Birds of Thailand: Where and When to See Them

Helmeted Hornbill Rare Critically Endangered

Rhinoplax vigil

A hornbill with a solid ivory casque, hunted to the brink for carving, whose call sounds like maniacal laughter.

Where: Hala Bala, Budo-Sungai Padi (deep south). Best: Year round, tall rainforest.

Gurney's Pitta Very rare Critically Endangered

Hydrornis gurneyi

A gorgeous blue-crowned pitta once thought extinct, rediscovered in Thailand and now teetering on the very edge.

Where: Khao Nor Chuchi (Krabi), historically. Best: Rains, at dawn.

Great Hornbill Regular Vulnerable

Buceros bicornis

A three metre wingbeat you hear before you see, the flagship bird of Asian rainforest canopy.

Where: Khao Yai, Khao Sok, Kaeng Krachan. Best: Year round, early morning at fruiting figs.

Wreathed Hornbill Regular Vulnerable

Rhyticeros undulatus

A big forest hornbill that travels in noisy flocks, its throat pouch pleated like folded cloth.

Where: Khao Yai, Kaeng Krachan, Khao Sok. Best: Year round, at fruiting trees.

Rhinoceros Hornbill Rare Vulnerable

Buceros rhinoceros

A southern giant crowned with a spectacular upturned orange casque like a rhino horn.

Where: Hala Bala and the Bala forest (deep south). Best: Year round.

Straw-headed Bulbul Rare Critically Endangered

Pycnonotus zeylanicus

A large riverside bulbul with a glorious bubbling song that has, tragically, made it one of the most trapped birds in Asia.

Where: Dense riverside thickets of the south, protected wetlands. Best: Year round.

Great Slaty Woodpecker Rare Vulnerable

Mulleripicus pulverulentus

The largest woodpecker in Asia, a long-necked grey giant that travels the tall forest in noisy family bands.

Where: Tall mature forest, Huai Kha Khaeng, Kaeng Krachan. Best: Year round, day.

Siamese Fireback Regular

Lophura diardi

Thailand's national bird, a stately grey pheasant with a golden back patch and a bare crimson face.

Where: Khao Yai, Khao Ang Rue Nai, Kaeng Krachan. Best: Early morning, forest trails and roads.

Long-tailed Broadbill Regular

Psarisomus dalhousiae

A cartoonish beauty in parrot green with a black cap, blue crown patch and a long blue tail.

Where: Khao Yai, Kaeng Krachan, northern hills. Best: Morning, mid canopy.

Crimson Sunbird Regular

Aethopyga siparaja

A living ember of a bird, the male ablaze in scarlet and metallic green as it hovers at forest blossoms.

Where: Forest edges and flowering trees, Kaeng Krachan, Khao Yai. Best: Year round.

Oriental Pied Hornbill Common

Anthracoceros albirostris

The most approachable hornbill in Asia, a black and white charmer that even visits gardens and forest edges.

Where: Khao Yai, forest edges nationwide. Best: Year round, mornings.

Red-headed Trogon Regular

Harpactes erythrocephalus

A quietly stunning forest bird, the male crimson headed and rose breasted, that sits motionless and is easy to miss.

Where: Kaeng Krachan, Khao Yai. Best: Morning, mid storey.

Greater Racket-tailed Drongo Common

Dicrurus paradiseus

A glossy black forest bird trailing two long wire tails tipped with twirling rackets, and a gifted mimic.

Where: Khao Yai, Kaeng Krachan and widely. Best: Year round.

Asian Fairy-bluebird Regular

Irena puella

A fig-loving forest bird where the male glows brilliant ultramarine and jet black in the canopy shade.

Where: Khao Yai, Kaeng Krachan, southern forests. Best: Year round, at fruiting figs.

Crested Serpent Eagle Common

Spilornis cheela

A snake-hunting eagle that circles the forest on broad wings, calling with a far-carrying, wailing whistle.

Where: Forest and edges nationwide, Khao Yai, Kaeng Krachan. Best: Year round, day.

