The Global "Z": May 2022

In 2020, I celebrated the new year by going to a cabin in West Virginia with my best friend. We watched a movie or two, but mostly hiked during the day and played a board game in the evening over wine and conversation. The game: Wingspan. I'd just gotten it and asked my friend to help me learn to play it. We played three times over the course of our getaway and have enjoyed playing ever since. Even after I moved across the world, we've continued playing via Zoom. My friend even sent me the Oceania expansion pack, which includes birds that are found in my part of the world.

Now, I'm no birder or expert in animal watching. But Wingspan is a lovely game with all sorts of information about birds. So when I heard about a local conservation company that does birding trips around Cambodia, I thought, why the heck not?

Yesterday, I got up before the sun to take Jacques for a walk and then meet the tour company at a cafe called Farm to Table. After a cup of coffee and getting to know my fellow tour-goers, we were off. In the minivan were the driver, the guide Ladong, a German couple and a British woman, all of whom live and work in Cambodia and who, like me, were complete novices. Ladong told us about his ten years with Sam Veasna Conservation Tours as the minivan drove onto a ferry to cross the Mekong River just in time for sunrise - a lovely sight.

After about 30-40 minutes, we pulled off on the shoulder of the road. I'll admit to a healthy dose of skepticism: there we were, on the side of a dirt road with the odd car, truck, or moto zooming by not infrequently. Like much of Cambodia, trash littered the shoulders of the road. To one side were rice paddies; to the other was a stream and farmland, with tall palms and bushy trees along the edges of the fields. Running alongside the road was a power line. Were we really going to look for birds?! What had the tour fee really paid for, after all? Thankfully, I was pleasantly surprised.

The answer was yes, and we did indeed do some birding. Ladong handed out binoculars and set up a scope, and after a few minutes he was calling out the names of various birds and pointing us in the righ direction. There were Greater and Lesser Coucals, Yellow-Vented Bulbuls, Cinnamon Bitterns, and Cambodian Tailorbirds. Zebra Doves and Pied Fantails, a Little Egret, and an Indian Roller. We looked around and did our best to spot birds, on the power line or perched in trees, a few hopping around on the ground. After getting the hang of handling the binocs efficiently, it was lots of fun spinning around to see everything, and Ladong's enthusiasm and patience really made it a pleasure. After a while, he broke out a coffee thermos and little bananas for a breakfast snack, then we walked for a short distance and turned off the main road. A Chinese Pond Heron impressed us with its silvery white wings and we caught sight of a large lizard among the tall grasses, sunning.

Next was a short drive to a Chinese monastery in a very foresty area echoing with birdsong. Ladong mimicked some of the calls and explained who they belonged to, then played them on his phone to attract birds. Sometimes it worked; more often it didn't. It was fun to stroll around in the verdant green along a mossy concrete path, passing various stupas and shrines, and occasionally catching glimpses of bird wings or rustling leaves. After a few hours of walking and listening and peering, we headed back to the starting point and had a fantastic brunch at Farm to Table, which largely serves vegetarian and vegan meals.

Birding is not something I thought I'd really get into, but it was more fun and engaging than expected. My lovely living room windows look out onto a big, bushy tree which often has critters and birds moving about in its branches and leaves, and I look forward to trying to identify my feathered neighbors going forward.

Here are few more pictures from the day: