
83. Eurasian Tree Sparrow Passer montanus*
84. White Wagtail Motacilla alba ##*
85. Grey Wagtail Motacilla cinerea*
86. Olive-backed Pipit Anthus hodgsoni*
87. Common Rosefinch Carpodacus erythrinus
* = observed on or from the grounds of the agricultural
project and the nature trail or the Angkhang Nature Resort
# We know that the Red-tailed Robin is very rare in Thailand.
But we observed two times a bird that must be this species:
The first observation was on 12-11 at km 21,5. Just along the path through
an open patch with tall grasses and some bushes where we saw also an Aberrant
Bush Warbler directly near the robin.
The Red-tailed Robin was sitting for about 20 seconds in a small bush
in the open just 30 cm above the ground and had the shape of a typical
robin (upright posture, big black eye, rather compact bird). My first
impression was a female of the Siberian Blue Robin. All brownish on the
wings, back and head. The combination of a distinct whitish eye-ring and
a rufous rump and tail however does not fit a blue robin (females do have
a bluish wash on the tail and juveniles have some lighter spots on the
outer greater coverts). The wings of our bird did not have any spots or
stripes. Unfortunately we saw the bird only on the back, so we did not
see the scaly breast, but only some brownish on the flanks.
The second observation was on 13-11 along a path just
above the Angkhang Nature Resort at the edge of some high tree and a vegetation
of long grass with some bushes. The bird was jumping out of the grass
and sitting a short time on the path: upright posture, a obvious whitish
eye-ring, scaly pattern on the lower breast and belly and a rufous tail.
Unfortunately this bird also disappeared immediately in the dense vegetation
and did not allow us a second view.
At the first observation the bird was only on a distance of about 5-6
metres; during the second observation the distance was about 20 metres.
## Almost all the birds we observed were belonging to
the subspecies leucopsis (all white face and upper breast, black back),
but on 8-11 we saw a non-breeding plumage male alboides foraging with
2 leucopsis on the ground of the project.
On 10-11 we saw also on the ground of the project a non-breeding male
leucopsis and another bird of which we could not identify the subspecies
(no picture in Birds of South-East Asia, Craig Robson, 2002). The bird
had a black back, neck and crown just until above the eye, the breast
was also black almost until the bill, forecrown, forehead
and cheeks were white and there was a rather distinctive black stripe
from the bill through the eye to the (black) nape (between
the base of the bill and the eye a little bit weaker).
According to a picture in Handbuch der Vögel Mitteleuropas,
Urs N. Glutz von Blotzheim, 1985, this bird looks like a Motacilla alba
lugens. This is a subspecies of the coastal area of North-East Siberia
(south till Korea). But we can not imagine that this subspecies migrates
inland to the mountaineous area of Northern Thailand.