Tmatboey Dreaming

Giant Ibis and White-shouldered Ibis, the two critically endangered stars of Tmatboey

Having successfully seen Bengal Florican with Nara of the CBGA, the next stop was up in northern Cambodia: the forests around the town of Tmatboey, in Prey Vihear province. I knew very little about Tmatboey, only that it was the best place to see Giant Ibis and White-shouldered Ibis, two critically endangered ibises that are essentially only found in Cambodia, as well as lots of other target birds. In fact based on its eBird list it's one of the best birding areas of the whole country. Nara had also described it as by far his favorite place to bird in Cambodia, so needless to say I was excited to visit. It very, very much did not disappoint.

It was a four-hour drive to Tmatboey from the Bengal Florican reserve, dodging dogs, bad drivers, and small children driving worryingly powerful motorcycles. The drive mostly went through hot, dry farmland, dotted with the occasional isolated, forest-covered hill. Along the way we stopped at a seemingly random little Buddhist temple with a hillside covered in scrubby forest and what seemed to be a subdivision under construction. It was a brutally hot, sunny Cambodian summer day in an extremely unassuming location, but it turned out to be absolutely hopping with birds even in the middle of the day. A couple of Burmese Shrikes were hawking insects just above eye level, while enormous Crested Treeswifts were soaring just overhead. The best was a Burmese Nuthatch doing circles around a tree trunk, giving me some great looks even though it was a headache to photograph.

Burmese Shrike

Burmese Nuthatch

Crested Treeswift

Further along the little path through the forested hills, my lifer Vinous-breasted Starling was perched distantly, and I spotted an even more distant Collared Falconet, getting awful record shots of both. I also saw my lifer Rufous-capped Babbler, although I wasn't able to get a picture. On the way back Nara pointed out an adorable baby Crested Treeswift hanging out on a branch, no doubt waiting to be fed by its parents flying above us. Near the car, I saw my lifer Golden-fronted Leafbird (pleasingly common and conspicuous as leafbirds go), and a nicely perched Ashy Drongo of the bondi subspecies. It was a little weird ticking off some of my major targets in one of the least-appealing areas I've ever birded in, but birds are birds, no matter what their surroundings.

Vinous-breasted Starling

I promise this is a Collared Falconet

Baby Crested Treeswift

Golden-fronted Leafbird

Asian Brown Flycatcher

"Sooty" Ashy Drongo, one of several subspecies groups found in Cambodia

Lime Swallowtail

The rather unassuming woodlands

We continued onwards, stopping every once in a while to scrutinize bare trees for perched White-rumped Pygmy Falcons, a hard-to-find Indochinese endemic. We didn't seen any pygmy falcons, but we did get my lifers Ashy Woodswallow and Vernal Hanging-parrot, the latter of which I never ended up seeing anywhere else, so that was nice. As we neared the Tmatboey village, we stopped for good looks at Chinese Francolin and Rufous-winged Buzzard.

Chinese Francolin

Rufous-winged Buzzard

In the late afternoon we arrived at the "Tmatboey Ecolodge", the center of the birding site. Tmatboey began as a small village of indigenous Kuy people (tmat boey means "vulture's bath" in Kuy, apparently because the founder of the village found vultures bathing in a pool near his home). It's part of the Kulen Promtep Wildlife Sanctuary, a vast swathe of nominally protected swamplands and gallery forest in northern Cambodia, but it only became a birding destination when a population of Giant Ibis was discovered there in the 90s, after having been considered possibly extinct. As it turns out, the open gallery forests around Tmatboey Village are a huge biodiversity hotspot, being home to several hundred species of birds, including critically endangered species like Giant Ibis and White-shouldered Ibis. Tmatboey has become something of an ecotourism success story, where the local community is paid to locate and protect ibis nesting areas, as well as maintain traditional agricultural practices such as periodic burning of the forest areas which rids the forest of undergrowth and prevents more fires during the dry season. Lately the village appears to be growing due to in-migration of Khmer people from other parts of Cambodia, many of whom are making lots of money off of selective logging. For now the habitat still appears to be very good, and I hope that the community ecotourism strategy continues to work despite the changing ethnic and economic changes.

