Benjakitti Park.

18-Aug-2023

A great birding location in the center of Bangkok. This park tripled in size during the Covid lockdown when the Tobacco warehouses were demolished and the area converted into a forest park.

The extended section of the park now features four new lakes in the forested section the park. They all have walking paths around them, and an overhead walkway that goes over 3 of the lakes. When looking for birds, the overhead walkways offer a good overview of the lakes and you'll sometimes be able to see birds from up here that you wont see at ground level. But the ground level walking paths will allow you access more of the lakes, and perhaps get closer. So basically means its good to traverse both overhead walkways and the ground level walking paths around these lakes.

Another nice feature of the walking paths is that every lake has several elevated viewing platforms. And underneath these are great for sheltering from the rain. So if it looks like rain coming, then dont venture too far from these platforms, or be aware of where the next one is so you can run to it, if need be.

I often arrive at the park by motorcycle taxi down to end of Soi-10. When you enter the park here, you'll be in the "Dog Park" section that runs along the khlong. This is always good place to start, where you can quickly see some of the more common birds. The large open lake that runs along Ratchadaphisek Road, which was part of the original park, doesn't appear to support any bird life.

The forested lakes support a good variety of waterbirds that include Egrets, Cormorants, Bitterns, Waterhens, Openbill Storks and Pond-Heron, depending on the time of the year. Small passerine birds can be found in the dog park, and in some of the mature wooded areas, such as to left of the second lake, and the right of the fourth lake.

After entering at the dog park section at Soi-10, make make circuit down towards the southern most lake in the forest park, then back up to the northern most lake. You can then exit the park at Soi-4, at which point you should be able to find another motorcycle taxi to take you back to Sukhumvit road for a quick beer or two. Or just head back to Ratchadaphisek road.

If you're driving, then you can enter the park from Ratchadaphisek Road, and a road leads you to a car park further inside the park, but I have never tried this option.

A view from the overhead walkaway looking across the third lake. From here you can may be able to see Little Cormorant, Greater Coucal, Little Egret, White-breasted Waterhen and Asian Openbill's, along with numerous other smaller birds.

The Rock Pigeon is guaranteed to be the first bird you'll encounter if you come throught the Soi-10 entrance.

An Asian Koel. Always heard, but not so easy to see since they always hide in the middle of a tree 

A Yellow Bittern. They require a bit of searching, and they'll surely see you before you see them.

There's at least one family of Spotted Owlet's in the park that I've seen. At this location I've seen a maximum of 4 together, but mostly only get to find 1 or maybe 2 if your lucky.

An Asian Openbill in the rain. From under the shelter of the viewing platforms near the lakes, you can continue your bird-watching even when it it is raining.