Birding In Asia - Top Bird Watching Locations

Tmat Boey, in Cambodia, is one of the last examples of extensive tracts of lowland dry dipterocarp forest with traditional, low intensity, farming of rice fields scattered within the woodland and as such the last stronghold of the Critically Endangered Giant Ibis, a dinosaur of a bird that has not adapted well to the modern world as well as the almost as rare White-shouldered Ibis (pictured).

At times the forest here can look bare and barren, when the trees lose their leaves in the dry season, but in reality the forest of Tmat Boey is one of the most ecologically rich examples of this type of habitat remaining in the whole of Asia. A host of exciting woodpeckers can also be found here from the gigantic Great Slaty Woodpecker to the diminutive Grey-capped Pygmy Woodpecker. At Tmat Boey local communities protect the forest and, as a consequence, the biodiversity; the result is a forest where birds are abundant.

When leading a birding tour in Cambodia I always build the itinerary around a visit to Tmat Boey, of a good length so that we do not miss any of the highlights, such is the quality of the birding here. This site is truly one where birders visiting contribute to the local community protecting the habitat by staying in the Tmat Boey eco lodge and using the local guides.

Way Kambas, in South East Sumatra, is, most simply put, one of the most standout birding locations in the whole of Asia, I have been to few birding sites that can compare with it. Lowland rainforest has been devastated by the palm oil industry throughout Asia and there is very little of it left at all but Way Kambas protects one of the larger fragments that remains. 

Although there is a huge amount of both mature and secondary forest here, access is excellent with an old logging road running for many kilometres through it. Visiting Way Kambas gives birders a real sense of being in a remote area because entry is strictly managed and at any time there are very few people within the national park. Quite simply, a trip to Way Kambas gives the visitor a real sense of being out in a rainforest wilderness and the chance to see a wide range of birds that are rare or absent in many other locations.

Way Kambas is a place I always enjoy visiting and have a very good relationship with the local guides there. Way Kambas is a location that I always visit on my West Java and Sumatra birding tours. Read the full itinerary of the next one that I will be leading - West Java & Sumatra Birding Tour.

Casting a view across the salt pans at Pak Thale between the months of November and March will reveal huge numbers of shorebirds both feeding and roosting at high tide. The numbers of birds present can be mind-boggling and the variety is superb with over thirty species possible in a morning at the best times. Add to this the rarity of birds such as Spoon-billed Sandpiper, Nordmann's Greenshank and Asian Dowitcher and this is arguably the richest shorebird site in the world.

Birding here is done among salt pans worked by local people, but bird numbers are still high, and mangrove fragments, mudflats and areas of scrub provide some nice variety in the birdlife of the area and a high species count is always guaranteed here. This site, in the Gulf of Thailand, 2 hours drive south west of Bangkok, is a must-visit location for any birder who loves shorebirds.

Pak Thale is one of the sites in Thailand I visit the most frequently with large numbers of birders wanting to see the critically endangered Spoon-billed Sandpiper. It is always a pleasure to visit, to see the large numbers of shorebirds and also to take a boat trip onto the sand spit with Mr Daeng, a local boatman and bird enthusiast. Read more about the site here - Laem Pak Bia/Pak Thale.

These snow-capped mountains along the Kazakhstan-Kyrgyzstan border with alpine meadows and fringing woodland provide one of the most stunning settings for any birding location in Asia that I have visited. With access from downtown Almaty, by taxi, taking only around 30-40 minutes this is both an easy place to visit and one that provides some superb birds.

Colourful species such as White-browed Tit Warbler (pictured), Blue-capped Redstart, Fire-capped Serin and Eversmann's Redstart are some of the attractions here along with a number of other birds with very restricted global ranges including Brandt's Mountain Finch. A good range of much more widespread Eurasian species make up numbers here too and along with raptors such as Golden Eagle, Lammergeier and Steppe Buzzard this is a superb location for birding and a must-visit area for anyone visiting Kazakhstan on a birding trip.

