2024-birding vietnam: Mon, Jan. 29 - Birding Day 2 in Di Linh

We were up early with breakfast at 5:45 AM and off by 6:20 heading to the 2nd hide in the area. The drive was about 30 minutes and Bom pulled over where he could park and we could get out at the side of the road. We had stopped part way as there was quite a bit of bird activity in one set of tall trees. We walked into the hide climbing up fairly large rocks for part of the way in what must be a small stream in the rainy season. Then the trail went up hill for a ways and there we were in the hide. Tien did his “hide whisperer feng shui” thing with making the area in front of the hide most attractive to the birds. He swept and cleaned out the small water hole and placed corn and meal worms around.

Tien setting up the area outside of the hide

We started seeing more Orange-headed Thrushes almost immediately. They were quite aggressive with each other. Then a White-throated Rock Thrush hopped into sight going from grabbing a worm to a large vine about 4 or 5 feet off of the ground. He was quite beautiful in black and rust and white. As we sat, a very handsome Blue Pitta appeared and a Blue-rumpled Pitta stood guard over the whole scene a bit back in some large leaves. Tien said he can be the most fierce and can scare the squirrels away. There was a red-cheeked squirrel hovering in the back of the area and he popped out once or twice. We also saw a Siberian Blue Robin, a Large Scimitar Babbler and a White-bellied Erpornis. Once we had seen the 2 life birds for Bob, we had seen all that there would be at that hide. Everything else would be a repeat.

We walked back to the van and then did some more walking down the road hitting some great spots along the way. One particular tree had all sorts of Bulbuls and another had a Maroon Oriole which I finally got a great look at. We also admired the wonderful big and little gardens where all sorts of things are growing. Some gardens plots are large while others have fit in a few vegetables in a few feet in front of their house.

Roadside garden

Huge hand of bananas - not quite ripe yet

Around 10:30, we headed back to the hotel where we would have lunch at noon and then could go back out at 3PM to the first hide to see if the elusive bird we didn’t see yesterday might put in an appearance.

Lunch was excellent. Louis made some of the best spring rolls any of us had ever had. Katy and I opted to take the afternoon off and then Bob joined us as the idea of going back out to the hide for a single bird didn’t seem worth it. We head to Cat Tien National Park tomorrow and that should involve some heavy birding and hot temperatures (mid 90s and it is only January).

Lounging by the pool before lunch

Really wonderful spring rolls and a fish sauce based dipping sauce

I found how you get to the pool. I don’t think it has been cleaned in a while as it likely seems too cool to the locals to swim. But Katy found the net to clean out leaves and proceeded to remove all of the leaves and bougainvillea blossoms floating on the surface. She then put on her suit and took a dip! We both did a bit of laundry (they don’t do it here) and the weather was perfect to get something to dry before tomorrow.

Katy getting ready to take a dip

About 5PM, she and I took a brief walk down the road and along the village street so that Katy could get a few photos of the typical narrow houses that most people build. We saw more little gardens and a number of plants that we couldn’t identify.

Dining Area

Threshing rice/wheat?

There was one rice paddy and a side yard with ducks, hens and rooster and a small pig. There were a couple of small children outside and the little girl (maybe 3) said Hi bye Hello. That seemed to be the extent of her English but that’s more Vietnamese than I have so I told her “very good” and she beamed and repeated Hi bye hello.

Rice paddy

When we got back, it was just about time for a drink so I got another of the son’s really good beer and Katy ordered a gin and tonic. We were told that we were having water buffalo for dinner and tried to imagine what that might be like. The owner came over to the fire pit and pulled some hot coals out of the fire and placed them on a clay pot holder. She brought this to our table and put a covered pot on top. Her son, Louis, brought out a large platter of raw meat with some onions and she added a big plate of lettuce and various leaves. She described the leaves with different medicinal/herbal values so we all tried a variety. The meat was cut up very thinly and you place it into the pot which had a broth in it. So it was sort of like a fondue but no cheese. You cook your meat however you want it and then place it in the lettuce and/or leaves. Roll this up and there was a great dipping sauce to use and then eat. It was remarkably delicious and tender. She also brought a green papaya salad that had some bite to it. We all unexpectedly really enjoyed the meal! David had a brownie and ice cream for dessert but Katy, Bob and I all opted for the bananas flambé with ice cream. Louis does a great job making the bananas with crunchy sugar crust on top of the lengthwise banana slices. The food here has been wonderful.