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2 - 6 Oct 2017
Very wet. Heavy cloud with a few sunny spells. Temperatures ranged from 22°C to 32°C.
Phu Hin Rong Kla National Park, Nam Nao National Park, Sri Dit Waterfall, Tat Mok National Park and Thung Salaeng Luang National Park.

Our main target here was Nepal House Martin, the only known locality in Thailand for this species. Amazingly, once above 1,500 metres we broke through the cloud hanging on the mountain sides, and in excellent conditions found in excess of 300 Nepal House Martin, together with a few Dusky Crag Martin and a single male Jerdon's Bush Chat. A nice start. Fortunately, it was unnecessary to enter the national park proper, as the greedy management here rip-off foreigners for 500 Baht.

3 Oct. Some overnight rain easing by morning but still grey and overcast. Drove to Nam Nao through some further heavy rain, that luckily ceased upon our arrival. Nam Nao is one of the few parks in Thailand with a good trail system so, donning leech socks, we started on the shorter Nature Trail behind the headquarters. Wow, the months of rain had really been good to the leeches, that were probably the worst we'd experienced in Thailand. Even compared with Khao Yai and Hala-Bala this was bad. Few birds in the damp conditions, though Bar-backed Partridge heard, plus Greater Flameback and Greater Yellownape. A longer walk in forest edge and inspection of flowering plants around the campsites gave us a few butterflies, with Common Silverline and Burmese Batwing the pick of the bunch. Later drove the long dirt road toward Phu Goom Khao, with Red-billed Blue Magpie, but little else, as far as the river crossing about ten kilometres in. Clearly though we'd not be crossing the river today, as it was in full flood from the recent rains. At 15:00 the heavens opened and we returned to the highway, driving up what appeared more of a river than a dirt track, and thankful for 4x4 on the vehicle. Further heavy rain at night.

4 Oct. For a total change we decided to check out Sri Dit Waterfall for butterflies. Evidently this site has great potential in the dry season, although on the downside it would be pretty crowded during peak tourist season, with several restaurants and tourist tat shops near the falls. No such problem today as zero visitors, cold and overcast. A short walk to the falls and the forest edge produced a few butterflies.

Nepal House Martin

Dusky Crag Martin

Common Silverline

Thick-billed Green Pigeon

Great Siam Sergeant

Further disappointment with the park again closed due to the condition of the tracks within being impassible even with 4x4. With further rain, found a coffee shop in which to ponder our options for the next two days. Clearly we needed to stick to parks with paved or at least passable roads. Abandoned the remainder of our afternoon, with an overnight in Phetchabun city.

5 Oct. Heavy rain all night with grim, overcast conditions persisting. A return to Nam Nao, where with 4x4 we could at least explore the longer Phu Goom Khao track. Overcast with rain till around 10:00 when it cleared briefly till 11:00 allowing a few butterflies to be found. Thereafter rain set in for the remainder of the day, with us moping around till 16:00 when we finally gave up and returned to Lom Sak.

6 Oct. Still cloudy but some early sunshine, so we headed to the northern entrance of Thung Salaeng Luang. As expected, entrance was 500 Baht, though after a bit of negotiation this was reduced to 300 Baht on the basis of us being researchers. Finally, some warm sun, and along the three kilometre route to the Kek River and campsite we had Blue-throated Bee-eater and a good flock of Thick-billed Green Pigeon, plus a very good collection of butterflies including Great Siam Sergeant and Indian Yellow Nawab. With returning rain at 13:00 we headed back the five hours to Chiang Mai.