Our June image is the subtly beautiful Blue Pitta, a fairly widespread but low density South-east Asian species, and one of many mega possibilities on our upcoming Best of Birding Cambodia & Vietnam tour. In fact, this is just one of three pitta species that we will specifically target on this Asian adventure, the other two being Blue-rumped and the highly localized Bar-bellied. 

Pittas aside, some of the other major targets on this tour include such mouth-watering specials as Masked Finfoot, the globally threatened Bengal Florican, Giant and White-shouldered Ibis (both Critically Endangered), White-rumped Falcon, Germain’s Peacock-Pheasant, the resplendent Green Peafowl, Orange-necked Partridge, Black-headed Parrotbill, Grey-crowned Crocias, Green Cochoa, Vietnamese Cutia, Black-hooded, White-cheeked and Orange-breasted Laughingthrush, and Vietnamese Greenfinch. Amongst the mammalian possibilities are two endangered primates; Black-shanked Douc and Buff-cheeked Gibbon.

In addition, our pre-tour Cambodia – Angkor Wat & Remote Birding Extension also offers the fantastic opportunity of searching for one of the world’s most recently described bird species – the endemic Cambodian Tailorbird, discovered in 2009 right in the middle of Cambodia’s capital, Phnom Penh!

Other targets on this extension include Cambodia’s only other endemic – Cambodian Laughingthrush, Sarus Crane, the huge Great Slaty and also Heart-spotted Woodpecker, further chances for Blue-rumped and Bar-bellied Pitta, and Mekong Wagtail; while on the mammalian front we will look for Irrawaddy Dolphin, Yellow-cheeked Crested Gibbon and Pygmy Loris. We also take time to explore one of Asia’s major cultural attractions, the fabled Angkor Wat temples, truly a wonder of the world!

For further details on these departures, both of which currently have limited spaces remaining, click on the links below or contact our office:

Best of Birding Vietnam & Cambodia (5 – 22 Dec 2014 (18 days), US$ 5,525 per person sharing;
Cambodia Extension (29 Nov to 5 Dec 2014 (7 days), US$ 2,025 per person sharing.