Changeable Hawk-eagle Regular

Nisaetus cirrhatus

A powerful forest eagle that comes in pale and dark forms, ambushing prey with a fast strike from the canopy.

Where: Forest and edges, Khao Yai, Kaeng Krachan, Khao Sok. Best: Year round, day.

Oriental Honey-buzzard Regular

Pernis ptilorhynchus

A raptor with a taste for wasps, raiding bee and hornet nests for their grubs with a specially armoured face.

Where: Forest and open country nationwide. Best: Resident, big passage Sep-Nov.

Collared Scops Owl Regular

Otus lettia

A small, ear-tufted owl whose soft, questioning hoot is one of the commonest voices of the Thai night.

Where: Forest, gardens and villages nationwide, Khao Yai. Best: Night.

Large-tailed Nightjar Regular

Caprimulgus macrurus

A cryptic dusk-hunter whose loud, repeated chonk chonk call sounds like an axe striking wood across the clearing.

Where: Forest edges and clearings nationwide, Khao Yai, Kaeng Krachan. Best: Dusk and night.

White-throated Kingfisher Common

Halcyon smyrnensis

A big turquoise-and-chocolate kingfisher that hunts far from water, taking lizards and insects across open country.

Where: Fields, gardens and wetlands nationwide. Best: Year round.

Blue-tailed Bee-eater Common

Merops philippinus

A streamlined jewel of green, chestnut and blue that hawks bees and dragonflies in graceful, swooping sallies.

Where: Open country, canals and coasts nationwide. Best: Common on passage, breeds locally.

Chestnut-headed Bee-eater Regular

Merops leschenaulti

A compact green bee-eater crowned in warm chestnut, sallying for bees along forest edges and clearings.

Where: Forest edges and riversides, Kaeng Krachan, Khao Yai. Best: Year round.

Coppersmith Barbet Common

Psilopogon haemacephalus

A tiny green barbet with a red-and-yellow face whose metronomic tuk tuk tuk call rings like a coppersmith at work.

Where: Gardens, parks and open woodland nationwide. Best: Year round.

Blue-eared Barbet Regular

Psilopogon duvaucelii

A jewel-faced little barbet of the forest canopy, green-bodied with a patchwork of blue, black and red on the head.

Where: Evergreen forest canopy, Kaeng Krachan, Khao Sok. Best: Year round.

Greater Flameback Regular

Chrysocolaptes guttacristatus

A big, golden-backed woodpecker that blazes across the trunk, the males topped with a flaming scarlet crest.

Where: Forest and edges, Khao Yai, Kaeng Krachan. Best: Year round, day.

Olive-backed Sunbird Common

Cinnyris jugularis

The cheerful garden sunbird of Thailand, the male flashing an iridescent blue-black throat as he sings from a wire.

Where: Gardens, parks and mangroves nationwide. Best: Year round.

Little Spiderhunter Regular

Arachnothera longirostra

A drab bird with an outrageously long, curved bill, built for plundering nectar deep inside wild banana flowers.

Where: Forest understorey with wild bananas, Khao Sok, Kaeng Krachan. Best: Year round.

Golden-fronted Leafbird Regular

Chloropsis aurifrons

A leaf-green bird that all but vanishes in the canopy until it turns to reveal a golden forehead and blue-black mask.

Where: Forest and edges, Khao Yai, Kaeng Krachan. Best: Year round.

Scarlet Minivet Regular

Pericrocotus speciosus

A drift of flame through the treetops, the males scarlet and black, the females gold and grey, moving in restless flocks.

Where: Forest canopy nationwide, Khao Yai, Kaeng Krachan. Best: Year round.

Asian Koel Common

Eudynamys scolopaceus

A glossy black cuckoo with blood-red eyes whose rising ko-el call is one of the defining sounds of tropical mornings.

Where: Gardens, parks and open woodland nationwide. Best: Year round.

