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On 23 October 2014 the prefect storm formed just before noon at Khao Dinsor, Chumphon province, on the coast of the Gulf of Thailand. Thick thunderstorm clouds formed out west and moved steadily east. With winds up to 25 mph the storm front forced the migrants to concentrate along the coast and over Khao Dinsor, where hawk-watchers and photographers from the world over watched in awe a staggering 25,000 Black Baza flight: an all-time record day at the site and anywhere in the world.
As in other tropical regions around the globe rainy weather north of Khao Dinsor can ground thermal soaring raptors for days at a time. Raptors species that rely mainly on warm masses of air raising to gain height and then glide on to the next hot air bubble travel economically and efficiently in good weather, but stay put otherwise. It makes more ecological sense to weather the storm than to waste precious energy trying to cover distance on powered flight. Heavy rains in the Bangkok-Petchaburi area for several days shot down the flight a few days. In previous days relatively few raptors were counted. Once the weather cleared north of us, the stage was ready for the migration miracle.
We arrived earlier than usual that morning at Khao Dinsor. Weather reports the day before were strongly suggestive that a massive flight would take place today. When this happens, it pays to be at the site early. By 9.00 AM we were having 500-1,000 Black Baza flocks already—many of them below the horizon, affording neat looks of the upper-side of the birds. At 10.00 AM flocks were in the 1,000-2,000-birds range, and a little later in the 2,000-5,000s! Substantial numbers of Gray-faced Buzzards, and numerous Japanese, and still quite a few Chinese Sparrowhawks (late for them in the season) were dashing through at eye-level or barely overhead at Platform 2.
Around 11.00 AM the dark clouds began to be more than evident west of us, and by 11.30 it was obvious that the front was moving east and towards the coast; the breeze became wind. Birds started flying lower and closer. Crested Serpent Eagles were flying right overhead. Other birds at eye-level included Common Kestrel, Black Kite and Jerdon’s Baza. A migrating Peregrine Falcon shot through fast.
A series of showers shut down the flight, so we returned to our hotel and relaxed at the swimming pool area in the afternoon. The following couple of days were both 10,000+ bird days. One thing is for sure, when the weather is right at Khao Dinsor, things get quite interesting!
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