Heron: Thailand - Haadson resort

We arrived at the Haadson resort in the evening. It was getting dark, but we could still see the beautiful sunset over the sea in the West. We were taken to our villa, that was some 200m away from the reception and the beach, in the lush tropical forest with several ponds. While I was a tiny bit disappointed for not having a sea-view, the surroundings were really beautiful and villa great.

Our villa is the fourth from the right.

We were quite tired and after unpacking we decided to make it an early night and we even skipped the dinner.

Next morning we took a better look at everything around us and in the bright sunshine it looked even better than the evening before. We were very pleased with very spacious and pretty villa with giant bed and huge bath with the tub. Already on the way to the breakfast we met this Common Myna (Acridotheres tristis) and I was already forgetting the lack of sea view.

There were also several Bamboo Orchids (Arundina graminifolia) around the pool area.

The restaurant did have a sea view and the selection of food was very good. After a big breakfast we came back to the villa and started planning what we want to do and where we want to go later that day. We went to sit on our big terrace, also to see if there were any mosquitoes. Immediately I heard lots of birds singing and chirping and it was like a concert. And soon I started noticing birds in the trees around the terrace and I decided to have my phone at the ready for shooting photos.

This was a first big surprise, the Common flameback (Dinopium javanense). It was sitting in a tree across the pond, but its unbelievable pattern on the head and belly and the brown back with reddish spot in the middle were visible very well.

Next cute bird that came into sight was the Common kingfisher (Alcedo atthis). And I was ecstatic! I think at that moment it was clear that we are not going anywhere for some time, until I get bored of the birds or until my phone runs out of battery.

Across the pond there were some palm trees with the red berries that seemed to be very popular with many birds. Also with this unusual Lineated barbet (Psilopogon lineatus), that I saw for the first time.

The Spotted dove or Eastern spotted dove (Spilopelia chinensis) came to sit quite close to our terrace, obviously it was less shy than other birds.

Next highlight was the sighting of the White-throated kingfisher (Halcyon smyrnensis) with pretty blue back.

Here it is from the front and it's clear where its name comes from. It has a really prominent beak!

While photographing I was really quiet and didn't move much and birds started coming closer and closer. The Oriental magpie-robin (Copsychus saularis) came to rest only two meters away from me on our terrace floor.

I spent good portion of the day on the terrace watching the birds, I only made a break for coffee and some cookies. In the afternoon we finally went to the beach for a swimm and then to the pool, since there was no shade on the beach any more.

At the pool there was another surprise for us - this Southeast Asian striped squirrel (Tamiops barbei) was sitting on the railing just long enough for a good photo. These creatures are so very fast, I saw them many times in following days, and it was almost impossible to take a decent photo of them. But it was fun watching them speeding up and down the trees and over the roofs of villas.

In the early evening we walked to the nearest village to see where the shops and the restaurants and money exchanges were. On our way we saw the Ditch Jewel (Brachythemis contaminata) on the beach.

This was our beach, it looked endless, it went for miles in each direction.

Next to the road we also found the Common tree frog (Polypedates leucomystax).

On our way back we saw this June Beetle (Lepidiota sp) on the sidewalk near our resort. The nice waitress explained to us that these beetles are often eaten in Thailand.

Then we tried one of the nearby restaurants and although the food was quite good, it was again not spicy and was very mild in flavour.

In the evening I was browsing through my photos that I made that day and was totally happy to see and photograph so many birds and animals. And there were no mosquitoes during the day at all, only a few in the evening. We were really lucky to have ended up in place with so many animals, without even knowing it when I was booking the hotel.

Nex morning after breakfast we went to the beach while it was still shade there, then we moved to the pool, that was shaded all of the day. It was very pretty and we were alone there.

And what do you know - across the pool there were few palm trees with red berries, and also plenty of birds. I spotted this red-eyed female Asian koel (Eudynamys scolopaceus) there.

Here is the proof that the berries were very popular with birds - also this Streak-eared bulbul (Pycnonotus conradi) was munching on them.

The Lineated barbet (Psilopogon lineatus) also came by, in flight it looked very bright green and pretty.

Among other animals there were four dogs living in the resort, this is the Blacknose, shy and always hungry dog with pink ribbon around its neck. We became sort of friends. We also met another younger dog, I think its name was TikTok, that came to sleep on a day bed on our terrace one night. All dogs were very well behaved.

In the pond we saw a Water monitor (Varanus salvator) several times. We already saw one very big one near Baan Krating resort, on the stairs to the beach and it was quite close, unfortunately we didn't have our phones with us to make a photo.

Another beauty that we saw from our terrace was this Chestnut-headed bee-eater (Merops leschenaulti).

In late afternoon we walked in direction South to find another restaurant for the dinner. On the way we saw this unusual way of fishing.

The dinner was good, but not great. After the meal Tomaz found himself a hammock.

Before returning to our villa we stopped at the pool to wash our hands, and found the Banded bullfrog (Kaloula pulchra) in the sink.

Next morning, right after the breakfast, I was sitting on our terrace again. And the Common flameback (Dinopium javanense) came by again, it sat on the same tree across the pond as the previous time. Unfortunately I didn't see it flying, but I've seen some spectacular photos of it in flight in internet, it looks like a prehistoric Pterodactyl.