Green-billed Malkoha Regular

Phaenicophaeus tristis

A long, slinking grey cuckoo with a bright green bill and a crimson eye-patch, creeping through thickets like a feathered lizard.

Where: Forest and edges, Kaeng Krachan, Khao Yai, Khao Sok. Best: Year round.

Grey Peacock-Pheasant Occasional

Polyplectron bicalcaratum

A shy forest pheasant spangled with iridescent eyespots that flash blue-green when it displays.

Where: Kaeng Krachan, Khao Yai. Best: Dawn, dense forest.

Blue Pitta Rare

Hydrornis cyaneus

A jewel of the forest floor, blue and buff and maddeningly hard to see, the holy grail of many a birding trip.

Where: Khao Yai, Kaeng Krachan. Best: Morning, dense understorey.

Silver-breasted Broadbill Occasional

Serilophus lunatus

A soft grey and rufous broadbill with a powder blue wing flash and a delicate silver breast.

Where: Kaeng Krachan, northern foothills. Best: Morning, mid storey.

Banded Kingfisher Occasional

Lacedo pulchella

A forest kingfisher that shuns water, the male banded blue and black, the female in rich rufous bars.

Where: Kaeng Krachan, southern forests. Best: Morning, dry forest canopy.

Black-thighed Falconet Occasional

Microhierax fringillarius

One of the smallest birds of prey on Earth, a sparrow-sized falcon that hunts dragonflies and small birds from a bare twig.

Where: Forest edges and clearings, Kaeng Krachan, Khao Yai. Best: Year round, day.

Spotted Wood Owl Occasional

Strix seloputo

A large, orange-faced owl of open woodland and plantations, its deep hooting a signature of the tropical night.

Where: Open woodland, groves and plantations, Khao Yai fringes. Best: Night.

Blyth's Frogmouth Rare

Batrachostomus affinis

A bizarre nocturnal bird with a huge frog-like gape, so like a broken branch by day that it is almost impossible to find.

Where: Evergreen forest, Kaeng Krachan, Khao Sok. Best: Night.

Blue-bearded Bee-eater Occasional

Nyctyornis athertoni

A big, shaggy bee-eater with a dangling blue throat-beard, more skulking and forest-loving than its dashing cousins.

Where: Forest interior, Kaeng Krachan, Khao Yai, Khao Sok. Best: Year round.

Sarus Crane Occasional Vulnerable

Antigone antigone

The tallest flying bird in the world, a grey giant with a bare red head, recently brought back to Thai wetlands.

Where: Buriram province wetlands. Best: Year round, rice fields and marshes.

Lesser Adjutant Occasional Vulnerable

Leptoptilos javanicus

A towering, bare-headed stork that stalks the wetlands with a soldier's stiff gait, part hunter and part undertaker.

Where: Marshes, mudflats and paddies, central wetlands and the south. Best: Year round.

Painted Stork Regular Near Threatened

Mycteria leucocephala

A large, handsome stork washed with pink, that feeds by touch with its long yellow bill half open in the shallows.

Where: Bueng Boraphet and wetland reserves. Best: Year round, shallow wetlands.

Oriental Darter Occasional Near Threatened

Anhinga melanogaster

The snakebird, swimming with only its slim neck above water before it spears a fish on a dagger bill.

Where: Lakes and large wetlands, central plains, Khao Sam Roi Yot. Best: Year round.

Asian Openbill Common

Anastomus oscitans

A stork with a permanent gap in its bill, a purpose-built tool for prising snails from their shells.

Where: Marshes, lakes and rice fields, central plains. Best: Year round.

Purple Heron Regular

Ardea purpurea

A slender, snake-necked heron in rich chestnut and slate that melts into the reeds it hunts among.

Where: Reedbeds and marshes nationwide, Khao Sam Roi Yot. Best: Year round.

Pheasant-tailed Jacana Regular

Hydrophasianus chirurgus

A lily-trotting waterbird that walks on floating leaves on enormous toes, growing a long curved tail when it breeds.