At the village we dropped our things at the lodging and immediately headed out to start some birding with a local forest ranger Sory in tow. Despite apparently being a total bird magnet, the forests of Tmatboey don't seem particularly impressive; it's open, scrubby forest that remind me more of the pine-oak woodlands of central Michigan than anywhere in Southeast Asia. Still, that makes the birds easier to see and the forest much easier to walk through, and "amazing birds in underwhelming habitat" is kind of a trend for Cambodia apparently.

The road to Tmatboey

Our destination for the evening was a spot where White-shouldered Ibis were known to roost, meaning we had to be there right before sunset. We stopped along the way for a flock of Orange-breasted Green Pigeons and a pair of my lifer Yellow-footed Green Pigeons perched along the side of the road. Another stop was for a flock of small birds, including Small Minivet, Purple Sunbird, Grey-breasted Prinia, Rufescent Prinia, and Brown Prinia swarming angrily above something on the ground- possibly a snake or a mongoose. It ended up being the only time I ever saw Grey-breasted Prinia, so I wish I'd tried harder to get a picture.

Orange-breasted Green Pigeons

Yellow-footed Green Pigeon

We parked along the side of the road and walked through the gallery forest until we arrived at a large open clearing, stopping along the way as Sory thought he was looking at a rare Pale-capped Pigeon (it turned out to be a much-more-common Red Turtledove). A group of White-shouldered Ibises had been seen there recently roosting on a large dead tree, but we waited until dusk with no sign of any ibises. We did hear the loud, bugling calls of a pair of Giant Ibises far in the distance, but they were clearly at a different roost. As it was dark and the ibises weren't coming, we headed back toward the car and nightmarish scenarios of visiting Tmatboey and dipping on both ibises starting playing through my head. Those were quickly dispelled when our guide Sory pointed off to our left where we could see the silhouette of a single White-shouldered Ibis sitting in a bare tree. It was almost completely dark by then and not the ideal view, but still a great omen for the rest of my time there.

White-shouldered Ibis!

The ambitiously-named Tmatboey Ecolodge is really more of a set of rustic cabins with glassless windows and electric fans, but honestly that was all I needed and I was able to fall asleep almost immediately after not having slept almost at all the previous night. The next morning, we left before dawn to search for the Giant Ibises we had heard calling the previous evening. Nara drove along a bumpy dirt road for a while and then we took another long walk through the gallery forest in the pre-dawn light, going as quietly as possible so as not to disturb a critically endangered bird. Finally we spotted a pair of Giant Ibises perched in a dead tree, and settled down behind some shrubbery to watch them from a safe distance.

I try to value all birds more or less equally (except maybe Killdeers, which can go to hell), but watching the sun rise over a pair of critically endangered birds preening and bugling at the top of their lungs is truly on another level. It's estimated that at this point there may be fewer than 400 Giant Ibises left, almost entirely in Cambodia with some remnant populations in Laos and Vietnam. Their population has been decimated by habitat loss, particularly deforestation, and to a lesser extent by hunting. The nest protection and community-based ecotourism program in Tmatboey seem to working to maintain the local population, but with the increasing in-migration from non-indigenous Cambodians and the increasing demand for lumber and agriculture it's hard to say whether that can last. It was hard to escape the possibility that this sight was only going to be possible for all too short of a time.

Giant Ibis!

Calling Giant Ibis- my first time uploading a video to my blog, we'll see if it works...

We sat and watched the ibises until they flew off after sunrise to look for food. In the immediate area was a very angry White-browed Fantail, and lots of Black-hooded Orioles were calling as well. Walking back toward the car, we happened upon lots of birds feeding in the canopy, including a Yellow-crowned Woodpecker, lots of Common Woodshrikes, an Indochinese Cuckooshrike, Brown Prinias, and a singing Indochinese Bushlark.

White-browed Fantail

Black-hooded Oriole

Yellow-crowned Woodpecker

Indochinese Cuckooshrike

Indochinese Bushlark

Cambodian Striped Squirrel- basically a little Southeast Asian chipmunk

Ibis habitat

Further down the road, we stopped where there had been a pair of breeding White-rumped Pygmy Falcons in the past. Despite looking very hard and Nara imitating their whistling call, there was no sign of any falcons. An Indian Cuckoo did fly overhead giving its characteristic four-note call, and we also had flyovers from Alexandrine Parakeets and Red-breasted Parakeets.

