Current view: Text account
Site description (2004 baseline):
Site location and context
The IBA comprises Mae Fang National Park, which lies within the Pee Pun Nam range, along the international border with Myanmar. The topography of the site is dominated by high mountains, including Doi Ang Khang in the south and Doi Pha Hom Pok (Thailand's second highest peak) in the north. The most extensive remnant tracts of hill evergreen forest are above 1,700 m asl on Doi Pha Hom Pok, covering c.16,000 ha, while c.6,800 ha of hill evergreen forest remain in the Doi Ang Khang area. Forest at mid-elevations, between 1,000-1,500 m asl, has been extensively cleared for shifting cultivation, some of which has reverted to grassland; over 9,900 ha is estimated to have been encroached upon by shifting cultivation. In addition to evergreen forest types at higher elevations, some mixed deciduous forest and deciduous dipterocarp forest occur at lower elevations.
A number of globally threatened species have been recently recorded at the site, including Mrs Hume's Pheasant Syrmaticus humiae, Wood Snipe Gallinago nemoricola, Grey-sided Thrush Turdus feae and Giant Nuthatch Sitta magna, although only some of them have been confirmed to regularly occur in significant numbers. There is also an historical record of the globally vulnerable Beautiful Nuthatch Sitta formosa, from 1986. In addition, Mae Fang National Park is one of only two sites where the globally near-threatened Blyth's Kingfisher Alcedo hercules has been recorded in Thailand. The mountains of Doi Ang Khang and Doi Pha Hom Pok in particular support a number of montane forest species, both residents and winter visitors, that are typical of the Sino-Himalayan Subtropical Forests (Biome 08) and are known from a limited number of sites in Thailand. These include Spot-breasted Parrotbill Paradoxornis guttaticollis, Lesser Rufous-headed Parrotbill Paradoxornis atrosuperciliaris, Red-tailed Laughingthrush Garrulax milnei, Whiskered Yuhina Yuhina flavicollis, Cutia Cutia nipalensis and Black-throated Tit Aegithalos concinnus.
The site qualifies under criterion A3 because it supports 26 species restricted to the Sino-Himalayan Temperate Forests (Biome 07) and 69 species restricted to the Sino-Himalayan Subtropical Forests (Biome 08).
Non-bird biodiversity: Plants
Afzelia xylocarpa (EN)
Maytenus curtissii (VU)
Pressure/threats to key biodiversity
Shifting cultivation is the main cause of deforestation at the site. Previously semi-nomadic communities have been permanently settled, and pressure exists to convert forest into more intensive agricultural land devoted to cash crops, such as cabbage. In addition, opium eradication programmes have compelled local people to grow alternative crops, which require a greater area of cultivated land. Hunting and collection of wildlife, including butterfly collection, and unsustainable tourism development are further threats to biodiversity at the site.
Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2024) Important Bird Area factsheet: Mae Fang (Thailand). Downloaded from
https://datazone.birdlife.org/site/factsheet/mae-fang-iba-thailand on 22/11/2024.
