South Vietnam Birding Tour

Day 1, Arrival in Ho Chi Minh City – 29th March 2026

Arrival is planned during the day at Tan Son Nhat International Airport, Ho Chi Minh City. On arrival you will take a taxi a very short distance to an airport hotel. In the early evening there will be a pre-tour briefing and dinner before getting a good night’s sleep in preparation for the birding which starts the next day.

Day 2, Ma Da Forest – 30th March 2026

Starting early from Ho Chi Minh City to avoid the traffic we will take a packed breakfast to eat along the way to our first birding location: Ma Da Forest. Our main focus here will be some of the hard to find target birds that come to feeding stations that we can observe from a hide, giving us excellent views as well as great photo opportunities. Species such as Scaly-crowned Babbler, Siberian Blue Robin, Indochinese Blue Flycatcher and Pale-legged Leaf Warbler often sneak in to feed but it will be Blue-rumped Pitta and Bar-bellied Pitta that we will really be hoping to see at such close range. This forest is full of great birds and we have a good chance of seeing the sleek Silver-breasted Broadbill while birding here, along with other colourful birds such as Laced Woodpecker and Orange-headed Thrush. Banded Broadbill is usually very vocal by this time of the year so we also have high hopes of getting good views of this visually striking bird.

We will time at some bird hides at Ma Da where we expect a burst of birds to start out tour with, familiarising ourselves with species that include Buff-breasted Babbler, Siberian Blue Robin, Ochraceous Bulbul, Indochinese Blue Flycatcher and Puff-throtaed Babbler. Ma Da Forest represents the best chance of us seeing Siamese Fireback at close range but this location also gives us our first chance of seeing a wide range of exciting forest birds including Banded Kingfisher, Violet Cuckoo and orange-breasted Trogon to mention a few.

After not only a fantastic introduction to the birds of Vietnam, but some of the key target species too, we will drive on to Cat Tien national park where will stay for the next few days.

Days 3-5, Cat Tien National Park – 31st March-2nd April 2026

Waking up at the park headquarters we will be ideally placed to enjoy the habitat and birds of one of Vietnam’s most anticipated birding sites: Cat Tien National Park. Cat Tien was the first national park designated in the south of Vietnam, protecting the largest area of lowland tropical forest remaining in the region.  We will spend the next three days exploring the forest here with many exciting birds to find and hopefully a few interesting mammals too. The forest here is a blend of primary and secondary evergreen and semi-evergreen forest with smaller areas dominated by grassland and bamboo. This habitat diversity hints at the wide range of species that reside within this site, none more sought-after than the stunning Bar-bellied Pitta. Cat Tien National Park is probably the best place to see this amazing bird but it is just one of the many key species we will be searching for here. 

Germain’s Peacock Pheasant is another star species we are anticipating seeing along the tracks and trails of Cat Tien. Other mouth-watering, ground-dwelling species here include Blue-rumped Pitta, Siamese Fireback which is sometimes seen along the tracks in the early morning and Green-legged (Scaly-breasted) Partridge. Of course these species are not easy to observe but by spending time, walking quietly we have a very good chance of success. Orange-necked Partridge is another key species here but infrequently seen; hopefully they will emerge from the forest and give us a chance of seeing them.

There are a wide range of flamboyant Southeast Asian species for us to look for at Cat Tien. Pale-headed Woodpecker is a species that is hard to see through much of its range but we have a very good chance to see it here. Birds such as Banded Kingfisher, Black-and-red Broadbill, Orange-breasted Trogon, Oriental Pied Hornbill, Heart-spotted Woodpecker and Banded Broadbill are always impressive. The lush forests of Cat Tien are a good place for woodpeckers and seeing a good variety of these character-filled birds is always exciting. Colourful Common Flameback flits noisily from tree to tree while the hammer-headed Black-and-buff Woodpecker can usually be tracked down here too. The impressive White-bellied Woodpecker drums like a jack-hammer on large trees and can be found with some effort and luck but one of the greatest prizes is Great Slaty Woodpecker; we can find it if our luck is in. Dusky Broadbill, Violet Cuckoo, Red-breasted Parakeet and Thick-billed Green Pigeon are just a few more of mouth-watering birds we can hope to see here.

The local subspecies of Scaly-crowned Babbler is sometimes split as Indochinese Babbler and we should see it here. Grey-faced Tit Babbler is a regional endemic that we can normally find here with more widespread birds including Red Junglefowl, Crested Serpent Eagle and Blue Bearded Bee-eater. In the evenings we can wait for the impressive Great Eared Nightjar to emerge, flying along in the style of a harrier over clearances in the forest, while Large-tailed Nightjar is probable too. We will also make time for some night birding with Brown Boobook, Collared Scops Owl and Blyth’s Frogmouth possibilities here.

