Cuc Phuong
Day 3: Sunday 17th March 2019
06:30 breakfast and then a 3-hour drive to the Cuc Phuong NP, south of Hanoi. This national park is set in an area of subtropical foothill evergreen forest on limestone. En route I noted 3 main things – much of the area immediately south of Hanoi does not seem particularly attractive as a tourist destination; the many paddyfields are the most birdless paddyfields I have seen anywhere; there was remarkably little rubbish on the streets (Susan tells me this is because nothing is wasted, it is all recommissioned) - [later on we found that the south of Vietnam had more typical amounts of rubbish along he roadsides].
06:30 breakfast and then a 3-hour drive to the Cuc Phuong NP, south of Hanoi. This national park is set in an area of subtropical foothill evergreen forest on limestone. En route I noted 3 main things – much of the area immediately south of Hanoi does not seem particularly attractive as a tourist destination; the many paddyfields are the most birdless paddyfields I have seen anywhere; there was remarkably little rubbish on the streets (Susan tells me this is because nothing is wasted, it is all recommissioned) - [later on we found that the south of Vietnam had more typical amounts of rubbish along he roadsides].
After lunch I found a track signed to an “observation hide” and walked it. It took me to the top of a limestone hill up some very slippery, uneven and eroded limestone steps. This was quite strenuous, and I saw no birds – partly because I don’t think there were any and partly because I had to give nearly all my attention to not sustaining an injury by slipping down the steep steps. At the top was a canopy tower with very steep widely spaced access steps and a very unsafe looking observation platform. A young lady was descending the rungs as I arrived. She told me she could only go half way up as it seemed too risky to go further. I concurred.
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Later we went out for our first group birding activity. We drove about 30 minutes into the national park to the Prehistoric Man Cave – Unfortunately 5 coachloads of noisy tourists had come to the same spot, somewhat hampering our birding activity. More of a problem was the weather, which had remained overcast and misty, but it did stay dry. Birds in the canopy were very difficult to make out in these conditions and there was a very low day total of 12 species seen – but 4 of them were new to me (Limestone Wren-babbler, Limestone Leaf-warbler, Hainan Blue Flycatcher and Bar-bellied Pitta). They all proved impossible to photograph in the prevailing conditions. We stayed 3 nights in quite decent accommodation in the national park headquarters.
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Day 4: Monday 18th March 2019
All day in Cuc Phuong NP. After a 05:30 breakfast, we set off in our 24-seater minbus towards the centre of the national park (Bong substation), a distance of 20km. We saw several birds on the road during the course of this drive, most notable of which was Malaysian Night-heron (new for me and scarce except in Taiwan, where it is apparently quite common). Once at the centre we spent 3-4 hours walking a forest trail. Light rain persisted the whole while, but little of it reached the forest floor. It was a pleasant experience just to be walking quietly through the lush evergreen forest with sound of the rain falling on the leaves overhead. Fortunately, we also saw some good birds – Red-headed Trogon, White-tailed Flycatcher and Rufous-throated Fulvetta were all new for me. On returning to the substation we stopped for coffee and then set off for a shorter walk further up the road – adding a few species, the most important of which was Pied Falconet. We went back to headquarters for lunch and walked from there in the afternoon. The rain had stopped, but it remained murky and the birding was very slow. Butterflies, however, seemed to enjoy these conditions, so we had a good look at the many species around. |
Day 5: Tuesday 19th March 2019
All day in Cuc Phuong NP. Weather very mixed with low misty cloud to start, thunder and rain around midday, clearing to sunshine and a very pleasant late afternoon – with the first sunshine since we arrive in Vietnam. The birding, however, was hard work throughout. After a 05:30 breakfast, we set of, once again, to Bong substation. Here we walked the long “ancient tree” trail through the forest on a well-marked but sometimes treacherous limestone and concrete path. The ancient tree is said to be 1000 years old, but it died 3 years ago – what remains is an impressive stump! After lunch at Bong substation we alternated walking and driving back to headquarters. As on the previous two days 4 bird species were new for me – Sultan Tit, Fujian Niltava, Eastern Crowned Warbler and Dark-throated Tailorbird. The butterflies were much more impressive and were present in vast numbers and many varieties all down the road between Bong substation and headquarters.
All day in Cuc Phuong NP. Weather very mixed with low misty cloud to start, thunder and rain around midday, clearing to sunshine and a very pleasant late afternoon – with the first sunshine since we arrive in Vietnam. The birding, however, was hard work throughout. After a 05:30 breakfast, we set of, once again, to Bong substation. Here we walked the long “ancient tree” trail through the forest on a well-marked but sometimes treacherous limestone and concrete path. The ancient tree is said to be 1000 years old, but it died 3 years ago – what remains is an impressive stump! After lunch at Bong substation we alternated walking and driving back to headquarters. As on the previous two days 4 bird species were new for me – Sultan Tit, Fujian Niltava, Eastern Crowned Warbler and Dark-throated Tailorbird. The butterflies were much more impressive and were present in vast numbers and many varieties all down the road between Bong substation and headquarters.
Day 6: Wednesday 20th March 2019
A slightly more relaxed start to the day with breakfast at 06:00. We walked from headquarters along the main road through Cuc Phuong, past Mac Lake, for a distance of about 1km. We found 7 birds new for the trip, including 3 new for me: Spot-necked Babbler, Fork-tailed Sunbird and White-winged Magpie – the first two of these showed well at close quarters, the last distantly high up on the hillside. We returned to headquarters to pack, again enjoying the butterfly display along the way.
A slightly more relaxed start to the day with breakfast at 06:00. We walked from headquarters along the main road through Cuc Phuong, past Mac Lake, for a distance of about 1km. We found 7 birds new for the trip, including 3 new for me: Spot-necked Babbler, Fork-tailed Sunbird and White-winged Magpie – the first two of these showed well at close quarters, the last distantly high up on the hillside. We returned to headquarters to pack, again enjoying the butterfly display along the way.