Doi Inthanon

We arrived in Chiang Mai on the evening of November 23, sorted out a rental car and a place to stay, and headed for Doi Inthanon National Park the next morning. Doi Inthanon is the highest mountain in Thailand, reaching 2 500 masl. What you find on Doi Inthanon above 1 800 metres is cloud forest, a cool, moisture‑soaked high‑elevation habitat where the trees stand in more or less permanent mist. The air is humid, and the tree's branches are thick with mosses, lichens and other epiphytes. We had found accommodation not far from the park’s information center at about 1 400 masl, and spent most of our time birding the stretch from there up toward the summit.

Even on the drive to the mountain, the birdlife was plentiful with drongos everywhere (Black, Ashy and Hair-crested), along with flocks of Common and Great Mynas. Little Egrets, Chinese Pond-Herons and Pied Bushchats were lined up along the road. A smooth warm‑up before the mountain birding.

Near the Doi Inthanon HQ area we picked up our first forest birds: Puff-throated Bulbul, White-headed Bulbul, White-browed Scimitar-Babbler, and a surprise Black-throated Thrush. It was clear we had entered a very different bird community compared to the first ten days of the trip.

The following day became one of the most species-rich of the entire trip. We started near the HQ and worked our way all the way to the summit. Highlights included the mist‑forest specialists such as Rufous-winged Fulvetta, Black-backed Sibia, Chestnut-tailed Minla, Ashy-throated Warbler and Gray-winged Blackbird. And not to forget one of the mountain’s signature species, Green-tailed Sunbird, with several showing well near the summit. Doi Inthanon lived up to its reputation as a really productive for mountain birds. At the same time, we were constantly reminded of how much we missed because we didn’t know the calls.

Our last morning on the mountain still produced new species: Green-billed Malkoha, Red-headed Trogon, Large Woodshrike, Greater Racket-tailed Drongo, Silver-eared Laughingthrush, Hume’s Warbler, Pallas’s Leaf Warbler, and several of the same mist‑forest birds from the day before.

After a night in Chiang Mai we made a day trip to Doi Suthep. The diversity was lower than on Inthanon, but we still added a few new species and enjoyed a relaxed day in the forest before returning to the city.

From Chiang Mai we flew south to meet the rest of the group in Phuket. Birding took a back seat for a few days as we focused on seafood, warm evenings and the night out, before packing up and heading back to Norway.