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24 - 27 Nov 2020.
Dry with variable cloud cover. Temperatures ranged from 17°C to 24°C.
Omkoi Wildlife Sanctuary.

24 Nov. We escaped Chiang Mai before 07:00, in order to avoid rush hour, and by 09:45 were already in the field at Omkoi, starting with the dry forest north of town. Having explored a number of places here previously, we basically revisited tracks and forest that had consistently produced interesting species in the past. We did however, make one additional stop at the small river before town, which could well be more interesting in drier months. Butterflies included a single Common Gaudy Baron. Other stops through the day were not particularly productive but did produce Crenulate Oakblue, Mango Baron, Pale Bushblue and Common Sergeant. Overnight in Omkoi, which makes a good logistical base, having both accommodation and a 7-Eleven convenience store, but rates as one of the worst places in Thailand for food, due to the dire restaurant options. We did note on entering the town a brand spanking new coffee shop, looking way out of place in rural, rustic, Omkoi.

25 Nov. Given that the weather forecast would be for least cloud cover today, we opted to concentrate on higher altitude forest. Initially, we drove to the viewpoint at 1,400 metres, 30 kilometres south of town. Although sunny, the wind was rather blustery, so other than some Red-base Jezebel on the flowering shrubs, we found little, so descended to find more sheltered areas. Being early in the day we didn't see much, other than a number of Rusty Marsh Dart damselflies. The remainder of the day was spent in forest from 1,200 - 1,500 metres with species of note including Bi-spot Royal, White-edged Baron, Abnormal Flash, Slate Flash, Pallid Royal, Indian Purple Emperor and Powdered Oakblue. Birds were pretty thin on the ground, though we recorded Black Baza, Banded Bay Cuckoo, Oriental Cuckooshrike, Maroon Oriole, Radde's Warbler, Claudia's Warbler and Eurasian Jay. A later return to Omkoi.

26 Nov. Having spent two days at medium altitude, we opted to try lower elevations around the Omkoi Wildlife Sanctuary headquarters. As currently we were in the early dry season, streams would still be flowing and deciduous trees would still have foliage. Unfortunately this was no where near as productive as we'd expected, and in a couple of hours we saw practically no butterflies, and the only bird species of note was several Grey-headed Parakeet. So cutting our losses we reverted to higher elevation, where we spent the remainder of the day. This proved much more fruitful, with Pointed Green Oakblue and Ambon Onyx added to the trip list, plus a Collared Owlet heard.

27 Nov. The morning was spent in mid elevation, dry forest south of town, with Black-headed Woodpecker and White-bellied Woodpecker present. Best find of the day was the recently described Chiang Mai Rain-pool Frog - a species restricted to the Omkoi area. Butterflies included the uncommon Common Cornelian, Angled Pierrot, Darkie Plushblue and Variegated Plushblue. We left the area at 13:15, for the return drive to Chiang Mai.

Abnormal Flash

Pallid Royal

Black-headed Woodpecker

Chiang Mai Rain-pool Frog