Overview
Dates: |
18 - 23 Oct 2020. |
With Steve Tibbett. Although the wet season should have been winding down, a series of tropical depressions moving into Southeast Asia across Vietnam had brought weeks of overcast, cool, wet, weather to eastern and northern Thailand. As this trip was aimed primarily at higher elevation butterflies, we long debated how detrimental conditions would be to our success. However, the desire to be out in the field won, even though we might have to endure some poorer weather.
18 Oct. Due to the long drive to Nan, we planned to break the trip with a few hours at Wiang Kosai National Park en route. We'd discovered the park closed during our previous visit in August, with a prominent sign at the entrance declaring the park open from 1 October. However, as usual at Thai parks, seeing is believing, and indeed on our arrival we were proudly informed the park would not open until 1 November. With no other national parks within easy driving distance we consulted the vehicle satnav for waterfalls. This suggested the small waterfall of Mae Rang nearby. We'd certainly never have discovered this place any other way, due to a total absence of signs. A 500 metre walk, with accompanying showers, to the waterfall passed through fields and cut over forest and failed to produce much, but at least gave us an hour of exploration. The best species seen were Chocolate Royal and Common Redeye. We then headed north toward Nan, stopping to explore another waterfall we'd never visited, at Huai Rong. The cool overcast conditions were hardly ideal, but this site seemed to have potential with better forest. We found Great Swift, Common Quaker, Swinhoe's Forest Bob, Bamboo Treebrown and Common Spotted Flat. The habitat looked interesting, and we'll surely drop by this site again in improved weather. Overnight at Pua. 19 Oct. A rather dull and unproductive day on Doi Phu Kha. We worked elevations between 1,100 and 1,700 metres, but the overcast and cool conditions meant little to no activity. Even birding produced nothing exceptional. Overnight Pua again. |
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20 Oct. Some overnight rain, especially in the mountains, resulted in a damp start. Although we'd planned to stop at the 1,700 metre pass, it was thick cloud and only 17°C there, so we gave it a miss, and continued down the eastern flank to Bo Kluea and Sapan Waterfall. |
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We spent an hour walking the waterfall trail, but other than many Thai tourists saw very little except one Tiger Palmfly - a long wished for species. We then back-tracked to Khun Nan National Park where, as on all previous visits, they seemed totally surprised to receive any visitors. First question was "What do you want to do?". "Err, go birding? National Park? Wildlife?" To which the reply was "We don't have birds in this park". Oh really. However, after some discussion between the two staff at the checkpoint, they did let us in. Seems that every time we visit this park we have the same palaver at the entrance. We worked the two kilometre track to the viewpoint, with the best find being Thailand's third record of Common Bamboo Snake. The Nature Trail along the river was surprisingly quiet, though we did see Asian Stubtail, and heard Long-tailed Broadbill and Slaty-backed Forktail.
But we were very disappointed not to be able to find the Paradise Tanager proudly displayed on the nature interpretation board at the start of the trail. Overnight in Bo Kluea, with rain into the late evening. 21 Oct. A few patches of blue sky raised our hopes somewhat. Today we simply reversed yesterday's plan, starting with the staff game at the entrance of Khun Nan. Fewer blank looks today, as one of them recognised us. We gave the Nature Trail a miss and concentrated on sunny areas along the track to the viewpoint. A few hours here were very productive with Blue Nawab and Orange Caliph. |
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Also Maroon Oriole, Violet Cuckoo and Indochinese Yuhina. The early afternoon was spent along the waterfall trail, but not a lot more discovered than yesterday. Rain, some heavy, started at 14:30 and wiped out the remainder of the day. 22 Oct. Although still overcast, the cloud was higher, so we returned to Doi Phu Kha to work mid and upper elevations. Hard going, due to lack of sun, but persistence paid off, with Masae's Silverline, Extensive White Flat, Dark Velvet Bob, White Owl and a few others. By mid afternoon temperatures at altitude had already dropped, so we explored a side road, at around 800 metres altitude, near Bo Kluea. This produced more variety, including a Wizard. Overnight again at Bo Kluea. 23 Oct. Better weather again, so we repeated yesterday's itinerary, though nothing of note added. 24 Oct. In view of the longish drive to Chiang Mai, the morning was limited to a short repeat visit to the waterfall. With the sun barely making it into the valley we saw little and had to leave around 09:30. To break the journey on the return we stopped at some random roadside forest near Lampang, where we jammed into Tricolour Pied Flat. |
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Species List
| Khun Nan | Count | Doi Phu Kha | Count | ||
| Violet Cuckoo | 1 | Green-billed Malkoha | 1 | ||
| Square-tailed Drongo-Cuckoo | 1 | Mountain Scops Owl | 1 | ||
| Crested Serpent Eagle | 1 | Asian Barred Owlet | 2 | ||
| Orange-breasted Trogon | 1 | Great Barbet | 2 | ||
| Blue-throated Barbet | 2 | Golden-throated Barbet | 2 | ||
| Speckled Piculet | 1 | Bay Woodpecker | 2 | ||
| Long-tailed Broadbill | 2 | Grey-backed Shrike | 1 | ||
| Ashy Woodswallow | 3 | Yellow-browed Warbler | 2 | ||
| Maroon Oriole | 2 | Sulphur-breasted Warbler | 2 | ||
| Common Green Magpie | 2 | Claudia's Leaf Warbler | 1 | ||
| Grey-eyed Bulbul | 4 | Rufescent Prinia | 4 | ||
| Black-crested Bulbul | 1 | Indochinese Yuhina | 8 | ||
| Asian Stubtail | 1 | Yunnan Fulvetta | 4 | ||
| Two-barred Warbler | 2 | Blue Whistling Thrush | 1 | ||
| Rufescent Prinia | 4 | Slaty-backed Flycatcher | 1 | ||
| White-browed Scimitar Babbler | 1 | Grey Wagtail | 2 | ||
| Hill Blue Flycatcher | 2 | ||||
| Slaty-backed Forktail | 1 | ||||
| Grey Wagtail | 6 |