Alexandrine Parakeet

Indian Cuckoo

We moved on to another part of the forest, on the far side of Tmatboey village and via many extremely bumpy, poorly-maintained dirt roads. I mentioned in my last post how doing truly DIY birding in Cambodia is extremely difficult, and Tmatboey is a prime example of that; while it's probably possible to make one's own reservations at the ecolodge, navigating the hundreds of square kilometers and the maze of unmarked dirt roads to get to the known sites for extremely rare and easy-to-disturb birds would be practically impossible without the aid of the local guides, who don't speak English. Of course, ethics-wise it's also good to contribute to the organizations working with these communities like CBGA or the Sam Veasna Center anyway.

Our second destination for the morning was one of the small vernal ponds, or trapeang, that are an important watering hole for birds such as ibises and storks during the dry season (the whole area is flooded in the wet season). On the way to the trapeang we saw a perched Oriental Honey-buzzard and lots of Large Cuckooshrikes and Small Minivets. Nara spotted a distant Wooly-necked Stork grazing in an open field, a nice spotting of a bird that is becoming increasingly rare throughout Asia. At the trapeang itself was a huge Lesser Adjutant, which took off and did lazy circles above us.

Oriental Honey-buzzard

Large Cuckooshrike

A very distant Wooly-necked Stork

Small Minivet

Lesser Adjutant

Just then we spotted an ibis in front of us in a dead tree next to the pond. Nara exclaimed "Giant Ibis!", while I said "White-shouldered Ibis!" as soon as I got my bins on it. Hilarity ensued with each of us insisting it was a different species until we stepped slightly to the side and realized that it was, in fact, a Giant Ibis and a White-shouldered Ibis sitting next to each other on the same branch, with a tree blocking one bird for both of us. A pretty amazing way to spot two of the most endangered birds in the world!

Two critically endangered ibises!

We only stayed long enough to get some pictures, then backed off so as not to disturb the daily habits of a non-trivial percentage of the remaining ibises in Cambodia (there were several more in the pond we were unable to properly see). On the way back to the car Nara spotted a female Siberian Rubythroat, while a Jerdon's Baza, a very rare bird for Tmatboey, soared above us.

Siberian Rubythroat

Jerdon's Baza

On the way back toward the village we stopped at another seemingly nondescript stretch of woods that was apparently home to some roosting Brown Wood-owls. We got out to look and after a bit of walking an adult Brown Wood-owl flew out of a tree above a dry gully. In the same area we found an adorable baby wood-owl still roosting, as well as a good-looking Rufous Woodpecker and some cool ground wasps.

Rufous Woodpecker

Baby Brown Wood Owl

Oriental Garden Lizard

Chlorion splendidum

Chlorion lobatum

Paddyfield Parasol

Back at the lodge, we stopped for lunch and a quick nap. When I came out, Nara reported that Sory had found a roosting Brown Fish Owl behind the lodge! We made our way to the tree he had pointed out, and after lots of maneuvering were able to spot the baleful yellow eyes of an enormous Brown Fish Owl staring out at us. This had been my most-wanted owl for Cambodia, and was one of the biggest owls I'd ever seen. Back at the lodge, I sat for a little while at the makeshift bird hide, where a White-crested Laughingthrush and a few Sooty-headed Bulbuls made brief appearances.

Brown Fish Owl

White-crested Laughingthrush- my only halfway-decent picture of one, so it's a shame it looks like it was recently regurgitated by a housecat

Sooty-headed Bulbul

That afternoon, our destination was a small, mostly-dry creek where Pale-capped Pigeons, a vulnerable pigeon that's rare and declining throughout its range in India and Southeast Asia. An Indochinese Bushlark was singing from an exposed treetop when we got out of the car, and as we walked toward the creek we happened across a Lesser Yellownape, one of the less-common of Tmatboey's many species of woodpecker. As we sat and waited, a group of Small Minivets and Asian Green Bee-eaters feed nearby, while some Green Imperial Pigeons got our hopes up as they flew in. Finally, a trio of large, reddish pigeons with pale heads flew in. Nara exclaimed "Pale-capped Pigeons!" at the same time as I said a much less articulate "oh shit." They were distant but easy to ID- one of the most difficult target birds in Cambodia perched in front of us, continuing an amazing day of birding.

