Bird Hides – Kaeng krachan National Park Thailand

Bird Hides – Kaeng krachan National Park Thailand

Kaeng Krachan National Park in Thailand is the largest national park and an excellent place for birding. In 2008, a conservation project convinced the poachers to convert the water holes for hunting birds for food into bird hides outside the park. Poachers were skeptical why anyone would pay money to sit in the forest to watch the bird. The bird hides have attracted local and international bird photographers to Kaeng Krachan National Park since 2010.

I visited a few hides from 2014 to 2018, and sat in an enclosed space with a few people, watching birds from a few tiny holes. Being confined in a small area for a prolonged period was claustrophobic until an unexpected bird came by to drink water. On average, I photographed 15 to 25 species of bird from a hide in a day. Many birds photographed from the hide were unique and not seen outside. Therefore, making the visit worthwhile.

Other birds seen from the hide

• Greater Necklaced Laughingthrush
• Lesser Necklaced Laughingthrush
• White-crested Laughingthrush
• Black-crested Bulbul
• Stripe-throated Bulbul
• Red Junglefowl
• Tickell’s Blue Flycather
• White-bellied Yuhinia
• Puff-throated Babbler
• Stripped Tit Babbler
• Pale-legged leaf-Warbler
• Emerald Dove
• Black-naped Monarch
• White-rumped Shama

The bird hides have attracted local and international bird photographers to Kaeng Krachan National Park since 2010. You can see more on birds of Kaeng Krachan outside the hide.