Philippines

One of the commonest open-country dragonflies I found, Neurothemis terminata is also one of the more spectacular species. This male was photographed on Palawan, on a small ditch near the Taraw resort, Sabang.

This is the entrance to the underground river in St Paul's NP, near Sabang. We didn't have time to travel on the boats, unfortunately, but plenty of swiftlets were swooping in and out of the cave entrance.

Malaysian Water Monitors (Varanus salvator) are abundant in the vicinity of the guards' huts at St Paul's NP.

The beach where the boats land after the trip from Sabang to the underground river. Limestone outcrops like this are common throughout this part of the island, making for some spectacular scenery.

Looking back from the northern end of Sabang beach towards the village. Trés tropical...

Palawan Hornbill (Anthracoceros marchei), listed as 'vulnerable' by IUCN. The species is, as the name suggests, endemic to Palawan and the nearby islands and is considered to be declining - as are so many Philippine species - as a result of habitat loss and hunting. Cropped image.

Another species on the verge of being globally threatened, we only saw the Malaysian Plover (Charadrius peronii) on Palawan. You'd expect a species which likes to nest on undisturbed sandy beaches to be having an increasingly hard time as tourism increases in the region. Cropped image.

The nicest sunset we saw, this one from a small island in Hobia bay near Puerto Princesa, where we spent some time looking for the near-endemic Grey Imperial Pigeon and Mantanani Scops Owl (both of which we saw) before heading back to 'civilisation'.

Striated Heron (Butorides striata) on fish trap. Bit of a 'National Geographic' shot...

The ubiquitous jeepney. These were born out of the abandoned American jeeps, which were lengthened and turned into passenger transport. They are frequently highly decorated inside and out, capable of carrying an impressive number of passengers and probably quite hard to kill.

This one - 'Skunk 2' - passed us several times on the road between Manila and Los Baños before we managed to lose it in the traffic.

Hot, and apparently acid, mud springs mid-way up mount Makiling, generously sharing their steam with us. It was only after taking the picture that I wondered about the sense of exposing the camera lens to it (apparently the mud is pH 2 or thereabouts), but no harm seems to have been done. A distinctly stinky place...

That coconut juice takes a lot of digesting, if you're a cat. Nice to bump into shacks selling this when you forgot to pack enough water!

One of the local copra transporters goes back to work. Most of the horses we saw were in better-looking nick than this.

Something tells me this jeep hasn't moved for a while.

After Makiling, we headed to the north of Luzon, to visit the mountains there. Obviously a fair amount of tobacco is grown in this area, as drying houses and racks were common.

A rather funky moth seen loafing on a trackside leaf. The areas that look grey were actually translucent.

Close-up of a common flowering vine. Flowers that exotic ought to be orchids...! I would assume the species is pollinated by sunbirds, with such a flower shape.

Here's a question: which would you be eating? The spam & rice we were served, or the whole fried frogs that our porters seemed to relish? The campsite at the top of Hamut is adjacent to a small stream, which seemed surprisingly quiet, until we noticed a) the bowl of fried frogs, and b) the porter working his way up the pools with an electro-fishing kit strapped to his back! The neighbouring streams were still deafening with frogs, so it would seem there's no major impact on the local populations, but still...!

White-eared Brown Dove (Phapitreton leucotis). An abundant small dove in the forests of the Philippines, with a song reminiscent of a table-tennis ball bouncing to a halt; or a Wood Warbler (Phylloscopus sibilatrix), if you're familiar with them!

A slightly over-flashed image of a very odd tree. The flowers and fruit of this species come from the very base of the trunk, trailing across the forest floor. I imagine they are dispersed by a terrestrial mammal.

One of the most impressive birds of the trip - Rufous Hornbill (Buceros hydrocorax). This is another endemic species, with this subspecies endemic to Luzon and a separate one (not photographed) endemic to Mindanao.

One of the local centipedes. Unlike the harmless millipedes, these have a bit of a nip on them. Nothing fatal, but you'd wish you hadn't been bitten. Fortunately they don't seem to be too aggressive.

Another endemic bird: Cream-bellied Fruit Dove (Ptilinopus merrilli). One of the speciality birds here at Hamut, we managed to bump into more than our fair share of them.

Happy as a pig in ... yes, well. Water buffalo dung is obviously more tasty than I'd have imagined!

If you have a lorry which isn't being used to transport goods, it's obviously useful to be able to rope some garden furniture on it and take the family out.

A volcano close to Manila, photographed through the minibus window; hence the rubbish quality and colours.

The last island on the organised tour was Mindanao. This is the walk to the first site we visited, Mt Kitanglad, home of a pair of Philippine Eagles and rather a lot of other interesting birds. Looking down the track, from the right, are Pete, Dave and Bob, the other tour participants, then on the left are our long-suffering porters and our guides...

Female Buzzing Flowerpecker (Dicaeum hypoleucum). Males are basically black and white where the females are brown and greyish.

Elegant Tit (Parus elegans). Not the best photo, I'm afraid...

Just beside the spot I photographed the previous two birds, was this water buffalo calf having a long, relaxing wallow. Were it not for the colour of the 'water' and the number of flies around, it might have been tempting to do the same sometimes!

