Category Archives: Asia

Lesser Sundas [2025]

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Finally back to Indonesia! Our last trip to Indonesia was in 2018 (Sumatra and West Papua) so this was long overdue. This was our third trip to Indonesia. We had three weeks in which we birded the Lesser Sundas and since Denpasar was a logical hub for the trip, we added a week in Bali and East Java. The last week we were joined by friends Vivian Jacobs and Marten Hornsveld (after which they continued to West Java & Sumatra) – our last week is included in their report (which follows later). This trip report focuses on the 3-weeks in the Lesser Sundas islands of Lombok, Sumba, Alor, Rote, Timor, Flores and Komodo. Excellent birding, great food, great people. Indonesia is still at the top of countries with most new lifers, so we will back soon!

Tripreport Lesser Sundas
Some photos
GPS

Uzbekistan & Kazakhstan [2025]

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We visited Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan in a two-week trip. The three main reasons for this trip were: to see our first Ground Jay, to see Ibisbill and to finally see some birds we have been looking at in our field guide since we were kids (e.g. Black Lark, White-winged Lark & Pallas Sandgrouse) in which we mostly succeeded. Robs parents joined us for the whole trip and we added a few hours of city sightseeing in Bukhara, Samarkand, Almaty and Astana.

Tripreport Uzbekistan & Kazakhstan
Some photos
GPS

Borneo [2024]

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Already 11 years ago we made our first trip to Borneo. Since then, a lot has changed, especially post-covid some previously mythical species have become accessible in hides (Bulwer’s Pheasant and Bornean Peacock Pheasant) and Sarawak is more easily visited. The first week we visited Sarawak (Ba’kelalan and Paya Maga) and the second week several places in Sabah (Klias, Trus Madi hide, BPP hide, Mount Kinabalu).

Tripreport Borneo
Some photos
GPS

Japan [2024]

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A Japan winter trip had been on our ‘short’-list for quite a while. Rob’s parents were also eager to join due to the nature of the trip and Japan being a special country and we had a very nice trip with the 4 of us. The 2-week itinerary consisted of quite complicated logistics with lots of trains, ferry’s, plane and a rental car but in the end it worked out very well. Japan is a wonderful destination for birds, food and culture. Now we need to return in spring and visit some more islands!

Tripreport Japan
Some photos
GPS

Oman & UAE [2023]

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In our quest to complete the bird families of the world, and since we were looking for a relaxing trip over Christmas we chose Oman. This country has a nice combination of the mountainous north, desert birding with Hypocolius (our family target) and even a pelagic opportunity. We really enjoyed the birding: a mix of African and Asian species plus some specialties that can only be found on the Arabian peninsula. Overall it is a country that is very easy to travel around and it offers great food. Since we flew via Abu Dhabi we chose to add 2 days of birding in the Emirates as well.

Tripreport Oman
Some photos
GPS

NE India [2023]

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Blyth Tragopan

Our last visit to India was in 2012 so a next visit was due. We chose the North-East because the mouthwatering set of species (and landscapes, and food). This destination had been on our radar for many years, and this spring the plan came together. We were joined by our friends Sjoerd Radstaak, Jelmer Poelstra, Marten Hornsveld & Vivian Jacobs and as a total group of 6 people this worked out very well. Most of NE India cannot be done independently so we arranged the help of Peter Lobo (All India Birding Tours) and with 2 cars with drivers and a guide we set out for an awesome 3-week adventure. This was a great destination to visit with our friends and, as none of us had been in the area, everyone came home with an impressive list of new birds. In total we saw 511 species, of which 137(!) were lifers for us.

Tripreport NE India
Some photos

Israel [2023]

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To catch some early spring migration and target a few remaining lifers we decided on a long weekend trip to Israel in the first week of March. Main targets where Spotted Sandgrouse (seen multiple times), Desert Owl (known stakeout near Dead Sea), Temminck’s Lark (missed), Clamorous Reed Warbler (common), Black Scrub Robin (breeding at Kibbut Samar but not seen during our short visit in the heat of the day), Ruppell’s Warbler (one seen) and Cyprus Warbler (missed). We chose beginning of March to optimize our chances for Ruppell’s and Cyprus Warbler that migrate through Israel around this moment. In the end we were lucky with a beautiful male Ruppell’s Warbler but we did not see a Cyprus Warbler.
Overall it was a very fun trip and a joy to catch the first signs of spring migration. Next to the targets mentioned above, we encountered many European birds on their migration journey through the desert: Groups of Barn Swallows, Swifts, Bluethroats, Common Chiffchaffs, Isabelline Wheatears, Lesser Whitethroats, Steppe Eagles and Tawny Pipits were among the more numerous ones, but also single individuals of Woodchat Shrike, Cretzschmar’s Bunting, Booted Eagle, Red-throated Pipit, Common Quail and Eastern Olivaceous warblers were cool to encounter.

Some notes
Some photos

Georgia [2022]

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End of May we did a short 5-day trip to Georgia with the goal of seeing a handful of lifers in the Caucasus mountains. The best time to visit is earlier in the year (end of April/ beginning of May) when most birds are found lower down in the valleys because of the snow. Our late visit meant we had to hike higher up, but still we managed to find 5+ Caucasian Snowcocks (more were heard) and 8+ Caucasian Grouses on the ridges above us. Great Rosefinch and Güldenstädt’s Redstart turned out to be more tricky but we managed to find both (and luckily bright plumaged males). And with singing Mountain Chiffchaffs in the valley and an additional stop for Krüper’s Nuthatch near Tbilisi the trip ended with 6 lifers but also a long list of cool birds along the way: Ring Ouzels, Twites, Alpine Accentors, Common Rock Thrush, Bearded Vulture, singing Barred Warblers, Greenish Warblers and Common Rosefinches, and a nice roadside stop for Red-breasted and Semi-collared Flycatcher.

Some notes
Some photos
GPS

Thailand [2020]

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It had been 10 years since our first birdwatching trip to Thailand. The number of high-quality birds combined with the easy travelling and great food makes Thailand a very nice birding destination. We decided on a two-week trip with the main focus on the species that we had not seen yet. Sander Bot joined us which made for great fun and a good extra pair of eyes. Overall we had a successful trip with around 430 species observed and a very smooth travel experience. In 15 days we visited the following sites: Pak Thale & Laem Pak Bia, Kaeng Krachan, Huai Kha Kaeng, Mae Wong, Doi Inthanon, Doi Ang Kang, Doi Lang West & East, Chiang Saen and Khoa Yai. In hindsight this trip was on the brink of the COVID-19 impact that hit the world and a couple of weeks later this trip had no longer been possible

Tripreport Thailand
Some photos
GPS

Eastern China [2019/2020]

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The Christmas-period meant a few obligatory days off work, so we decided to use this for a short trip. Since this was perfect timing for an Eastern China-trip offering lots of new pheasants, cranes and parrotbills the choice was easily made. We contacted Steven An of China Dreams Tours initially for an itinerary with translator/fixer instead of birding guide (copying Mans Grundsten in 2018, but with added pheasants in Emei Feng). One month before departure Steven contacted us if we would mind if one more birder (Frank Antram) would join our tour and Steven would guide the trip himself instead of Alex. This all worked out very well and we had an excellent trip and can highly recommend Steven for organising this trip or any trip in China.

Tripreport Eastern China
Some photos
GPS