GREEN HOTEL IN MANG DEN SEEMED LIKE a palace compared to Ngoc Linh. Both Connie and I played catch-up after two nights sans wifi—she was adding to eBird while I tried to update the journal. I won’t be able to accurately account for all the 100-or-so birds we saw and their locations—we made several stops on the four-hour drive from Ngoc Linh and spent two days birding around Mang Den.
Single-file, Mang Den Nature Reserve
Barely hidden, Mang Den Nature Reserve
Our only Victim—Mountain Fulvetta
We set out early Friday morning for Mang Den Nature Reserve where a short hike took us to a make-shift hide. We balanced on tiny plastic stools designed for first-graders for two hours, waiting for a Chestnut-eared Laughingthrush. Again the laugh was on us, something we should get used to. Of the forty-something Laughingthrush species in Vietnam we have seen just over a dozen. Ha-ha-ha! We did manage one new bird, a cute little Mountain Fulvetta.
Maroon Oriole, Mang Den Nature Reserve
Long-Tailed Minivets
Male Grey-Chinned Minivet
We fared better on one of the Reserves forest trails where we saw three dozen different species including a Maroon Oriole, a pair of Long-Tailed Minivets. both male and female Grey-chinned Minivets and five Lifers; Yellow-Billed Nuthatch, spectacular Indochinese Barbet, Grey-headed Parrotbill and a pair of Grey-Crowned Crocias.
Yellow-Billed Nuthatch at the top of a tree
Aptly named Grey-Headed Parrotbill
Grey-Crowned Crocias
After another family-style Vietnamese dinner arranged by Quang—without any input from those who would have to eat it—Andre took us out on the hotel grounds looking for Nightjars. It didn’t take long—two Long-Tailed Nightjars were perched on a branch above the restaurant, eyes aglow in the beam of his light.
Large-Tailed Nightjar—don't shoot until you see the reflection of his eyes