To give us some variety there are some grasslands a short distance from park headquarters. This habitat gives us a whole load of new possibilities including the rare Green Peafowl which will hopefully emerge from the grasses and perhaps we can also spot Chinese Francolin, although this can be a tough bird to see . The open areas host a small number of Pied Bushchats and Amur Stonechats with the wetter areas attracting Purple Heron and if we are very lucky perhaps a Lesser Adjutant. In the later afternoon many birds emerge and perch on exposed perches including Vinous-breasted Myna, Orange-breasted Green Pigeon and Lineated Barbet while the wooded patches can be good areas to look for Rufous Woodpecker and groups of White-crested Laughingthrush.

Day 6, Cat Tien National Park – Dalat – 3rd April 2026

We will have time in the morning to look for any of the main targets we may have missed over the previous days, or simply just to appreciate some of the great birds of Cat Tien again; perhaps we will still be searching for the tricky Banded Kingfisher or better views of Heart-spotted Woodpecker and Stork-billed Kingfisher is abird we might be able to find on this last morning. What we decide to do really depends on what we have or have not seen beforehand. If we have seen most of what we were hoping for we may leave for Dalat quite early on to give us a little more time in the afternoon there. The journey to Dalat will take about four hours.

After reaching Dalat we plan to make our first birding foray here in the afternoon.  We expect to find the first of the Vietnamese endemics in this region straight away, seeing Vietnamese Cutia, Grey-crowned Crocias or Orange-breasted Laughingthrush would be a nice way to start but easier species to find include Vietnamese Greenfinch, Black-throated (Grey-crowned) Tit and White-cheeked Laughingthrush. With ever-changing taxonomies, listers will be keen to see the very distinct subspecies of Blue-winged Minla (orientalis), Black-headed Sibia (desgodinsi) and Black-throated Sunbird (johnsi) that occur here. All of these are interesting birds in their own right whether you are interested in building a big bird list or not. Kloss’s Leaf Warblers should be singing from the trees at this time of the year and as dusk approaches we will get in place to see Grey Nightjar shortly after they start calling. If the weather is right we should also have a good chance of seeing Oriental Scops Owl in the same area.

Days 7-8, Dalat – 4th-5th April 2026

Spending two full days in the Dalat region allows us to explore the variety of productive birding sites spread around the area. We will divide our time between them wisely, using our local guide’s up-to-date information to locate as many of the key species as we possibly can. Our time here gets us into a variety of different forest types which will result in a large number of birds which are quite different from those we saw during our stay at Cat Tien. 

The highest altitudes that we get into contain a mixture of pine and evergreen forest. Here wide areas of forest provides cool temperatures and a home to a number of key Vietnamese species. These include a host of mouth-watering birds like Vietnamese Cutia, creeping along mossy branches, colourful Clicking Shrike Babbler and Yellow-billed Nuthatch foraging up and down tree trunks. Even though these are some wonderful birds they could well be eclipsed by top quality views of the stunning Collared Laughingthrush if we can find it; this bird has become very scarce. We can expect not only quality birds, including many endemics, here but colourful ones too!

We will also make use of some hides here and these will provide us with our best chance to see several shy and skulking birds that prefer to stay in the shadows. This includes species like the handsome White-tailed Robin, skulking Rufous-browed Flycatcher, Large Niltava, the langbianensis subspecies of Lesser Shortwing and a variety of other species. If we are very lucky, as has been the case in previous years, we may get lucky with the annamensis subspecies of Silver Pheasant, the spectacular Spotted Forktail and one of Southeast Asia’s hardest to find birds, Rusty-naped Pitta.

Other birds to look for in this area are Hume’s Treecreeper, the endemic Black-crowned Fulvetta and White-cheeked Laughingthrush. There are a lot of species to see here that are more widespread in Asia but none the less interesting for it. Tiny Blyth’s Leaf Warbler is one of those Phylloscopus warblers that provide an identifcation challenge while the colourful Mrs Gould’s Sunbird is always great to see. Add to this birds like Little Pied Flycatcher, Green-backed Tit, White-bellied Erpornis and Verditer Flycatcher and you can see that there is a good supporting cast to the key birds.

By birding in a variety of locations around the Dalat plateau we can maximise out chances of finding as many species as possible. Some of the key Vietnamese endemics are hard to find so we will need time to locate species like Grey-crowned Crocias, some of the laughingthrushes and Black-headed Parrotbill. It should be easier, though, to find handsome Blue-and-white Flycatcher, Chestnut-crowned Warbler, Black-headed Sibia, Mountain Fulvetta and the colourful Clicking Shrike Babbler.

