Cambodia: Birding the Khmer Kingdom Set Departure Tour 8th – 21st March, 2015 Laos extension: 21st – 25th March, 2015 Guided by Charley Hesse & Mony Sang Report by Charley Hesse. Photos by Keith Barnes & Charles Hesse. The Giant Ibis, once more widespread across SE Asia now numbers as few as 230 mature indiviuals (Keith Barnes) If any tour destination deserves the description, ‘last chance to see’ it would be Cambodia. On this tour we saw an incredible 17 threatened species of birds including 6 critically endangered ones. With a redesigned itinerary including several key locations not visited by other companies we recorded 356 species of birds and an impressive 25 species of mammal. Highlights included a trip to the amazing Angkor Wat; seeing both adjutants, Milky Stork and Spot-billed Pelican on a boat trip to Prek Toal, the endangered race of Sarus Crane plus Black-necked Stork and Eld’s Deer at Ang Trapaeng Tmor, the critically endangered Bengal Florican and rare Manchurian Reed Warbler at the florican grasslands, the critically endangered Giant and White-shouldered Ibis plus countless owls and woodpeckers at Tmat Boey; the endangered White-winged Duck plus 2 colourful broadbill species at Okoki, 3 critically endangered vulture species battling with Golden Jackal over a carcass at the Veal Krous vulture restaurant; the recently discovered Mekong Wagtail and critically endangered Irrawaddy River Dolpin during a boat ride on the Mekong River near Kratie, the endangered Green Peafowl and Red-vented Barbet at Seima; White- cheeked Laughingthrush and Black-headed Parrotbill at Dak Dam and the recently described endemic Cambodian Tailorbird near Pnom Penh. For the first time we offered an extension to the neighbouring country of Laos where Tropical Birding www.tropicalbirding.com Page 1 we saw the recently discovered Bare-faced Bulbul, rare Sooty Babbler and endangered endemic Lao Langur. It was truly an unforgettable trip and we were proud that our trip directly contributed to the important conservation efforts to save Cambodia’s wildlife. 9th March – Angkor Wat Today was our trip to visit the temples at Angkor, including the most famous one, Angkor Wat. The birding there is great too and it helped to get there early. Unfortunately 2 people had only arrived late last night but they were up with the rest of us, bright-eyed and bushy-tailed to meet our driver and local guide who knew not only the temples but the birds too. We had to stop initially for our tickets at the gate and we also picked up a Lineated Barbet calling from up in a tree. We birded nice forest around Angkor Wat and we started picking many common birds, including Shikra, Germain's Swiftlet, Coppersmith Barbet, the similar Asian Brown & Taiga Flycatchers, Ashy & Brown- rumped Minivets, Greater Racket-tailed Drongo and Yellow-browed Warbler. We had a Black Baza fly overhead and we added our first mammal, the Variable Squirrel, the local form of which has a white ring around its tail. As we continued birding we found Black-naped Monarch, Streak-eared Bulbul, Hainan Blue-Flycatcher, the rather shy Forest Wagtail, Asian Barred Owlet and even had an Oriental Pratincole fly over. We were disappointed to have missed the Brown Boobook before light but the local guide managed to find us a roosting individual which posed nicely for photos. Ta Prom is the wildest of the temples at Angkor (Charley Hesse) We moved out of the forest and had our first views of Angkor Wat, but we still kept on picking up new birds even though we were now in temple mode. As we walked up to the complex we had a distant, soaring Asian Openbill, lots of Asian Palm-Swifts, with just a single Brown-backed Needletail mixed in. Some Long-tailed Macaques were being fed by the hordes of Korean tourists and they were looking a little overweight if truth be told. One last bird around the temple was a Blue Rock-Thrush perched up on one of the corners of the buildings. Angkor Wat is the largest religious building in the world and was very impressive but equally so were the extensive carvings on the inside. Some of which contained birds, including species like Green Peafowl which are no longer in the area. After a fascinating walk around Angkor Wat, we set off to the north to the other temples in the complex. We stopped at a little bridge where we saw a few waterbirds, like Little Cormorant, Oriental Darter, Little Egret and Black-capped Kingfisher but also a beautiful Green Lotus-frog. At the Southern gate of Bayon, we looked up inside to find many Black-bearded and Theobold’s Tomb Bats. Bayon is smaller but the carved faces were nevertheless very cool to see. After lunch