Quest for the Holy Grail

 

At the break of dawn on the second day of our tour, we were enjoying a simple breakfast and a glorious sunrise at the vast expense of salt ponds in the Khok Kham conservation area. And what can be found in such a habitat you may ask. Allow me to enlighten you. This is the wintering ground for a remarkable and rare little wader known as the Spoon-billed Sandpiper or more affectionately called the Spoonie.

Birds leaving roosting sites to forage in first light can be breath-taking. And it is no different here. I was especially drawn to the flocks of Painted Storks making their way towards the coast. There is no denying I have a soft spot for large water birds. Even more so if they are uncommon to me.

When there was finally enough light to begin our exploration of this important bird area, we carefully walked into the salt farm along the bunds. Flocks of waders that started to congregate in the shallow ponds were an indication of things to come and I could hardly contain the excitement building inside of me.

Now finding a Spoonie among the thousands of other peeps was not going to be easy. But we had help. A local guide that goes by the name of Tee weaved his magic scope and after about thirty minutes, we were staring at the unique bill of this critically endangered species.

In order to obtain any decent images, we had to rely on our field craft to reduce the distance. Here is Tee giving us some pointers on how not to be lumbering visiting birders and spook the subject away...

The observation did not last as long as I would have wanted when the entire flock of waders in that pond took flight and vanished. To be honest, I was still elated with this encounter as it was the closest and longest I have ever been with a Spoonie.

With the target in the bag, we began to open up to the other species that find sanctuary here. I do not encounter the Grey Plover quite often and a lone individual resting along the outer edge of one the ponds was a welcomed sight.

A wary Pacific Golden-Plover did not provide any opportunity for an improvement shot.

I am a simple man and I tend to keep things simple in my life. Thus, I miss the days when Lesser Sand-plovers have not undergone the split. Having said that, here are some images of what should be Tibetan Sand-Plovers.

The Khok Kham conservation would be a good place to scan through the hundreds of confiding Sand-Plovers present here for the almost identical, Thailand’s first Siberian Sand-Plover but that task would be above my ‘bird’ grade.

The Curlew Sandpipers are rather confiding today as well. I took a keen interest in these common migrants for any stumpy-looking individuals or even better, have blackish bellies for the possibility of the rarer Dunlin. From this blog post, I am sure you know how it worked out.

Black-winged Stilts, especially the male bird, is the definition of elegance in the wader world.

The Marsh Sandpiper is another wader that oozes with poise and grace.

Here is a Pond-Heron in non-breeding plumage doing what Pond-Herons do. Next please...

The scenery at the salt ponds is actually quite lovely. Naturally, it took a while for me to realize that. Once I am in full birding mode, everything else becomes secondary.

We then sat down along a bund to take a breather and recuperate from the heat.  I always emphasize that successful birding is very much luck as well. A flock of waders suddenly alighted in the pond right in front of us and our man Tee triumphantly alerted us from a distance. I could hardly believe it when my eyes picked up the now-familiar jizz of a Spoon-billed Sandpiper. Point most certainly proven...

I could not be sure if this second bird is a different individual but it was a lot more confiding. I think we managed to crawl and slide our way to as close as possible without overstepping our boundaries.

The superstar appeared relax and was constantly feeding which at times, made it difficult to obtain images without the bill submerged in water.

Please forgive me if this post contains a high number of Spoon-billed Sandpiper images. It is not a new bird to me. In all my years of birding, I have recorded it twice before. But nothing like this. This is heaven-sent for a water bird lover like me and I took full advantage of what I have been given. The Spoon-billed Sandpiper is often considered the holy grail of wader watching in this part of the world. After this prolonged and intimate encounter, I can see why. It was a true privilege indeed.

Once I have obtained more than enough images, I was able to let myself occasionally swap the camera with the binos and made this incredible encounter complete. And here is one final image of the Spoon-billed Sandpiper for good measure.

When the exhilaration of the Spoonie subsided, I started to take notice of the other waders present in the same pond. And a mixed flock of Great and Red Knots resting nearby was hard to ignore now.

The problem with roosting or resting waders is that you sometimes cannot isolate a single bird out for photography. For the knots, despite all my best efforts, I could only obtain images of a Great Knot alone.

Smaller peeps require some scrutiny to ascertain their identities. Red-necked Stints, due to their similarities to a Spoon-billed Sandpiper, provided some suspense on this beautiful, sunny morning. This image depicts the two species almost side to side. Hide the bill and most mortals would be in trouble.

Broad-billed Sandpipers sport distinct facial markings that make them slightly easier to identify. And they performed well for our photographic efforts. This wader site provided an incredible morning of memorable experiences and that is something I have been missing in recent years. It is sad but there are simply no wader sites left in my home state that can even come close.

For those unfortunate souls who dipped out on the Spoonie, there is a larger-than-life statue of the bird at the visitor centre that could perhaps provide some solace.

And from here, we took a long drive into the wild interiors of central Thailand. Kaeng Krachang National Park is the largest national park in the country and it was the next destination in out itinerary. Will our lucky streak continue? The answer to that will be in my next post.

Checklist of the birds recorded at Khok Kham: https://ebird.org/checklist/S307844600