Cat Tien, South Vietnam April 28-May 2nd, 2008

• The aim of the trip was to see 5 target species – Green Peafowl, Bar Bellied Pitta, Siamese Fireback, Germain's Peacock Pheasant and Racket-tailed Treepie ...Graeme Wright reports.

South Vietnam: Endemics and Pittas, April 3 - April 15, 2007

• The following report details a recent visit to southern Vietnam from Hong Kong where I currently live. My aim was threefold: to seek out  the endemic and near-endemic species that occur in Cochinchina and South Annam; to look for the five regular species of pitta that are possible in the region; and to do some general tropical-forest birding..David Diskin reports.

Vietnam: Sapa and Tam Dao December 16 - 20, 2006

• We made a birding trip to Sapa and Tam Dao in north / northwest Vietnam in mid-December because both of these locations are notorious for fog and bad weather in most other months. The weather was marginal in Sapa and perfect in Tam Dao, but the birding was slow.....Gary and Marlene Babic report

Vietnam, 25 February-24 March 2006

• From 25 February to 24 March 2006 I made a birding trip to Vietnam in the company of my brother Frans. We decided to spend 2 weeks in the south and another 2 weeks in the north, including a visit to Sapa, an old French hill station, close to the Chinese border, which would gave us another set of species...Henk Hendriks reports

Da Lat March...In Search of Vietnamese Endemics April 2005

• The particular attraction of Da Lat is that a) it is cool whilst Saigon and the Delta were already sweltering and b) that it holds 4 of the 10 Vietnamese endemics: Collared Laughingthrush, Black-hooded Laughingthrush, Grey-headed Crocias, and Vietnamese Greenfinch.... Hanno Stamm reports

Cuc Phuong and Xuan Thuy 6th to 10th December 2004

• Richard Craik, my wife Ha, and myself decided sort of last minute to do a quick spin through the North of Vietnam. Richard is a very keen and experienced birder, Ha is pretty new to birding, whilst I have been at it for some time, also. The idea was to see some key species White-winged Magpie and Pittas in Cuc Phuong, Black-faced Spoonbill in Xuan Thuy.....Hanno Stamm reports

Vietnam December 19, 2003 – January 17, 2004

• We had excellent weather throughout this trip, with no rain at all and just one day lost to fog at Sapa. The trip was arranged through Nguyen Van Viet. There were a couple of glitches, but generally things went smoothly...Greg Roberts reports.

Vietnam 28 November 2003 - 14 January 2004

• We purposefully planned our arrival to coincide with a few days of high tides as low tide makes getting off on the islands to see Spoon-billed Sandpiper and Saunder's Gull impossible....Thaïs and Howard Armstrong report.

Vietnam 23 July – 14 August 2003

• This is an account of a 23 days non-birding trip to Vietnam from 23 July - 14 August, where I managed to see a few birds...Jan Vermeulen reports.

Vietnam 21 February - 20 March 2002

• During our 4 weeks in Vietnam we visited 9 sites in 7 locations; Xuan Thuy ; Cuc Phuong ; Tam Dao; Bach Ma; Da Lat [Ta Nung Valley, Mt Lang Bian, Ho Tuyen Lam];Di Linh and Cat Tien . The timing of the trip was based largely upon our desire to see Spoon-billed Sandpiper, Nordmann's Greenshank and Black-faced Spoonbil, meaning that we could go there no later than early February to be sure of the Spoonbill....Moira and Graeme Wallace report.

Northern Vietnam 4-20 January 2002

• Quite recently, Northern Vietnam has become known as one of the easiest accessible sites in the world to see the rare and enigmatic Spoon-billed Sandpiper Eurynorhynchus pygmeus in winter. Moreover, the endangered Black-faced Spoonbill Platalea minor as well as the rare Nordmann's Greenshank Tringa guttifer and Saunders's Gull Larus saundersi can be seen at the exact same spot...Remco Hofland reports.

Report on a birding trip to Vietnam 11 December  1998 - 1 January 1999

• Only open to foreigners to travel in since the early 1990's, Vietnam is a fantastic country to go birding in with rich tropical forests, beautiful scenery, friendly people and some brilliant bird species too. It's also a safe country to travel in and prices are reasonably cheap once you get there. Vietnam has a total of 103 globally threatened and near-threatened species...Aidan G. Kelly reports
  

A Field Guide to the Birds of South-East Asia Craig Robson: Buy from Amazon.com or Amazon.co.uk A new flexi-cover edition of this superb and influential book is now available (UK) making it far more useful in the field. The birds of South-East Asia details the identification, voice, breeding, status, habitat and distribution of the 1250 species and distinctive sub-species of the region covering Thailand, Vietnam, Singapore, West Malaysia, Myanmar, Laos and Cambodia. Indispensable for anyone visiting the area.

Where to watch birds in Asia Wheatley, Nigel: Buy from Amazon.com or Amazon.co.uk This guide to birdwatching in Asia deals with over 250 sites in detail, and more in passing, from Turkey to Thailand and India to Indonesia. It is designed as much for pre-planning birding trips as for use in the country or countries on the itinerary. The countries are dealt with alphabetically and after a general introduction, there are site details, which include a list of birds to be seen, organized under the headings "Endemics", "Specialities" and "Others"; a list of "Other Wildlife" is also included where there is something of particular interest.

Recommended travel books for Vietnam:

Lonely Planet: Vietnam Mason Florence, Robert Storey: Buy from Amazon.com or Amazon.co.uk For those of you who are planning to make your way across Indochina, it's worth shelling out a bit of extra cash to buy this book (instead of getting one of those "Vietnam-Cambodia-Laos" jobs..). Full of useful information and planning tips, the book also is written in a very chatty style which makes it enjoyable reading.