It is remarkable that there is an isolated population of Common Crossbill in this area of Southern Vietnam and by walking along some of the tracks through extensive pine forest and listening for their distinctive call we are likely to come across these birds with plenty of Vietnamese Greenfinches along the way. In the grassy scrub in some of the open areas we will see the noisy little Hill Prinia with its remarkably long tail and search for the endemic Dalat Bush Warbler; a skulking bird but one that we should be able to track down from its insect-like song. There are also areas to look for the flashy Long-tailed Broadbill, garrulous Lesser Necklaced Laughingthrush and many other interesting species in our time at this location.

Day 9, Dalat – Di Linh – 6th April 2026

After breakfast we can do some final birding close to Dalat. Exactly which sites we visit depends very much on which species have been seen beforehand. If we are still searching for any of the key species, such as a skulking Grey-bellied Tesia or one of the difficult-to-see species of laughingthrush, we will focus on these. Alternatively we may concentrate on getting better views of something that did not show as well as we would have liked. Perhaps we will have found all of our targets and just use this morning for more views of a favourite and/or photographs.

We will make the drive, of about two hours, to the town of Di Linh giving us plenty of time to head uphill to Deo Nui San Pass in the afternoon after checking into our charming accommodation here. This area of forested hills is another excellent place for us to locate many of the key higher-altitude species of the area. One of the harder key species to find is Black-headed Parrotbill and if we did not see it at Dalat then this location gives us another very good opportunity to find it along with birds such as Yellow-billed Nuthatch, Black-throated Yuhina and Necklaced Barbet.

It is likely that we will use the late afternoon to walk a short distance into the forest to visit a hide here where, in previous years, Indochinese Green Magpie has wowed us. There will be other species here too as it is a regular spot for Orange-headed Thrush and Siberian Thrush, both exceptional birds, with species such as Mugimaki Flycatcher, Ochraceous Bulbul, Buff-breasted Babbler and Siberian Blue Robin likely to make up the supporting cast while there is also a chance that a stunning Blue Pitta will come in too.

Day 10, Di Linh – 7th April 2026

At first light we can spend a short time birding in the rice fields adjacent to our accommodation where we can see species such as Black-collared Starling, Vinous-breasted Starling and White-shouldered Starling. If we are lucky we may be able to find a migratory cuckoo such as Chestnut-winged Cuckoo or Indian Cuckoo and in the rice itself there is a chance of breeding plumage Watercock at this time of the year.

If we time things right we can find Annam Prinia in scrubby grassland on our way to the higher elevation forest which should be ringing to the sound of barbets in the early morning. Indochinese Barbet is usually the commonest of the group at this location but here is probably our best chance of seeing Red-vented Barbet on a sunny morning. Long-tailed Broadbill is a bird that seems to have emerged from the pages of a child’s colouring book and at this time of year we have an excellent chance to see it. The endemic Black-headed Parrotbill will be at the top of our wish list at this site and we will look for it among fast-moving flocks, that could include White-browed Scimitar Babbler and Maroon Oriole, or as it feeds on seeding trees. The orientalis race of Blue-winged Minla should feature again here although the endemic subspecies of Streaked Wren Babbler (rufiventer) will be harder to see on the forest floor. There will certainly be plenty of Black Bulbuls here and its a good location to catch up with the remotus subspecies of Ashy Bulbul, once again, endemic to the area.

We hope to encounter some feeding flocks in the forest alongside the road at this location with birds such as Vietnamese Cutia, Black-chinned Yuhina, White-spectacled Warbler often among commoner species such as Mountain Fulvetta. In the afternoon we have another hide to visit which can often turn up a lot of species including some really special one like Blue-rumped Pitta, Scaly Thrush and Black-headed Parrotbill if the conditions are right and it is usually a good spot to photograph a large number of the commoner birds from this site.

Day 11, Di Linh – Ho Chi Minh City – 8th April 2026

We will revisit the high altitude habitats in the early morning at Deo Nui San Pass to resume our search for the wonderful collection of birds in this area. Here flocks of birds include Brown-rumped Minivet, Lesser Racket-tailed Drongo, Kloss’s Leaf Warbler, Black-chinned Yuhina and Mountain Fulvetta while we have more chances to see key Vietnamese species such as Necklaced Barbet, Annam (Indochinese) Barbet and Red-vented Barbet.

What we do on this final morning very much depends on which species we might still be looking for or want a better view of. If we didn’t see it before we can go looking for Chestnut-capped Babbler or perhaps Anam Prinia gave us the slip on the previous day. If we are still looking for any of those rarer Vietnamese birds we can go check out one of the hides again or search for feeding flocks once more to see if they contain that one last bird.

Having enjoyed a last morning here we will have lunch at our accommodation and make thelong drive back to Ho Chi Minh City to finish our trip in a comfortable hotel in the late afternoon.  After checking in and taking a shower we will have our last dinner together and take a vote for bird of the trip, there are sure to be plenty of candidates.

Day 12, Departure – 9th April 2026

You will be transferred from our hotel to Tan Son Nhat International Airport at a time convenient for your flight.