Laem Phak Bia Mangrove Royal Project: White-throated Kingfisher 白胸翡翠 นกกะเต็นอกขาว

White-throated Kingfisher 白胸翡翠 นกกะเต็นอกขาว 

Having a meal

Black-capped Kingfisher 蓝翡翠 นกกะเต็นหัวดำ

Common Kingfisher 普通翠鸟 นกกระเต็นน้อยธรรมดา

Laem Phak Bia Mangrove Royal Project

Chinese Pond Heron 池鹭 นกยางกรอกพันธุ์จีน

Red-wattled Lapwing 肉垂麦鸡 นกกระแตแต้แว้ด

Little Egret 白鹭鸶 นกยางเปีย

Grey Heron 蒼鷺 นกกระสานวล

 Common Tern 普通燕鷗 นกนางนวลแกลบธรรมดา

Whale Viewing II : On the Boat

Introduced by the local Or.Bo.Tor. (อบต, or Tamboon [district] administration organization), we get to know this local fisherman K Yeur, who part time job is to bring enthusiasts for whale viewing with his fishing boat. The jetty is located at Laem Phak Bia, a small village near Chao Samran Beach. If you are not familiar with these names, it is around 30 km on the north of more famous Cha-am.

It takes around one hour sailing to the territory of the whale. It is not difficult to find them, gathering seagulls are the best signpost leading to the whale. Seagulls are opportunist, they are waiting to feed on the schooling fish (anchovy, mackerel etc) driven by the whale right from its mouth.

According to K Yeur, the whales are nothing new, he has been sighting the whale since he was a young. Normally the whale is migratory, but study has shown that some of them aren't, and this explains why we have a group of whale residing at the Gulf of Siam.

The Jetty, is made from bamboo.

The boat is a very small one, this costs around 2,000 for a trip

The small canal proven as a safe haven for the fishing boats

Heading to the sea

Still full of spirit

sea sick?

Waving flag on the bamboo stick

Ours is a middle size boat, costs me THB 3,500 for a 4-5 hours trip 

Looking for the bird sign

The boat taikong, K Yeur

A bigger boat

Salted Fish Making

Four Finger Threadfin Fish, 马友鱼 (午鱼), ปลากุเรา

Whale Viewing I : Bryde's Whale 布氏鯨 วาฬบรูด้า

Whale? Yes you are right, whale viewing in Thailand. It has just become one of the newest tourist attraction when local media rushing to show a group of Bryde's Whales wandering at Thai Gulf, off the coast of famous Cha-am beach. There were some 30+ whales reported during the month of Sep, and since Bryde's whales are migratory, the number has then reducing and finally only a few left coming to the month of November. (Strangely not all are migratory including the few sighted by us). 

Bryde's whale is one of the most mysterious and less known whale species. I crossed my finger praying if I would be lucky enough to see them after learning from the boatman 2 of our previous trips returned empty handed, and another one took 6-7 hours to find them. Somehow it is proven we're the lucky one, the weather was bright, not hot and the sea's just calm. Just slightly less than 1 hour after leaving the jetty, we saw the pilot lamp, the gathering seagulls, and expectedly a small group of Bryde's whale.

Gathering seagulls, the pilot lamp of the feeding Bryde's whale. 

Size of the whale is around 3 fishing boats that we are riding

We're not far away from the coast, you can still see the condo at the background