Overview

Dates: Weather: Localities:

24 - 28 Sep 2018. Mostly dry with variable cloud cover. Temperatures ranged from 26°C to 34°C. Mok Fa Waterfall, Huay Nam Dang National Park, Tham Lod, Pha Suea National Park, Namtok Mae Surin National Park, Doi Wiang La Wildlife Sanctuary and Doi Inthanon National Park.

With Steve Tibbett. Following our Mae Hong Son trip in December 2017 this second visit comprised further exploration of the area, primarily for butterflies. Being largely ignored by both birders and butterfly enthusiasts this province surely contains much potential. Although logistics are straight forward, the torturous mountain roads make travelling between sites slow.

24 Sep. We left Chiang Mai at 07:15, heading towards Pai. Shortly after leaving Highway 107, passing Mok Fa Waterfall, we decided to investigate as having seen these falls signposted on previous occasions we'd not had time to visit.

Slaty-backed Forktail

The waterfall is officially part of Doi Suthep National Park, so a charge of 100 Baht is made on foreign visitors. Being early in the day, butterflies were not particularly active, though we did find White Lineblue, an unusual sighting for the north. Near the falls Along the stream were Slaty-backed Forktail and Grey Wagtail.

White Lineblue

This site definitely had potential for a further visit at an appropriate time of year, though avoiding tourist crowds would be a consideration. We continued to Huay Nam Dang by noon, though as often at 1,700 metres it was cool and cloudy with little activity. A singing Grey-backed Shrike was notable and early as a winter visitor. Other birds included Maroon Oriole, White-gorgeted Flycather and Blue Rock Thrush. Onward to Tham Lod by 15:00, with a late afternoon walk producing one of the highlights on the trip in the form of a Dark-male Baron, though otherwise rather quiet. Overnight in Mae Hong Son.

Dark-male Baron

25 Sep. We started the day near Pha Suea Waterfall but rain showers until 09:00 dampened the birding, so little of note - only Bamboo Woodpecker, Bay Woodpecker and Black-capped Kingfisher. On a recommendation we then tried Highway 1285 running northward toward the Burma border. Once clear of villages, above 500 metres, the later part of the road runs through good-looking mid elevation forest that we explored until 14:00 when rain returned, forcing us to explore lower elevations but finding little. Generally a poor return on the day's effort.

26 Sep. Excellent weather throughout the day, with us concentrating on the west-east road/track running across the centre of Namtok Mae Surin.

Annam Bushbrown Constable

Eastern Courtier White Dryad

Since our last visit, no doubt on account of the heavy monsoon rains, several of the steeper sections had become very rutted and 4x4 was required; not a road to be attempted with anything other than a pickup and 4x4 at this time of year. A good selection of butterflies today, in excess of 50 species found, but alas nothing of any major interest. Birds included White-browed Piculet, Orange-breasted Trogon, Oriental Honey Buzzard, Collared Owlet, Crested Treeswift, Large Woodshrike and Plain Flowerpecker.

27 Sep. A day spent in the southern part of Namtok Mae Surin. The access track we'd discovered last year was now only drivable for four kilometres, after which it become impassible due to massive ruts and washouts. We therefore continued on foot covering a further couple of kilometres toward to falls. Despite being on the edge of the park, deforestation appears to be rife with many clearings and denuded hillsides. Birding poor, but White Dryad found. Largely overcast but dry. A final night in Mae Hong Son.

28 Sep. A horrible drive to Inthanon, with the twisting route taking four hours to complete. In passing, we looked at the dry forest around the entrance of Doi Wiang La Wildlife Sanctuary, that looked rather promising and warranting further exploration. We arrived at Doi Inthanon by 11:30 where, with impeccable timing, it started raining. Fortunately this didn't amount to much and in the next few hours we managed a decent number of butterflies including Scarce Tawny Rajah, Evans's Fat White, White Dryad again and Chinese Bushbrown.

All in all an interesting trip, with potentially good forest and easy logistics, though not as productive as we'd hoped. We'll definitely be back in the warmer weather, when likely more activity.

Species List

	Huay Nam Dang	Count		Tham Lod	Count
	Great Barbet	1		Lineated Barbet	2
	Golden-throated Barbet	1		Coppersmith Barbet	1
	Stripe-breasted Woodpecker	1		Greater Yellownape	1
	Bay Woodpecker	1		Greater Flameback	1
	Grey-backed Shrike	1		Black-hooded Oriole	2
	Maroon Oriole	1		Greater Racket-tailed Drongo	1
	Grey Treepie	2		Eastern Jungle Crow	2
	Davison's Leaf Warbler	2		Radde's Warbler	1
	White-gorgeted Flycatcher	1		Rufescent Prinia	4
	Blue Rock Thrush	1		White-crested Laughingthrush	2
				Lesser Necklaced Laughingthrush	6
	Pha Suea	Count
	Striated Heron	2		Doi Inthanon	Count
	Green-billed Malkoha	1		Slaty-bellied Tesia	1
	Black-capped Kingfisher	1		Hill Prinia	1
	Common Kingfisher	1		Grey Wagtail	2
	Lineated Barbet	2		Yunnan Fulvetta	4
	Blue-throated Barbet	2
	Coppersmith Barbet	1		Mok Fa	Count
	Bamboo Woodpecker	2		Slaty-backed Forktail	1
	Bay Woodpecker	2		Grey Wagtail	1
	Common Iora	2
	Black-hooded Oriole	2
	Greater Racket-tailed Drongo	2
	Eurasian Jay	1
	Black-crested Bulbul	3
	Two-barred Warbler	2
	Common Tailorbird	3
	White-browed Scimitar Babbler	2
	Rufous-fronted Babbler	4
	White-crested Laughingthrush	4
	Velvet-fronted Nuthatch	1
	Oriental Magpie-Robin	2
	White-rumped Shama	2
	Tickell's Blue Flycatcher	2
	Grey Wagtail	3
	White Wagtail	1