Cat Tien, the Forest
Elena & I in the forest by a giant Tung Tree Cat Tien is an amazing National Park a few hours drive from Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City). It is 72,000 hectares of lowland tropical rainforest and an area of incredible biodiversity. The air here is filled with butterflies, over 450 species, many of them rare, so many that in places they carpet the trails. Fauna in the park includes 326 bird species, 100 types of mammal, 79 types of reptile, 41 amphibian species, plus an incredible array of insects. In the early 1990s, a rare group of Javan rhinoceros was discovered in the park, but conservationists now believe their number may have plummeted to just one or two ageing adults. Leopards are also believed to roam here. Rare birds in the park include the orange-necked partridge, green peafowl and Siamese Fireback plus three species of pitta. There is also a healthy population of monkeys. We spent three full days here with our trusty guide Mr. Duyen, organised by "Vietnam Birding", an excellent company based in Saigon run by British expat Richard Craik.
Orange Breasted Trogon - harpactes oreskios Trekking the forest trails can be exhilarating. It is never silent, the whooping of Gibbons swinging through the canopy overhead, the "circular saw" like drone of cicadas and the loud calls of forest birds all make it very atmospheric. I soon learned that photography in these dim light conditions was extremely difficult, my little 400mm f5.6 is ok in the bright light of Spain, but here in the jungle is is hopelessly inadequate. Nevertheless I ramped up the ISO and opened the aperture fully and did my best. It is very exciting to spot exotic forest birds like this Orange Breasted Trogon, I was lucky to get a shot of this magnificent species through very dense foilage.
Puff Throated Babbler - pellorneum ruficeps Birds are very difficult to spot along the trails, the foilage is thick, the light poor and our eyes are not atuned to these conditions. Our guide used calls to attract birds like this little Puff Throated Babbler who came to investigate. We heard such exotic and rare species as Germaine´s Peacock Pheasant, Orange Necked Partridge, Barred and Blue-winged Pittas, but seeing them was a different matter, they know how to stay safely out of sight.
Black & Red Broadbill - cymbirhinchus macrorhynchos It is in forest clearings and around the edges of the jungle that most birds can be seen. It also provides better light for photography. After a two hour trek in dense forest we came to an open area with a lake, known locally as "Crocodile Lake" for obvious reasons. Here we came across a nesting pair of Black and Red Broadbills, a very beautiful bird and a delight to watch building their nest on a branch overhanging the river.
Broadbills are a particularly attractive bird family and we were to have many more encounters with them later, but I will never forget this exciting first sighting.
Broadbills are a particularly attractive bird family and we were to have many more encounters with them later, but I will never forget this exciting first sighting.
Black & Red Broadbills - cymbirhinchus macrohinchos
Blue Winged Pitta - pitta moluccensis Birding around the lake was superb. Bronze Winged Jacana, Lesser Whistling Duck, Asian Golden Weaver, White Rumped Munia, Racket Tailed Treepie and a very rare Green Peafowl were all observed, though mostly from a distance. I did photograph all of them but most are just distant record shots. I have included this Green Peafowl however for its rarity value, and later that afternoon we did see Blue Winged Pitta, brief flashes of saphire blue as a pair flew around us from tree to tree. (This shot is from a later encounter in Thailand).
A rare Green Peafowl - pavo multicus
Later that day, on the way back to our forest cabin, we spotted many other species from the road. These included Imperial Green Pigeon, Bronzed Drongo, our first Hornbill (Oriental Pied Hornbill), Blue Eared Barbet and Crested Serpent Eagle.
 Green Imperial Pigeon - ducula aenea |  Bronzed Drongo -dicrurus aeneus |  Oriental Pied Hornbill - anthracoceros albirostris |
 Blue Eared Barbet - megalaima australis |  Crested Serpent Eagle - spilornis cheela |
The shot below is one of a series of a mother Stripe Throated Bulbul with her fledged chick. It is a nice series which shows the bond between a mother and her offspring, I have only space to show one shot here however.
Stripe Throated Bulbuls - pyconoyus finlaysoni Barbets are interesting and photogenic birds with large faces and some bright colours. We saw Green Eared Barbets quite frequently which always showed well in photos. I was not so lucky with the Blue Eared and Moustached Barbets which we also saw but the photos are not great.
Green Eared Barbet - megalaiema faiostricta
Green Eared Barbet - megalaima faiostricta
White Rumped Sharma - copsichus malabaricus The White Rumped Sharma is an exotic looking bird but is quite easy to see. It is fairly common in the forest and is not so shy as most other forest species. This one flew onto a roadside power cable and posed nicely for a full frame shot. It was quite late in the day by this time and the light was not too good, but it still makes a striking image with its orange breast and long black and white tail.
Many forest bird photos are for the record, archive shots of exciting birds that are lifers for us but not good images. Sometimes the bird is still worth posting for the memories they bring back. For example the following images recall the early morning that Duyen took us onto a forest trail exactly below the path of a family of whooping Gibbons on the move. It was amazing to watch them swinging from branch to vine with incredible speed and grace. Suddenly over the cacophany of the Gibbons we heard the strange calls of a flock of White Crested Laughingthrush, a distinctive sound that gives the species its name. I managed a quick shot of one and at the same time I spotted this Lesser Cuckoo through a gap in the branches & fired off a quick snap of that as well. Two lifers in quick succession, one of those birding moments that stand out..
Many forest bird photos are for the record, archive shots of exciting birds that are lifers for us but not good images. Sometimes the bird is still worth posting for the memories they bring back. For example the following images recall the early morning that Duyen took us onto a forest trail exactly below the path of a family of whooping Gibbons on the move. It was amazing to watch them swinging from branch to vine with incredible speed and grace. Suddenly over the cacophany of the Gibbons we heard the strange calls of a flock of White Crested Laughingthrush, a distinctive sound that gives the species its name. I managed a quick shot of one and at the same time I spotted this Lesser Cuckoo through a gap in the branches & fired off a quick snap of that as well. Two lifers in quick succession, one of those birding moments that stand out..
 White Crested Laughingthrush - garrulax leucolophus |  Lesser Cuckoo - cuculus poliocephalus |
