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Grey-headed Canary Flycatcher

Check our Nov.'08 tour report.

March '08 trip report -

Mountains of the North

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Thailand

 

Mountains of the North

 

Sorry, no scheduled departures set for this tour. Check out our guided trips instead. MON guided trips.

  

Tour leaders ; Tom Bex in cooperation with your TAT-licensed local guide.

 

Group size; max. 6

 

By mid March and into April temperatures in the lowland areas of Thailand are

set to soar to yearly highs.  Not very comfortable indeed if you want to go

birding in this excellent period at the start of the breeding season.  The solution

however is easy enough, just join Birdtours2asia on it’s complete run of the

mountains of northern Thailand, where weather and birding are as pleasant as it

possibly gets.

 

                          

Blue Whistling Thrush                                             Stake-out Hodgon's and this Javan Frogmouth

                                                                            will both be visited on our mountains tour.

 

Tour itinerary

 

Day 1

After our arrival in Chiang Mai we head north towards Fang, where we will be

based in very nice hotel rooms for the next 3 nights.  Depending on flight

schedules we might do plenty of birding en-route.

 

Day 2

A day trip to Doi Lang.  This mountain close to the Burmese border has some of

the best birding in northern Thailand.  A narrow dead-end road winds its way up

to an altitude of 1800 m and provides excellent roadside birding.  We will be

watching numerous bird waves actively feeding in the untouched mossy forest

that still cloaks this mountain.  Another feature of birding on Doi Lang is that bird

activity never really stops during mid-day hours, always resulting in a huge day

list.  Specialities and goodies are too numerous to list, just want to mention a few

anyway; Crested Finchbill, Spot-winged Grosbeak, Crimson-breasted Woodpecker,

Jerdon’s Bushchat, Black-throated Parrotbill, Abberant Bush Warbler, Spectacled

Barwing, Red-faced Liocichla, Chinese Leaf Warbler and Mountain Hawk Eagle.

 

Day 3

Today we head up little known Doi Pha Hom Pok, Thailand’s second highest

mountain.  The summit-trail provides superb birding and targets here include

Cutia, Brown-breasted Bulbul, Stripe-breasted Woodpecker, Black Eagle, Daurian

Redstart, Chestnut Thrush and singing Russet Bush Warblers.

 

Day 4

Another short drive up the mountains will see us birding famous Doi Ang Khan

today.  We start checking for thrushes in the Royal Project site.  The numerous

flowering trees here attract bulbuls incl. White-headed, flowerpeckers and

sunbirds incl. Yellow-bellied.

Unlike on Doi Lang, bird activity seriously drops here during mid-day hours and

this is why we will move on when things are starting to get quiet.

Via the very scenic old road we will reach Chiang Dao in the late afternoon where

we will bird the grounds of Tam Pa Plong temple for the remaining day-light

hours…and beyond for Javan Frogmouth, Oriental Bay Owl and we have a good

chance to at least hear Spot-bellied Eagle Owl which is pretty active here this

time of the year. Night in Chiang Dao.

 

Day 5

An early start and with making good use of our 4WD on a rough track we shall

reach the best birding areas on Doi Chiang Dao in less than an hour.  Dawn is the

best time of the day and March the best time of the year to find one of the best

pheasant species in Asia here.  Chances we’ll see Hume’s Pheasant are terrific

indeed.  Another speciality, Giant Nuthatch is usually easier to find, hard to miss

in fact if one knows their calls.

Birding in the fairly open deciduous and pine forests is easy enough and the bird

activity usually high which will again result in a day list close to 100 species.

Night in Chiang Mai, a truly pleasant city to stay in.

 

Day 6

This morning we give the mountains a short break, using the relatively cool early

hours to do some lowland birding.  Some marshy habitats and woodland will

certainly help to build our ever growing trip list.  Rufous Treepie, Red-billed

Blue Magpie, Burmese Shrike, Rufous-winged Buzzard, Rufous Woodpecker,

Greater Painted Snipe, Indochinese Bushlark and Black-collared Starling are

some of the better species to be expected.

We escape the heat of the afternoon in the mountains again with a visit to

Doi Pui, searching for any species which might have eluded us so far.  Long-

tailed Broadbill in particular is easier to find here.  We stay till after dark to

check on our stake-out Hodgon’s Frogmouth.  Mountain Scops Owl is common

in the area but usually near impossible to see, we give it a go anyway, fun

guaranteed!  Night in Chiang Mai.

 

Day 7

Before heading for the mountains again we go twitch the Green Peafowl in the

Huai Hong Krai Royal Project site, where they roost before leaving for the

surrounding open forests.

Sixth and last but not least of the mountains we visit on this tour is Thailand’s

highest, Doi Inthanon.  The national park on this mountain is famous and

excellent bird-watching county which will still produce a number of new birds

to our trip list.  Especially the high parts and the dry dipterocarp forest in the

foothills provide different birding to what we’ve seen so far.  Brilliant birds to

search for include ; Black-headed Woodpecker, Collared Falconet, Green and

possibly also Purple Cochoa, Dark-sided Thrush, Slaty-bellied Tesia, Ashy Wood

Pigeon, White-browed Shortwing and  Pygmy Wren Babbler.

 

Day 8

We have another full day to explore Doi Inthanon, certainly needed to do this

wonderful place any justice.

In the late afternoon we return to Chiang Mai for another delicious dinner.  No

doubt there’s going to be enough beers afterwards to celebrate on this great

tour we had.

 

Day 9

After breakfast, we head for the airport for our return flights.

 

General info : Very nice rooms in good standard hotels with private

facilities. Transport by air-conditioned 4WD.  Walking is easy and

most birding is done on level roadside/tracks/trails, but the occasional

steeper trail might get us to the best birds.  While it gets seriously hot in the

lowlands this time of the year we will be birding in the mountains most of the

time where the temperatures are pleasant throughout.  Any rain would be unusual.

 

      

Dark-backed Sibia on Doi Inthanon...                          where also this temple is found.

 

        

Waterfalls in DI NP support White-capped Water Redstart while blossoms attract White-headed Bulbuls.

 

              

Collared Owlet on Doi Chiang Dao.                      Coppersmith barbet is found lower in the valleys.

 

        

Greater Coucal                                                         and Red-wattled Lapwings are common.

 

  

Grey-backed Shrike on Doi Pha Hom Pok.                  Streak-eared Bulbul, at Chiang Mai hotel garden.

 

  

We look for wildlife too of course, this is a Slow Loris.  Sunset in Thailand's mountains.

 

All photographs copyright Birding2asia.com