5 Days Birds Photography in Cat Tien National Park and Di Linh Plateau

What is plan for 5 days Bird Photography and birding Tour in Cat Tien National Park and Deo Nui San pass (Di Linh plateau)?

Cat Tien National Park and Di Linh Plateau are only 90km apart but have completely different geographical and climate. Cat Tien National Park is only higher than sea level not more than 300m, but Di Linh Plateau has an average elevation from 800m to 1000m above sea level. This makes a difference of the two-region bird system, a typical bird system for hot and humid tropical broadleaf forests and dipterocarp forests in lowland areas such as Cat Tien. Another bird system is a tropical rainforest, with a cold climate and broad and coniferous trees interspersed like in Di Linh plateau.

Di Linh Plateau is not too high and cold like the Langbian Plateau, Di Linh is like a transitional place of the habitat : hot and humid tropical forest in Cat Tien to other habitat: the evergreen broadleaf forest on the high mountain in Bidoup Nui Ba. Therefore, the ecosystem in Di Linh can be considered as a mixed habitat, the forest here is a relatively sparse evergreen broadleaf forest, not too thick and dense, covered with vines and green moss like in Bidoup.  But it is not warm and hot with many fallen leaves like in Cat Tien.

Deo Nui San Pass is a bird watching spot that has long been recorded with many endemic bird species of Vietnam, such as: Orange-breasted laughingthrush, black-headed parrotbill, as well as beautiful and rare birds such as: Blue pitta, Indochinese green magpie, bar-backed partridge, red-billed scimitar babbler, large scimitar babber…

However, in recent years, due to hunting and catching birds to sell to bird pet shops, birds in Nui San Pass have become sparse and gradually absent. This area really is not in a reserve at all, the forest here really has a fragile fate, the big animals that were still encountered before such as Black-shanked Douc langur, Stump-tailed macaque, Giant black squirrel, Sambar deer, Red-muntjak have all been hunted to extinction. Not long ago we still observed the beautiful and endemic bird in Vietnam: Germain’s peacock pheasant, here, including two other species, Red junglefowl and Silver pheasant. However, they are now suffering the same fate due to excessive trapping and are currently not seen in the Deo Nui San area. It’s a sad story for a very popular birdwatching spot just 5 years ago.

With this program, some nice images of endemic and specialties of  Cat tien National park and Di linh Plateau (Deo Nui San pass) : Bar-bellied Pitta, Blue Pitta, Blue-rumped Pitta, Germain’s Peacock Pheasant, Black-hooded Laughingthrush, Indochinese Green magpie, Black and Red Broadbill, Silver breasted Broadbill, Long-tailed Broadbill…

We will take a day for you to follow the main trails in Cat Tien, on these routes, with a few km of walking you will have the opportunity to meet many beautiful birds to take pictures such as: Black and Red Broadbill, Dusky Broadbill, Banded Broadbill, Blue-bearded Bee-eater, Chestnut-headed Bee-eater, Banded Kingfisher, Pied Horbill, Great Hornbill, Blue-winged leafbird, Chestnut-fronted leafbird, Yellow-vented Flowerpecker, Scarlet-backed Flowerpecker, Ruby-cheeked Sunbird, Crimson Sunbird, Van Hasselt’s Sunbird, Little Spiderhunter …

The bird-guide will use his skills to find, invite or even tease the birds so that they appear in the open, close and low positions, for visitors’ convenience to take the photos. When walking on the road for birding in addition to the main goals visitors need, we can also meet birds outside the predetermined list, it is a completely random thing, sometimes with luck we will there are very nice pictures of birds seeing for the first time (lifer), it’s a great feeling.

The next day, visitors will use fixed bird-watching spots – bird-hides, to sit and wait for the birds to arrive and take pictures. Most of the beautiful and hard to see birds that are also major trip targets such as Bar-bellied Pitta, Blue-rumped Pitta, Germain’s peacock pheasant, Orange-necked Partridge all require bird-hides to be photographed.