Where: Lotus ponds and marshes, central wetlands, Khao Sam Roi Yot. Best: Year round, breeds in rains.

White-breasted Waterhen Common

Amaurornis phoenicurus

A bold, clean-cut marsh bird in slate and white that trots along ditch edges flicking a rusty-bottomed tail.

Where: Ditches, marshes and paddies nationwide. Best: Year round.

Lesser Whistling Duck Common

Dendrocygna javanica

A warm-brown, long-necked duck that whistles rather than quacks and wheels over the marshes in twittering flocks.

Where: Lakes, marshes and flooded fields nationwide. Best: Year round.

Masked Finfoot Ultra rare Critically Endangered

Heliopais personatus

One of the rarest birds in Asia, perhaps a hundred left, and Thailand may already have lost it.

Where: Historically quiet forested waterways and mangrove creeks; no reliable recent records. Best: No current season.

Milky Stork Rare Endangered

Mycteria cinerea

A rare, ghostly white stork of the mangroves, its bare face flushing from yellow to red in the breeding season.

Where: Coastal mangroves and estuaries of the Gulf and south. Best: Year round.

Great Knot Occasional Endangered

Calidris tenuirostris

Flies from Siberia to Australia with a single refuelling stop, and losing that one mudflat has nearly finished the species.

Where: Inner Gulf mudflats; Pak Thale, Laem Phak Bia and Bang Pu. Best: Sep-Apr, peaks on passage.

Far Eastern Curlew Rare Endangered

Numenius madagascariensis

The longest bill of any wader in the world, curved like a sickle and used to reach crabs deep in the mud.

Where: Inner Gulf and Andaman mudflats; Pak Thale and Ranong. Best: Sep-Apr.

Chinese Egret Rare Vulnerable

Egretta eulophotes

Hunts by sprinting across the mudflat with wings half open, a running dash that no other egret uses.

Where: Tidal flats and shrimp ponds; Pak Thale, Laem Phak Bia and the inner Gulf. Best: Sep-Apr.

Mangrove Pitta Rare Near Threatened

Pitta megarhyncha

A jewel of a bird restricted almost entirely to mangrove, hopping across bare mud to hammer crabs against a root.

Where: Mangrove on the Andaman coast; Krabi, Ranong and Ao Phang Nga. Best: Year round, calling Mar-Jul.

Brahminy Kite Common

Haliastur indus

A handsome chestnut-and-white kite of coasts and harbours, forever quartering the shoreline for scraps and stranded fish.

Where: Coasts, estuaries and harbours nationwide, Trang. Best: Year round.

Black-capped Kingfisher Occasional

Halcyon pileata

A striking mangrove kingfisher in black, white and deep purple-blue, a winter visitor to Thailand's coasts.

Where: Mangroves and estuaries, Trang and Koh Libong, Khao Sam Roi Yot. Best: Winter visitor, Oct-Apr.

Spoon-billed Sandpiper Rare Critically Endangered

Calidris pygmaea

One of the world's rarest and most charismatic shorebirds, tiny and armed with an unmistakable spatula bill.

Where: Pak Thale, Laem Pak Bia (Inner Gulf). Best: Nov-Mar (winter).

Nordmann's Greenshank Rare Endangered

Tringa guttifer

One of the world's rarest waders, a stocky greenshank that winters on Thai mudflats among thousands of commoner shorebirds.

Where: Inner Gulf mudflats and southern coasts. Best: Winter visitor, Nov-Mar.

White-bellied Sea Eagle Regular

Haliaeetus leucogaster

A huge coastal eagle in grey and white that snatches sea snakes and fish from the surface in a spectacular swoop.

Where: Coasts and islands, Similan, Trang and Koh Libong. Best: Year round.

Malaysian Plover Rare Near Threatened

Anarhynchus peronii

Nests in a scrape on open beach so well camouflaged that the greatest danger is being stepped on.

Where: Quiet sandy beaches and spits; the southern peninsula and the western Gulf coast. Best: Year round, breeding Feb-Jun.

