Birding southern Thailand, Bang Lang National Park | Hala Bala Wildlife Sanctuary

Birding southern Thailand, Bang Lang National Park | Hala Bala Wildlife Sanctuary

After breakfast, a 4-hour van ride from Hala Bala Wildlife Reserve took us to Bang Lang National Park in southern Thailand through a hilly and winding country road to reach Kampong Chulanporn 9. When we got to the destination, it was time for lunch. We had delicious noodles by the roadside stall overlooking the reservoir with the hilly forest as a backdrop. While having lunch, a white-bellied sea eagle flew above the water to hunt for food. In the afternoon, we hired an eight-seater single-engine wooden canoe to go around the reservoir to search for hornbills. We saw hornbills and White-bellied sea eagles flying high above us. It was not easy to photograph them from the narrow canoe. This was our first birding trip to southern Thailand.

Birding southern Thailand, Bang Lang National Park | Hala Bala Wildlife Sanctuary

Bang Lang National Park support wet evergreen forest, a vital conservation area for the avifauna of the Thai-Malay peninsula. Kampong (source BirdLife International). Kampong Chulanporn 9 was once the area of Malaysian Communists and the Patani United Liberation Organization (source tourismthailand.org). We stayed at the community guest house.

The weather in early March was sunny blue skies with occasional rain showers in the afternoon. If you plan your visit in July and August, you will enjoy the durians as there were mountains of durian plantations along the way.

Kampong Chulanporn 9 is known as an eco-tourism destination by people in Bangkok but hidden outside Thailand. We decided to make a birding recce trip as recommended by our friends in Hat Yai.

A morning trip to Halazah Waterfall for birding.

The next day, at 6 am, we visited the Halazah Waterfall, a popular tourist spot. Since the path to the trailhead was not passable on foot, we took a short dinghy ride instead. Upon arrival, we saw two Black-and-yellow Broadbills and hiked along the trail covered in dried leaf litter.

Birding southern Thailand, Bang Lang National Park | Hala Bala Wildlife Sanctuary

By chance, we spotted a Great slaty woodpecker on a dead tree. It was a female. A few minutes later, a male bird came. We were delighted to see the largest woodpecker, measuring 50 cm. A Hill Myna stopped at the top of the dead tree and was chased away by the woodpeckers. We were lucky to get male and female birds to pose for us in one frame. The birds flew off and did not come back. We continued our journey to the Halaza Waterfall.

Birding southern Thailand, Bang Lang National Park | Hala Bala Wildlife Sanctuary

Before reaching the waterfall, we spotted a Crested Serpent Eagle hunting between trees not far from the ground. We also saw a Forktail zipping along the smaller streams crossing our path. There were fruit trees at the bottom of the waterfall, but we could not identify the birds.

On our way back, we stopped at the dead tree again, hoping the woodpeckers would return. To our delight, we did not see two birds but three. We think the third bird was a chick that emerged from the nest hole on the dead tree. The three birds climbed up to the top of the trunk and posed for us before taking off. That was the highlight of the day.

Bird tourism in Bang Lang is in a very infancy state. The park has an area of 26,000 ha, and we had two nights at one location. If you visit Hala Bala Wildlife Reserve in southern Thailand, drop by Bang Lang National Park.