This is one of those locations I could go back to time and time again. Not only are the birds fantastic but the scale of the landscape is just wonderful. You can read all about my visit there in May 2019 here - Birding & Hiking near Shymbaluk, Kazakhstan.

Braving the cold, snowy weather in the early morning at White Horse Hill is worth it for the spectacle that follows. Standing on this small hillock overlooking rice fields and the hills in the DMZ between North and South Koreas gives birders the perfect place to watch "The Flight of the Cranes". 

Several hundred Red-crowned Cranes and White-naped Cranes roost in hot springs in the DMZ and as the sun rises they start flying out and into South Korea where spilt grain in rice fields attracts them to feed. To begin with there are small numbers but as the time passes, groups of 20 and 30 come through, many very close to the observation point. This is one of my favourite sights in birding anyway I have been in the world.

It isn't only about cranes here with flocks of Tundra Bean Geese in the area and large numbers of Greater White-fronted Geese also feeding alongside the cranes. Buntings, Tits, Finches and Thrushes feed in the copses and hedgerows here while raptors are well-represented with gangs of Cinereous Vulture and the odd White-tailed Eagle.

White Horse Hill is a great site but South Korea is a surprisingly good birding destination in general. Read some of my blog posts about my birding trips in South Korea.

Crossing the river by boat in the early morning and then walking through the steamy gardens, plantations and forest at Kitulgala is a dreamy way to start birding in Sri Lanka and this site is often the first one that birders visit on a tour to the country.

In some countries birds can be hard to come by but at Kitulgala, particularly in the early morning, there is a profusion of colourful, enigmatic and endemic species. Species such as Malabar Trogon, Spot-winged Thrush, Sri Lankan Spurfowl and Serendib Scops Owl lurk in the shady forest while many species including Layard's Parakeet, Sri Lanka Hanging Parrot, Loten's Sunbird, Sri Lankan Grey Hornbill and many others visit fruiting trees in gardens and forest edge.

While endemic bird species and regional specialities are always the focus of any birding trip to Sri Lanka there are also a lot of more widespread birds to be seen to including Alexandrine Parakeet, Slaty-legged Crake and Brown-capped Pygmy Woodpecker.

Kitulgala is one of those must-visit bird watching sites in Sri Lanka with its abundance of great birds. However, there is much more to birding in this fantastic country than that - Sri Lanka Birding Tour Highlights.

This part of the island of Sulawesi, in Indonesia, has some great forest along an undeveloped coastline both of which are great biding habitats. Comfortable accommodation, great local guides and some extremely stunning birds make this one of my favourite birding locations in the region.

Red-backed Thrush is readily seen here and one that is often voted "bird of the trip" on the tours I have led here. However, kingfishers are a real feature here with Green-Backed Kingfisher, Lilac Kingfisher and Sulawesi Dwarf Kingfisher real gems of the forest while the mangrove channels are home to the impressive Great-billed Kingfisher.

A road through the forest, with little traffic on it, provides some great vistas across the forest allowing birders to see a wide range of forest birds here with perhaps the most memorable being Sulawesi Dwarf Hornbill.

Tangkoko is the perfect place to build your birding tour to Sulawesi and Halmahera around. While some of the birding on these islands can be tricky and accommodation rather simple, Tangkoko is a very pleasant place to stay with some great birding and some memorable mammals too.

Read about my last visit to Tangkoko here - North Sulawesi Birding Trip Report.

Crossing the river and arriving at Cat Tien National Park is exciting for birders as you see the top quality habitat and huge forest trees get closer and closer until you disembark into some of the best habitat in Vietnam. With pleasant accommodation and a good network of tracks this is the perfect location to track down desirable species that include Bar-bellied Pitta, Germain's Peacock Pheasant and Blue-rumped Pitta.

These species are some of the main target birds but Cat Tien is also a great place to see a wide variety of some of Southeast Asia's most exciting birds; Banded Kingfisher, Black-and-red Broadbill, Black-and-buff Woodpecker, Great Slaty Woodpecker, Dusky Broadbill and Pale-headed Woodpecker are just a few of these.