Little Tern Regular

Sternula albifrons

Hovers on fast flickering wings like an oversized hummingbird before dropping onto a fish.

Where: Saltpans, river mouths and open beaches; Pak Thale, Laem Phak Bia and both coasts. Best: Year round, breeding Mar-Jun.

Pacific Reef Heron Regular

Egretta sacra

Comes in two entirely different colours, charcoal grey and pure white, and both can hatch in the same nest.

Where: Rocky shores and reef flats on both coasts; Andaman islands and the Gulf. Best: Year round, at low tide.

Black-naped Tern Occasional

Sterna sumatrana

Almost pure white apart from a narrow black band across the back of the head, like a headphone cable.

Where: Coral rubble islets and inshore water in the Andaman; Similans, Surin and Koh Lipe. Best: Year round, breeding Apr-Aug.

Stork-billed Kingfisher Regular

Pelargopsis capensis

A hefty waterside kingfisher with a huge blood-red bill and a loud, ringing laugh.

Where: Rivers, lakes and mangroves nationwide. Best: Year round, waterside perches.

Common Kingfisher Common

Alcedo atthis

A dazzling blue dart along the stream, small enough to sit in a palm yet impossible to miss when it flies.

Where: Streams, canals and ponds nationwide, Khao Sam Roi Yot. Best: Year round.

White-crowned Forktail Regular

Enicurus leschenaulti

A dapper black-and-white bird of rushing forest streams, forever flicking a long, deeply forked tail.

Where: Clear forest streams, Kaeng Krachan, Khao Yai, Khao Sok. Best: Year round.

Blue Whistling Thrush Regular

Myophonus caeruleus

A big, spangled blue-black thrush of shady streams whose loud human-like whistle rings through the ravines at dawn.

Where: Forest streams and ravines, Khao Yai, Kaeng Krachan. Best: Year round, dawn.

Black-and-red Broadbill Occasional

Cymbirhynchus macrorhynchos

A striking riverside broadbill in black and crimson with a two-tone turquoise and yellow bill.

Where: Kaeng Krachan, lowland rivers and mangroves. Best: Year round, over water.

Green Peafowl Occasional Endangered

Pavo muticus

The wild, and far rarer, cousin of the familiar peacock, with metallic green plumage and a towering train.

Where: Huai Kha Khaeng, Mae Wong, Mae Ping. Best: Dry season, dawn (listen for calls).

Red Junglefowl Common

Gallus gallus

The wild ancestor of every chicken on Earth, a wary, glossy rooster of the forest edge.

Where: Khao Yai, Kaeng Krachan and widely. Best: Early morning, forest edges.

Indian Roller Common

Coracias benghalensis

A dull-looking perched bird that explodes into brilliant bands of blue when it flies, tumbling through spectacular courtship rolls.

Where: Open farmland and scrub nationwide. Best: Year round, day.

Lesser Frigatebird Occasional

Fregata ariel

Cannot land on water despite living over it, and stays airborne for weeks at a time by riding thermals in its sleep.

Where: Offshore waters and outer islands on both coasts; Similans, Surin and the Gulf islands. Best: Year round, often inshore ahead of storms.

Brown Booby Rare

Sula leucogaster

Dives from twenty metres and hits the water at over sixty kilometres an hour, with air sacs in the skull absorbing the shock.

Where: Outer Andaman and Gulf islands; seen from boats and liveaboards. Best: Nov-Apr.

Bridled Tern Occasional

Onychoprion anaethetus

Spends most of the year entirely at sea, feeding on fish driven to the surface by tuna hunting below.

Where: Rocky islets and offshore waters on both coasts; Similans, Surin and Koh Tao. Best: Apr-Sep breeding season.

Germain's Swiftlet Common

Aerodramus germani

The little cave swift whose nest of pure saliva is harvested from sheer sea caves for bird's nest soup.

Where: Limestone sea caves and coasts of the south, Trang. Best: Year round.