we took a walk around Ta Prom, the most overgrown of the temples. The habitat we walked Tropical Birding www.tropicalbirding.com Page 2 around was great and it was nice without the crowds, but it was a bit hot to see too much. We did however see the interesting pale race of Ashy Drongo, an Indian Roller and a Black-naped Oriole. We entered the Ta Prom complex, one of the best places to see both Alexandrine & Red-breasted Parakeets, although we also saw a nice Many- striped Sun-Skink and plenty of butterflies, including Common Lime, Yellow Orange Tip, Blue Glassy Tiger and Grey & Peacock Pansies. We had time to freshen up back at the hotel before dinner and we even saw the attractive Banded Bulfrog in the garden fountain. 10th March – Prek Toal We left the hotel very early today and drove to where our boat was waiting. We boarded and chugged along a canal past a traditional floating village towards the huge Tonle Sap lake. It was very birdie on the way out and we saw Yellow & the uncommon Black Bittern, the very distinctive Black-backed Swamphen, a Greater Coucal perched up on some grass, Oriental Reed-Warbler and several Common Kingfishers. The main birding site was all the way on the other side of Tonle Sap so we had to cross over the open water where we saw Great, Indian & Little Cormorants and managed to pick out several Bank from the far more numerous Barn Swallows. As we approached the other side of the lake we started seeing many Whiskered & White-winged Terns, and here we changed to 2 smaller boats and entered the channel. We had hadn’t gone far before we saw both Lesser Adjutant and Greater Adjutants. Despite Greater being the rarer bird, they were far more numerous and we had incredible views and photo opportunities of these enormous birds. Spot-billed Pelicans were everywhere and with their slow wing beats, they were the perfect photographic subjects. The endangered Greater Adjutant may number as few as 1,000 mature individuals (Charley Hesse). The water birds were phenomenal and as the channel was quite narrow, they were all very close. We had Oriental Darter, Cinnamon Bittern, Gray, Purple & Striated Herons, Intermediate Egret, Black-crowned Night-Heron, Black-headed Ibis, a brief view of Rufous Woodpecker and great views of Grey-headed Fish-Eagle. We stopped the engines at one spot and heard Ruddy-breasted Crakes calling nearby. Playing the tape, I managed to coax them to the edge and we all got good views. It was now getting rather hot and we sheltered from the sun on a rather Tropical Birding www.tropicalbirding.com Page 3 rickety bamboo platform. While the boatmen caught themselves some fish, we scanned the numerous flying Asian Openbill, Adjutant & Painted Storks for the rare Milky Stork. We sat there chatting and scanning for a long time and I almost decided to give up when I spotted one flying across, ahead of us. We had varying views but we were very lucky to have found this endangered and incredibly rare bird that many birders are missing this year. We started heading back and a few of us saw a Himalayan Cuckoo disappearing into a bush. We reached the mouth of the channel and boarded the larger boat back to Prek Toal village, where we had lunch on a floating restaurant. We got back on the boat and went back to the small port. On the way the local guide got very excited when 2 Glossy Ibis flew by, a rare bird in Cambodia if not the rest of the world. We got back to the small port and started our drive, spotting our first Malaysian Pied-Fantail on the way. By the time we had reached Pnom Kraom it was mid-afternoon and past the hottest part of the day. We walked along a track and immediately started seeing some open country birds like Black-shouldered Kite, Indian Roller, Yellow- vented & Streak-eared Bulbuls, Siberian Stonechat, Pied Bushchat and Oriental Pipit. We saw Oriental Pratincole, Red-rumped Swallow and also had a pair of distant Black-collared Starlings in flight. Perched on some of the bushes bordering the path we had scope views of the large Striated Grassbird, along with Plain Prinia, both Streaked & Baya Weavers and we heard a very skulking Lanceolated Warbler which I managed to call in. We reached a flooded field with beautiful pink lotus flowers. We scanned from here and found a couple of female Cotton Pygmy-Geese, several Black-winged Stilts, both Pheasant-tailed & Bronze-winged Jacanas, Eastern Yellow Wagtail, and even a small Dusky Warbler feeding just above the water. We heard White-browed Crake and Watercock but didn’t manage to coax them out. It had been a long but wonderful day and we decided to head back to Siem Riep to freshen up before dinner.