Cat Tien National Park is very well set up and always a pleasure to visit. The extensive forest intersected by tracks and trails which can be explored on foot or on a bicycle allow plenty of access to quality habitat and with several top quality birds this is somewhere that all my South Vietnam Birding Tours visit.

Lowland rainforest in Southeast Asia is a habitat that has suffered greatly due to logging and conversion to palm oil plantations. However, at Taman Negara large areas of primary lowland rainforest are protected and a pleasant lodge along with a good network of trails allowing birders access to some of the best habitat in the region. 

The mercurial Rail Babbler is almost a legendary species but at Taman Negara there is a really good chance of seeing at least one. Garnet Pitta is another of the gems here while hornbills will excite anyone; Rhinoceros Hornbill and Helmeted Hornbill being two of the highest prizes here. With a dazzling array of bulbuls and babblers there is always something to look at here while searching for rarer birds such as Red-naped Trogon, Malayan Banded Pitta or Rufous-collared Kingfisher.

Such is the quality of the habitat and the birds within it, Taman Negara is one of those must-visit birding sites. With very comfortable accommodation available on site this is one of those places I never tire of and one that I include in all birding tours in peninsula Malaysia. Take a look at the itinerary and dates of the next planned tour - Peninsula Malaysia Birding Tour.

Approaching Zaamin National Park by car is a breath-taking experience, passing through villages and farmland before entering vast steppe landscapes and thenclimbing into juniper-forested hillsides backed by towering snowy mountains which form a wonderful habitat to go birding within.

The cute Rufous-naped Tit is uncommon in the region but at Zaamin National Park this species becomes a common feature. Azure Tit is another highly desirable bird that is easy to see at this location, here being the yellow-chested flavipectus subspecies. However, perhaps the most sought-after bird here is the rosy Blyth's Rosefinch, which is not uncommon at Zaamin and with a supporting cast of White-winged Grosbeak, Blue-capped Redstart and a whole host of more widespread Eurasian species to enjoy too.

With the incredible landscapes and abundance of great birds, Zaamin National Park is a must-visit location when birding in Uzbekistan. 

Staying in a ger camp half way up the Jargalant Mountains offers remarkable views across the plains below with the solitude the Mongolian wilderness provides. The birding here is very productive with a wide variety of species as one climbs from the foothills to the peaks at over 3000 metres above sea level.

In the stony foothills the highlight is the regional endemic, Mongolian Ground Jay perching atop rocky outcrops while in gorges further up a collection of buntings, finches and wheatears keeps birders attentive as raptors such as Himalayan Griffon, Golden Eagle and Black Kite wheel overhead. At the highest areas of the mountain rocky peaks topped with snow provide a home to lovely White-winged Snowfinches while birders need to scan the hillsides for Altai Snowcock; this is one of the most reliable sites to find this bird throughout its whole range.

Mongolian Ground Jay, White-winged Snowfinch, Grey-necked Bunting, Altai Snowcock, Himalayan Griffon, Shore Lark, White-winged Redstart, Mongolian Finch, Barred Warbler, Eurasian Eagle Owl, Golden Eagle, Sulphur-bellied Warbler, Pied Wheatear

With a wide variety of mountain and semi-desert species, as well as spectacular views, the Jargalant Mountains are one of the best birding locations in western Mongolia. This is one of the locations we visited on our 2026 birding tour to Mongolia; you can see what our top 5 birdsof the trip were - Mongolia Birding Tour; Top 5 Birds.

These great birdwatching sites in Asia feature frequently in the birding tours I offer through my company, Calidris Birding Tours. 

I am a professional bird tour leader with over 15 years experience of guiding groups and individuals. All the tours are designed to allow sufficient time to find a high proportion of the key bird species and enjoy watching them at a sensible pace.

I lead many of these tours personally while a few others are led by other experienced guides who share my enthusiasm for bird watching in these exciting locations. If you fancy visiting any of these places why not join us?

The full list of itineraries is here - Birding Tours.

Take a look at some of the videos of birds from around the world from my Youtube channel. There are many more videos to watch there featuring bird behaviour, bird calls and me talking about birds.