Favorite Birding Spots in Chiang Mai — Mae Hia

I've been posting photos on Facebook from my recent trips to Chiang Dao where I found some beautiful birds to photograph. However, I do most of my birdwatching in the area of Chiang Mai. This and subsequent posts will describe some of the special places I've found in my area where it's possible to escape the hustle-bustle on these fine and chilly winter mornings and see some interesting birds. In a manner of speaking, birding has given me a new lease on life because now I find myself eager to get up early every morning to go walking, camera in hand, looking for birds. I even gave up IPA, my much loved, high-octane alcoholic beverage of choice, because I want better sleep and a clearer head in the mornings.

Chiang Mai University Mae Hia Campus

The place where I've spent the most time is the Chiang Mai University's huge Mae Hia agricultural campus (Google Maps). It's only a 10 or 15-minute drive from our house and offers open fields, both farmed and lying fallow, pretty ponds and wetlands, and also some wooded areas that are fun to roam. It has drawbacks too, like students and workers on motorcycles, agricultural machinery and dog walkers. But I've captured some good images there during the past few months. The birds I always seem to see first are the Munias, tiny seed-eaters that flit from stalk to stalk in the tall grass fringing the ponds. They're a plain sort of bird with a subdued color scheme that blends well with their favorite habitat. A bird with similar coloration to the Munias is the Baya Weaver, another grassland favoring species. Yet another bird with more striking coloration that I've only seen once and am desperate to see again is the pretty Red Avadavat. I've had only one brief chance to capture him when I was still using the EOS M50. All three of these species hang out in the same environment. Why then do I continue to miss seeing the Avadavat again?

Scaly-breasted Munia
Canon EOS R, Tamron 100-400mm @400mm f/6.3, 1/500 sec, ISO 640

Baya Weaver
Canon EOS R, Tamron 100-400mm @400mm f/6.3, 1/250 sec, ISO 400

Red Avadavat (m)
Canon EOS M50, Canon EF 70-200mm @200mm f/9, 1/200 sec, ISO 100 

My next stop at Mae Hia is a covered sala adjacent to a small pond. It's a very tranquil spot and my favorite place to hang out for a snack or to have a cuppa from a nearby coffee shop. And, as with the Munias, I can count on seeing a certain small bird perched on the very same reed whenever I go there. This Siberian Stonechat always shows up almost as if to welcome me.

Siberian Stonechat (male)
Canon EOS R, Tamron 100-400 @400, f/8, 1/400 sec., ISO 500

White Lotus in front of my birding sala
Canon EOS M50, Canon EF 70-200mm @200mm, f/8, 1/400 sec., ISO 100

Almost as regular a visitor to the sala area as the Stonechat is the Common Tailorbird. His twitchy movements, tiny rounded body and bobbing tail remind me of the wrens I observed in New England many years ago.

Common Tailorbird (male)
Canon EOS M50, Canon EF 70-200mm @200mm, f/8, 1/400 sec., ISO 320

There's another area at Mae Hia that's been so productive for me I call it Birdy Corner. It's a toss-up as to which of the two sightings below is my most satisfying shot because both species were on my most wanted list for a long while.  The Asian Koel was probably 50 meters away so my image isn't a great one but in the event it was the most exciting few minutes in my Thailand birding experience so far. These birds are plentiful in Thailand. I know that not because I had ever seen one during my ten years in Thailand but because their loud cries (Youtube sound track) are part of every morning over here and often wake me at 4:30 or 5 am. Nut and I call them the "f###-you bird". However, they are so shy and stay so well hidden in foliage they are seldom seen. On a day when I had seen absolutely nothing worth photographing I was making my way back to the bike for the ride home when I spotted two large black birds gliding over Birdy Corner to perch in a tall tree. I pulled my binocs up and was shocked to see two male Koels, and what's more, they appeared to be fighting one another. I snapped a few images, all of them mostly blocked by small branches, but somehow decided to start shooting a video of the scene. I never shoot video so the two short segments I managed to get are jerky and amateurish but I offer a composite of them in this Youtube link so you can experience something few people have ever seen in person.

Asian Koel (male)
Canon EOS R, Tamron 100-400 @400, f/6.3, 1/250 sec., ISO 100

The Greater Coucal was another bird on my bucket list. It no longer is because I got him a few weeks ago. The Coucal's haunting song is heard at dusk and at first light but they're rarely seen at close range. They're big and sassy but like the Koel, quite furtive and shy.  I had been trying to shoot one for months and then one day at Birdy Corner, I saw one land on the ground just out of sight behind some small mango trees. Always keeping a tree between me and the coucal I crept closer. I expected it to burst into flight at any moment but surprise, surprise, it stayed there for a few minutes picking up food in the grass. I snapped some photos and went home a happy man.

Greater Coucal
Canon EOS M50, Canon EF 70-200mm @200, f/9, 1/250  sec., ISO 320

I have put in a lot of time trying to get close enough to a White-throated Kingfisher for a good image. The other day, I got one. There are several ponds on the Mae Hia Campus but this fella was hanging out in the farm fields possibly looking for insects. We can't see his white throat but his turquoise back sure is pretty.

White-throated Kingfisher
Canon EOS R, Tamron 100-400 @400, f/6.3, 1/100 sec., ISO 100

Another bird I'm desperate to see at close range is the Green Bee-eater.

I recently began photographing out of a blind at the Choeng Doi Suthep Refuge. It's near the Mae Hia Campus but is a whole 'nother thing when it comes to bird photography.  I'll write about that in my next post.

Thanks for reading and stay tuned.