Wat Tham Pha Plong,  just a stroll from Malee’s front door. Photo by Jane Williams

We’ve just spent three nights at Malee’s Nature Lovers Bungalows, situated at the entrance to the Doi Chiang Doa National Park, where the food and hospitality has been excellent. Unfortunately we’ve had a couple of setbacks to our itinerary, including having to taking Bob to Chiang Mai yesterday for an emergency dental appointment to have a nasty abscess dealt with. I’m pleased to say that he’s now on the mend. Today was a ‘before dawn’ start to ensure we arrived at the top of the mountain by day-break, but despite doing so, the birding proved to be rather under-whelming. However, one of our two ‘birds of the day’ came almost on arrival at the top, in the shape of a superb Black-tailed Crake. Our other best bird came at the very end of the day, just as it was getting dark – a splendid Spot-bellied Eagle-Owl, at the entrance to Wat Tham Pha Plong.

The generally elusive Black-tailed Crake

Record shot of Spot-bellied Eagle-owl