Monthly Archives: April 2024

Chaloem Phra Kiat Park: My little patch of green series

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When: April 2024 Weather: Insanely hot 35C

Nikon P900

In Bangkok again for a weekend and stayed at the grand old lady Shangri La Bangkok which sits on the bank of the Chao Phraya River…

Our hotel overlooked the Chao Phraya River, which was quite pretty by night

Now as is my wont, whenever I travel, I’ll check out the neighbourhood around my hotel on Google Maps to find the nearest patch of green where I can take an early sunrise walk and do some birding if at all possible. A few weeks ago, I was also in Bangkok and had a most wonderful morning amble at the Santiphap Park…my little patch of green near the Sukosol hotel. So it was that I also found my little patch of green here, across the river called Chaloem Phra Kiat Forest Park. 6am saw me crossing the river on the bridge next to the Shangri….

This is the bridge at the end of which can be seen a tiny patch of green…bisected by the main road
there were some rather nice sculptures

This is a much busier park than Santiphap, and there were people jogging, playing badminton, and there were futsal pitches, and lots of activity areas…..did not bode well for birds…indeed, there were very few birds around…

I even had to shoot a sparrow…
and a house crow!
and then in a flash of black and white, a magpie robin busied itself at this hole in the branch…
it was feeding a chick!
and then another one posed with the twigs he had collected
another oriental magpie robin sang lustily
and on the walk back, a typical thai temple brightened up the skyline

Whilst this was a quiet littel patch of green, nevertheless it was an interesting way to spend an hour looking at life in a Bangkok Park….not the most productive birdwise but hey, you can’t win them all…