Phnom Khieu in Pailin

I had the chance to visit Phnom Khieu with a kru khmer friend (who is not yet a birder, but might become one) on February 26th, and bird from half past seven to noon. Below is my list, and below that a bit of information on the mountain. All of my photos were terrible, so I won't inflict them on you...

1. calling, great coucals (2)

2. greater racket-tailed drongo (7 or 8)

3. black drongo

4. stripe-throated bulbul

5. black-headed bulbul (2)

6. black-crested bulbul

7. green-billed malkoha (at least 6)

8. large niltava

9. pr. Asian brown flycatcher

10. red-rumped swallows

11. barn swallows

12. ochraceous or puff-throated bulbuls

13. scarlet minivet (2 pairs)

14. ashy minivets, small flock, 4-5

15. hill myna

16. leafbird, pr. blue-winged

17. oriental honey-buzzard, dark morph

18. verditer flycatcher (2)

19. grey wagtails

20. pr. buff-breasted babblers, small flock

21. pr. Taiga flycatcher in early breeding plumage

22. pr. crested goshawk (according to Rob, when I described the circling raptor's strange puffy white feathers at the top of its tail and vent)

 

Phnom Khieu, Green Mountain (literally, Blue Mountain, but blue and green are used interchangeably in Khmer) is just east of Pailin city along National Highway 57. The waterfalls that Khmer holidayers head towards are marked by a large billboard on the south side of the highway, and are 7.3 km from the dirt entrance road off the highway. There is a small entrance fee per vehicle and per foreigner. The dense mountain range Phnom Khieu is part of may well be the last large patch of forest around Pailin. Nearly all of the land along the national highway has been cleared of forest in the three years since my last visit to Pailin, mostly for cassava plantations. It is roughly a kilometre up an increasingly steep and winding road up the mountain from the resort's entrance--nearly all of our birding was done along this forested road, which falls away to valleys on the right and is crossed by streams twice before ascending to the Khmer resort, a restaurant and a series of wooden shelters along seven small waterfalls. A tempting footpath leads up the side of the mountain beyond this resort. The locals said it eventually leads to some artisanal gem mines. We took this path for about a kilometre up the mountain before returning to the springs. That said, I would not recommend birding along this path, as there is a strong possibility that landmines remain in the area. This region was under Ieng Sary's faction of the Khmer Rouge until the mid-1990s and landmines were used to hinder civilians attempting to reach the gem mines. I very much doubt that all the mines have been removed. If anyone wishes to wander this trail, I advise extreme caution--as in, never leaving the rocky path for any reason.

Good birding to all,

Lisa Arensen

Western Baray and Wat Atwea, Siem Reap 29th September

The Western Baray was largely inaccessible today due to the increase in water levels, and viewing from the perimeter with the SVC guides this morning suggested that most of the habitat that the lapwings have been using is now underwater. 6 immature Black-crowned Night-Heron and a couple of Black-capped Kingfisher were present along with a bunch of distant terns. Also Pale-legged Leaf Warbler, Indochinensis Asian Paradise Flycatcher and Black-naped Monarch showed in the scrub around the southern edge.
After the disappointment of not getting onto the Baray, Naran (Chen Sophal) took me to Wat Atwea south of Siem Reap city because he had heard a lot of birds around there a couple of days ago.
In a couple of hours we recorded

2 Forest Wagtail
2 Black-naped Oriole
2 Hainan Blue Flycatcher
1 male odd Cyornis (Chinese/klossi Blue-throated type)
3 Taiga Flycatcher
6-7 Asian Brown Flycatcher
10+ Arctic Warbler
Yellow-browed Warbler, calling and seen
1 Black-browed Reed Warbler
as well as a Peregrine, displaying pair of Shikra, 2 Black-capped Kingfisher and many Common Kingfishers.

Asian Brown Flycatcher

Forest Wagtail

Hainan Blue Flycather

Cyornis flycatcher

Orange extending only a short way up the throat, and fairly washed out/pale orange.

Taiga Fly

Cambodian Striped Squirrel Tamiops rodolphei The two sets of stripes down the back are similar in size, with the inner tending to be more buff-orange than outer ones. Back of neck and and top of head dull brown in Cambodia. Outer pale stripe continuous with pale stripe on side of head. From Francis (2008): A Guide to the Mammals of Southeast Asia.

These Cyornis are very interesting, this one being similar to this bird seen in Hanoi just a few days ago. I'm very much learning about these birds from a low base, but the current situation seems very uncertain at present. As mentioned there the assigning of these birds to klossi Blue-throated is unsatisfactory unless there are other as yet undetected populations of Blue-throated present to the north of Indochina. I imagine that there may well be more revelations about this group following the splits of Chinese C. glaucicomans from Blue-throated C. rubeculoides and Large C. magnirostris from Hill C. banyumas, because it doesn't look to be resolved from here!

Rob Martin