The inconvenience of waiting is having to sit in silence for a few hours, with the attack of mosquitoes (Vietnambirds will provide free mosquito sprays for visitors), insects, even the leeches (when the season is wet and the soil is wet) will also disturb. But the result of waiting and patience are impressing photographs of endemic and beautiful birds.

The last day in Cat Tien NP, visitors will be guided to different habitats with other birds, maybe areas of deciduous dipterocarp forest (For the Raptors, Woodpeckers,…), maybe grasslands with shrubs (Where can meet Green Peafowl, Bush-warbler, Roller…) , maybe under trees thick foliage of tropical forests.

After lunch, we will check out and move to Di Linh plateau, It will take you 2 hours to arrive the next destination.

We will go to birding along to main road in Deo Nui San pass in the rest of day. The cool and pleasant atmosphere here will give visitors a sense of comfort.

The next morning, you will spend time at the bird-hides, where you can meet and take photos of many beautiful birds such as: Indochinese Green magpie, Blue Pitta, Blue-rumped Pitta, Black-hooded Laughingthrush, Silver breasted Broadbill, Long-tailed Broadbill, Emerald Dove, Bar-backed Partridge.

At noon, visitors can rest at a cafe with a very beautiful view. In the distance, there are long and straight coffee fields, surrounded by long mountains and forests. This is also the time when visitors can see some types of raptors such as: Rufous-bellied Eagle, Rufous-winged Buzzard.

In the afternoon, visitors can return to bird-hide for goals that missed the morning, or can go bird watching on other trails here.

On the last day of the journey, visitors will have an early morning bird watching tour with the guide. After about 8:00am, visitors will reach another bird-hide to look for opportunities for other birds such as Black-chinned Yuhina, Oriental White-eyes, Black-headed Parrotbill, White-bellied Erponis, Grey-throated Babbler …

In the afternoon, a 5-hour journey by car will take you back to Tan Son Nhat airport, Ho Chi Minh City.

Visit for more =>>> BIRDWATCHING TOURS IN VIETNAM

What are the birds can we watch in Birding tour and take photos in Cat Tien National park?

The list will have some highlight targets like: Bar-bellied Pitta, Blue-rumped Pitta, Germain’s Peacock-Pheasant, Siamese Fireback,  Green-legged Partridge, Orange-necked Partridge, Banded Broadbill, Black and Red Broadbill, Dusky broadbill, Orange-breasted Trogon, Banded Kingfisher.

In addition, you can also meet many beautiful birds visiting the hide : Great-slaty Woodpecker, Lesser yellownaped, Common Flameback, Black-crested Bulbul, Black-headed Bulbul, Ochraceous Bulbul, Stripe-throated Bulbul, Slaty-legged Crake, Greater Coucal, Greater racket-tailed Drongo, Indochinese Blue Flycatcher, Hainan Blue Flycatcher, Abbott’s Babbler, Buff-throated Babbler, Chestnut-crowned Babbler, Lesser Adjutant, Woodly-necked Stork, White-bellied Sea-Eagle, Osprey…

What are the birds can we watch in Birding tour and take photos in Deo Nui San pass?

The list will have some highlight targets like: Indochinese Green magpie, Blue Pitta, Blue-rumped Pitta, Black-hooded Laughingthrush, Silver breasted Broadbill, Long-tailed Broadbill, Emerald Dove, Bar-backed Partridge, Red headed Trogon.

In addition, you can also meet many beautiful birds visiting the hide : Black-chinned Yuhina, Oriental White-eyes, Black-headed Parrotbill, White-bellied Erponis, Grey-throated Babbler, Red-billed Scimitar babbler, White-browed Scimitar Babbler…

Is it possible to combine the schedule with other bird watching tours?

This is A tour in 5-days birding to watch and take photo the birds for some clients have narrow rest days. We always encourage clients to connect this itinerary with other bird watching tours. Clients can start an 8-day bird watching tour in southern Vietnam, or a 12-day bird watching in the south and highland Vietnam, more in 14days birding tour from the south to the middle Vietnam and fully A bird watching program that travels across Vietnam from the south to the north in 22 days.  To connect and combine those programs or other bird watching tours in Vietnam, please contact Vietnambirds, we will advise on a most suitable schedule for your trip time.