Mae Wong got Alive!!!

Mae Wong National Park, really became the hotspot for a couple of months with many cool birds showing super well… I’ll show you some…

Located between Kampaeng Phet and Nakorn Sawan provinces, Mae Wong covers about 900 km2 and is part of the western forest complex, said to be the largest remaining patch of forest in Thailand.
It has always been a birding hotspot, featuring many cool birds that are hard to fine elsewhere in the country, however it is  as well a pretty challenging type of location for bird-photography… I also hate the tons of biting sand-flies and leeches, so, I haven’t really spent much time up there during my years living here.

But well, destiny calls and that was drastically going to change during february, this year.
With a group of friends, in 2010 we had photographed a bit, the elusive and desired Rusty-naped Pitta, but this year, a beautiful and hungry pair showed so incredibly well, that forced me to travel there with no delays.

Rusty-naped Pitta by Alex Vargas, Thailand 2012

Amazingly, the Pitta wasn’t the best bird for me that time!… Nan, the friendly – smart Park Ranger on site, had been putting broken corn in a trail, attracting the uncommon Rufous-throated Partridge, which -by the way- was a lifer for me in this visit, although remained far away for the photo…

Rufous-throated Partridge by Alex Vargas, Thailand 2012

…and to make a happy story, perfect, a pair of Grey Peacock-Pheasant had started to enjoy that corn. That -my friends- that is a COOL bird that I’d wanted to photograph since I got to Asia! The first visit (Feb 03-04) only the female came to the spot, what forced a new trip (Feb 13-15) and this time… BINGO! the male made a great appearance to remind me and reaffirm why is it that I love doing what I do!

Grey Peacock-Pheasant - male by Alex Vargas, Thailand 2012

Grey Peacock-Pheasant - female by Alex Vargas, Thailand 2012

Nan had us another tiny but lovely surprise, as he pointed a spot where some quick and hard-to-get Lesser Shortwing where showing nicely and giving you flashes of few seconds to scramble a shot or two

Lesser Shortwing by Alex Vargas, Thailand 2012

A couple of good looking Flycatchers where also enjoying our mealworms

Rufous-browed Flycatcher by Alex Vargas, Thailand 2011

Hill Blue-Flycatcher by Alex Vargas, Thailand 2011

…and a couple of Laughingthrushes, enjoyed the corn as well…

White-necked Laughingthrush by Alex Vargas, Thailand 2012

Black-throated Laughingthrush by Alex Vargas, Thailand 2012

Like if it wasn’t already a sweet birding tell, some amazing Silver-eared Mesia came to the feeding station the last morning… a fantastic little jewel indeed… one of my favorite birds in Thailand

Silver-eared Mesia by Alex Vargas, Thailand 2012

All this birds are gone now -most probably into breeding-, but February 2012 won’t be easy to forget as a magic time at Mae Wong National Park.

Rusty-naped Pitta - 2 by Alex Vargas, Thailand 2012

Sorry if have been absent for a while, as I got terribly ill… Felling better now, hope I can keep posting regularly again. Thanks everybody for your support.

Grey Peacock-Pheasant - male 2 by Alex Vargas, Thailand 2012

Happy Bird-Photo Adventures!