Indochinese Bushlark

Lesser Yellownape

Small Minivet

Asian Green Bee-eater

Green Imperial-pigeon

Pale-capped Pigeon!

On the way back to the car a male Scarlet Minivet, huge in comparison to the Small Minivets we'd been seeing, perched briefly. We got a distant look at a White-bellied Woodpecker, apparently quite uncommon in Cambodia, and as we drove back had a good look at a female Chinese Francolin foraging next to the road. Later on in the drive we flushed a Barn Owl just starting its nighttime hunting, and I was able to get some pictures in the failing light. Just before dark we heard the hooting of a Spotted Wood-owl in the distance, and after some searching were able to get a good look at a distant adult bird.

Scarlet Minivet

White-bellied Woodpecker

Chinese Francolin

Barn Owl

Spotted Wood Owl

Back at the Tmatboey Ecolodge, we ate dinner and then I retired to my quarters to edit my thousands of pictures from Changkran Roy. Around 8PM I heard the calls of a Collared Scops-owl and rushed outside with my camera and thermal scope to try and find it. It took more searching than I thought but finally I was able to find a calling male scops-owl right behind the dining area. I had heard the much-softer begging calls of a juvenile bird earlier, and after some searching (with Nara coming straight out from his shower to help) I found a very fuzzy baby scops-owl as well. Just as I was getting pictures of that a third bird flew in- the female Collared Scops-owl with a beetle to feed to her baby! The perfect way to end a day of birding with nearly 100 species, including 6 species of owls. There were lots of frogs around my room that night, including a Beautiful Pygmy Frog, Mukhlesur's Narrow-mouthed Frog, and Paddyfield Frog.

Male Collared Scops-owl

Baby Collared Scops-owl

Adult Collared Scops-owl with food for her baby

Beautiful Pygmy Frog

Mukhlesur's Narrow-mouthed Frog, a mouthful of a name for a tiny frog

Paddyfield Frog

Scopula divisaria

I slept like a rock once again that night, and woke at dawn to the sound of an Asian Barred Owlet calling outside my room, which we finally located at the top of a dead tree. Our destination that day was a patch of nice riverside forest in an area with a wetter microclimate than the rest of Tmatboey, allowing for some different birdlife such as Banded Kingfisher and Orange-breasted Trogon. As we got out of the car we saw a couple of Large Woodshrikes, noticeably different from the usual Common Woodshrikes nearby. A male Golden-fronted Leafbird was also around. We entered the unusually dark and spooky riverside forest, where some familiar Changkran Roy birds such as Black-crested Bulbul and Oriental Pied Hornbill were around. We heard the calls of a pair of my lifer Indochinese Blue Flycatcher and were able to tape one in, albeit in such a dark area I could only get pictures with my flashlight on.

Asian Barred Owlet

Large Woodshrike

Golden-fronted Leafbird

Indochinese Blue Flycatcher

Smooth-eyed Bushbrown

More Tmatboey gallery forest

The deep, dark riverine forest

Just as we were starting to look for the really good birds, the rainy season in Cambodia abruptly started. The entire time I had been in country so far it had been dry, hot, and sunny but that morning the clouds rolled in and a torrential downpour started, sending us sprinting back to the car, soaking wet and trying to protect our optics. Nara had casually commented that the roads we were driving on were completely inaccessible when they were muddy, and with the new rain we were left wondering if we could even make it back without a long, wet, walk. Thankfully Nara is an absolute master of driving a 4x4 vehicle in awful conditions, and we were able to make it across several treacherous gullies-become-flood channels to safer land.

The rain continued for hours, and there wasn't really much to do besides head back to the lodge and take it easy, as driving on dirt roads in the rain is a risky affair. Late morning the rain let up a little bit so we decided to walk around the forest near the lodge. An open field held a small group of uncommon-in-Cambodia Dusky Woodswallows, and we saw some small birds such as Radde's Warbler, Two-barred Warbler, Arctic Warbler, Ruby-cheeked Sunbird, and Common Tailorbird as we walked around the forest edge. I spotted the Asian Barred Owlet again in better light, and we were able to re-find the roosting Brown Fish Owl for another obscured view. I also took the opportunity to get some more insect pictures.