The Del Monte Lodge, Mt Kitanglad. This is the living area; up the stairs to the back left of the picture is the sleeping area, which is basically the entire floor of the upper storey. Mattresses on the floor with sleeping bags - the only place where the weather was cool enough to want blankets and jumpers to wear!

Oriental Honey-buzzard (Pernis orientalis).

Part of the set for 'House of Flying Daggers'. Well, it should be.

Philippine Nightjar (Caprimulgus manillensis) brooding two downy chicks beside the path on Mt Kitanglad.

Mountain Shrike (Lanius validirostris) on Mt Kitanglad. An endemic with fairly particular habitat needs, it seems to be getting tougher to see on the Philippines on the established birding route.

Mountain White-eye (Zosterops montanus). Abundant and noisy on Kitanglad, but a pain in the fundament to photograph.

From Kitanglad we transferred to the PICOP logging concession, on the eastern side of Mindanao. The drive here was, shall we say, interesting, as our driver showed a worrying inclination to nod off on a regular basis after about 2 hours of the 10 hour journey. Frequent toilet, leg-stretch and cigarette stops kept us on the road, however. The rather shy children at this house made for a very cute set of photos, of which I like this one best.

Waterproof footwear would have been so much more sensible... (not my feet, by the way!)

Motorcycles are the best way around, and it's amazing how many pepole can fit on one. The best count was 7, although 3 of those were children.

On a couple of occasions we spent time watching at the airfield, where this obliging Black Bittern (Dupetor flavicollis) perched up for photos.

Poor though the photo is, this is a very satisfying one - we spent more time than was sensible tracking down Blue-capped Kingfisher (Actenoides hombroni) at Kitanglad and failing to even hear them, so to eventually pick up a bird which showed so well in PICOP was a great pleasure. The species is listed as 'vulnerable', due to - you guessed it - habitat loss.

A startlingly smart and approachable butterfly nectaring on weedy flowers.

Some of the local children who developed a strong interest in seeing what it was we had in the van - bird books, binoculars and telescope all proved very popular, though not as good value as a digital camera!

The largest fighting cock farm we passed - each shelter has a cockerel associated, with his own food & water and perch. Must be one noisy place around daybreak. Cockfighting is very popular still, with notices of the next few events put up prominently around towns and villages. The local cockpit is also usually quite an elaborate affair...

Pictures from here on relate to my personal bit of holiday after the organised trip. Back in Manila I visited the American cemetery to look for birds, and whilst I enjoyed the birds, the massed crosses (about 17,500) were a somewhat depressing sight.

Nanette props up one of the soldiers guarding the Philippines' national hero, Jose Rizal.

Heading out into Manila bay in the evening. Not sure why, but there you are...

One of the popular pursuits locally is to swim in the bay...

...but would you swim in this?

Whiskered Terns (Chlidonias hybrida) feeding on the Pasig river beside Intramuros, from the Santiago fort. Around 400 were in this extended flock.

Maybe I should have stayed here in Manila...!

I also made a rapid trip to the island of Negros, basing myself at Dumaguete city. From here I managed to do a little birding, though less than I had wished, particularly around the Casaroro falls. A wide variety of butterflies and dragonflies were present, the former coming to drink on seep water, the latter just doing what dragonflies do! This was a very spectacular example of one of the butterflies.

Male Crimson Sunbird (Aethopyga siparaja). One of the most stunning birds of the trip, this male was confiding enough to get some distant photos, though not quite confiding enough for good pictures!

Casaroro falls - the falls themselves.

Chinese Egret (Egretta eulophotes). A better picture than I managed in Korea...!

After leaving Negros, I met up with my other local friend, Melanie, and we headed down from Manila to Naga city, in the extreme east of Luzon. After an overnight bus trip we headed out with her brother, Jonathan, to look for dragonflies and birds at a local marsh, where we were treated to this flock of Wandering Whistling-duck (Dendrocygna arcuata), along with an nice assortment of other wetland species.

Melanie also began to learn how to make thatch with the local palm.

This White-browed Crake (Porzana cinerea) was completely unfazed by our presence, as long as we kept to a respectable distance.

From Naga city, Jonathan and I headed on to the Caramoan area, a little further east. This stunning butterfly was drinking beside the house we stayed in.

Part of the enormous cave we visited. This section was swarming with swiftlets, whilst the other section was crammed to the hilt with bats. A stunning and memorable sight, sound and smell...

Part of the local gang.

Travelling to a nearby beach, in search of Luzon Bleeding-heart (Gallicolumba luzonica), involved a very pleasant paddle across the sea in canoes.

Luzon Bleeding-heart? Here's one they trapped earlier... sharing it's cage was an Emerald Dove and half a dozed White-eared Brown Doves, with more of the latter tethered to perches in the house.

Another smart butterfly, this swallowtail has bright crimson under hindwings.

Young coconuts are a versatile food - popular with humans and chickens alike!

Whilst we waited for the tide, it was interesting to watch local people searching for some fresh seafood, as well as spending some time paddling in to watch the fish.

Copra in preparation.

The final morning in the village, I noticed Glossy Swiftlets (Collocalia esculenta) fluttering up to the coconut palms and trying to rip off fibres for nest material. This was the best picture I managed.

A mimic caterpillar - this one does an impressive impression of a bird dropping.

Finally - check out the state of the spare tyre on the jeepneys! This is a pretty typical one. Really lends confidence, doesn't it?!