Birds & Gibbons 1

On the mornings of our second and third days in Khao Yai, we split the class into two teams to minimize noise while we birdwatched and observed the gibbons; I led one team and Ajarn Wayne led the other.  My friends who have masters degrees in bird ecology came out to Khao Yai to lead us on a sunrise birdwatching walk through the forest and grassland, as they do every year.  Also, my friends who are Ph.D. scientists at Thai universities came out to help us with the gibbons, which they have been studying for over 20 years.  We also took a hike to another waterfall in the afternoon.

I took the team out to see the birds this morning.  We left at 6:00 and it was still pretty dark and had to wait around 15 minutes to see anything.

Birds were calling all around us and soon it was light enough to see them.  Within 10 minutes, we saw three of the four species of hornbills in Khao Yai.

Here's an oriental pied hornbill, one of the most beautiful and noisiest birds you'll ever see and hear.

Phet is one of our good friends who helps us with birds every year.  Here she is showing the students the birds they're seeing in the book. 

Charlie, Maddie, and Cam.

Dani took this great shot of a vernal hanging parrot.  These parrots land on the branch and then hang upside-down.

Black crested bulbul.

The students seemed to have trouble keeping up with me... except for Cam.  How will they do in 45 years when they're my age?

Sabrina and Cam.

Ally.

Charlie.

Our group is approaching an observation tower after walking through grasslands that had been burned, so no grassland birds were to be seen.

In the observation tower, here are Cam, Sabrina, and Ally.

Maddie and Charlie.

Ajarn Wayne's group went to see gibbons.  Here they are posing at a Sapong tree that is being overgrown by strangler figs.

Elena took this great picture of a buff-colored white handed gibbon.

The bridge on the way to the Haew Narok waterfall needs a little work.  The kids had to watch every step.

There are 198 steps on the way down to the observation platform for the waterfall.

And it's quite steep.  Each step is high but very short for tiny little Thai feet.  Our big American shoes had to hang over on each step.

Haew Narok is normally a huge waterfall, but it's the dry season, so it's not as impressive as it is otherwise.  This is the waterfall where 11 elephants fell to their deaths earlier this year.

After visiting Haew Narok, we went to Pha Diew Dai, the lonely cliff.

Here's Julia on lonely cliff.

Earlier in the day, we had a misadventure with macaques.  They used to be soooo cute...

When we checked in a few days ago, I gave the students a very strong warning that the macaques are aggressive, invasive, and will take advantage of any opportunity to get into your rooms. 

Warnings are visible here and there.

We got back from the bird and gibbon treks to find that the back shutters to the windows had not been secured and the macaques came in and ransacked one of the rooms.  Clothes were thrown around, food eaten, things bitten through, and everything marked with macaque dung.  Fortunately, the students' meds were not lost, so we can make do with what we have.  MAI PEN RAI.