Dusky Woodswallow

Common Tailorbird

Asian Barred Owlet

Brown Fish Owl

Common Tit

Some kind of cicada

Pseudonoorda nigropunctalis, a nice crambid moth

Twirler

Some kind of erebid moth (Episparus sp.)

Ceriagrion calamineum, I think

The rain started again around lunch, so we took a nap and waited around until it stopped in the late afternoon. We headed to an area near where we had seen the roosting Giant Ibises, as it was good for woodpeckers and some other birds as well. Almost as soon as we got out of the car we saw a beautiful Rufous-bellied Woodpecker flitting between the trees. Though more or less unrelated to the North American sapsuckers, they look and behave essentially the same- creating rows of identical holes in the trees so they can eat the bugs attracted to the sap. Around this area we also saw a surprise Large Woodshrike and a bedraggled Burmese Shrike, and finally got a good look at a Banded Bay Cuckoo.

Rufous-bellied Woodpecker

Large Woodshrike

A very wet Burmese Shrike

Banded Bay Cuckoo

Some kind of ground flower sprouting directly after the rainstorm

Another unidentified flower

An impressive tussock moth caterpillar

Bombay Locust

We arrived to an open field where there were apparently roosting Savanna Nightjars, but there were none to be found. I didn't mind as I'd seen them before in Bali, so we started heading back. Near the clearing we heard the warbling call of a Great Slaty Woodpecker, and soon enough a huge bird rocketed by, still not giving me a good look despite having seen it 3 or 4 times already. Soon after a pair of gorgeous Black-headed Woodpeckers flew in giving me great looks- quite possibly my favorite woodpecker, or at the very least in the top 5. As the sun set lots of Red-breasted Parakeets, Alexandrine Parakeets, and Blossom-headed Parakeets flew by on their way to roost. We happened across a mixed flock of woodpeckers, including Grey-capped Pygmy Woodpecker, Freckle-breasted Woodpecker, Yellow-crowned Woodpecker, and Rufous-bellied Woodpecker, although it was too dark for pictures.

Black-headed Woodpeckers

Blossom-headed Parakeet

Some kind of tiny bee

Back at the car, we sat and waited for it to get dark and for owls to start calling. After sunset a Large-tailed Nightjar started calling, and we were able to tempt it nearer to us, though it only flew by and never perched for a picture. Once it got dark we heard the bouncy-ball call of an Oriental Scops-owl, the last of my owl targets, and set off in search. It was more difficult than we expected, as the owl would only call once or twice then fall silent and move to a different perch, but eventually with the help of my thermal scope we were able to spot a gorgeous rufous morph bird calling directly in front of us! I'm used to having awful owl luck, so it was awesome to seeing 7 different species in Tmatboey, usually with excellent views.

Oriental Scops-owl

The next morning was my last at Tmatboey, as we had to head back to Siem Reap that afternoon so I could get the Covid test I needed to fly back to the Philippines. We decided to make one more try for the White-rumped Pygmy Falcon, and headed to yet another area where they were often seen. To make a long story short, we never saw it (I heard a single call so distant I didn't even bother putting it on my eBird list), making it one of the only dips of my Cambodia trip. The birding was still good; we finally saw my lifer Greater Yellownape, as well as a flock of Greater Flamebacks and good looks at Indochinese Cuckooshrike and Rufescent Prinia. Nara even somehow managed to pick out an extremely distant Giant Ibis grazing at the opposite end of the field.

Greater Yellownape

Indochinese Roller

Indochinese Cuckooshrike

Common Woodshrike

Rufescent Prinia

Greater Flameback

Giant Ibis

Some kind of tiny praying mantis (Amantis sp.)

Cambodian Striped Squirrel

Late morning we started heading back toward Siem Reap so that I could get a q-tip shoved up my nose. In the evening we headed to the rice fields of Phnom Khrom south of Siem Reap, stopping first at a secret nesting site of Asian Golden Weavers. After that we headed to a spot overlooking the rice fields where Johnny and some other folks from the CBGA (along with a couple of local teenagers I'm pretty sure we were cockblocking) were waiting with beer and some delicious barbecue. It was the perfect way to finish up an epic trip: drinking beer and eating barbecue with old and new friends, watching Pied Harriers and waders flying over the rice fields. I had one more birding outing planned near Siem Reap, but my Cambodia trip was already a huge success.