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Philippines March-April 2008

Jeremy Barker

Introduction

This is a brief report of a birding trip-cum-holiday in the Philippines during 2008. David Andersen, who was looking for 2-3 people to make his planned trip a bit more economic, instigated the organised trip. All logistics for this section were handled by Tim Fisher (Philippine Nature Tours), who must be consulted if you wish to visit certain sites (particularly Kitanglad and Hamut) to ensure there is space to do so between or around any organised bird tours! I stayed on beyond this time to visit a couple of friends and spend some time unwinding after a reasonably intensive time birding.

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Itinerary

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Logistics

International flights: I paid £480 return (inc. taxes) for my flight from Heathrow to Manila, via Hong Kong (British Airways and Cathay Pacific). There are no direct flights from the UK.

Inter-island flights are cheap and easy to book, generally only 1-2000 pesos each way. Cebu Pacific, Air Philippines and Philippine Airlines were each used and were easily more comfortable than the budget airlines running out of the UK, as well as being friendlier! Legroom was never an issue, which was bliss. No significant delays.

Visas: UK citizens staying less than 21 days don't need a visa before travelling: you will be issued a short-stay visa on arrival at immigration. I had to get a standard tourist visa before I arrived, as my stay was 30 days. This cost me £22 at the Philippine Embassy in London, and was very quick and simple to acquire at the embassy.

Accommodation: During the organised trip, we stayed in a variety of hotels. The most up-market was the hotel La Corona in Manila, which is pleasant, clean, has hot showers and air-con and is around 2-3000 pesos per night. On Palawan we used the Taraw resort in Sabang, which has basic detached beach-hut type accommodation, and the hotel XXX in Puerto Princesa, of a similar standard to La Corona. The TREES lodge on Mt Makiling is clean and pleasant, but does not serve food: you must either find food on-campus or in Los Baños. The Hamut section of the trip was spent in tents. On Mindanao we slept in the Del Monte lodge on Mt Kitanglad, a building donated to the Philippine Eagle Foundation by Del Monte - basically an open-plan wooden building with one dormitory-style sleeping area upstairs and a single room downstairs for eating. The final hotel on this stage of the trip was the Paper Country Inn, again pretty much on a par with the other hotels used.

The other hotels I used in Manila were the Swagman, in Malate, pretty much the same as La Corona and costing 2000 pesos/night, and the hotel opposite the Swagman (ashamed to have forgotten it's name!), which was 1600 pesos/night and only slightly more basic than the Swagman. In Dumaguete I stayed at the Grand Pension Plaza, costing 600 pesos/night and of a comparable standard to La Corona.

Food was generally cheap and easy to find, although fast food was depressingly the most easily available. If you like that kind of thing, KFC, McDonald's and the local equivalents are widespread. Local food is vastly cheaper and tastier though. 7-11 supermarkets are also widespread in towns & cities, and there are plenty of stands selling fruit for a few pesos. Water is not considered safe to drink unless bottled, and the guidebooks recommend you avoid drinks with ice; however, the ice appears to be made from distilled water and people are generally pretty hygiene-conscious - e.g. not handling ice with bare hands, so provided you are reasonably sensible with where you choose to eat, you shouldn't have too many problems. I had no stomach upsets or illnesses beyond a couple of colds brought on by excessively smoky air.

Public transport is cheap as a rule: buses range from air-conditioned intercity lines to the standard Asian local bus crammed with passengers, albeit not to the same degree as India. Fares are quite reasonable - the overnight bus between Naga and Manila (8 hours, air-con) cost 600 pesos, for example. Jeepneys are a good cheap way of travelling around within the cities, as long as you know where you should be going so that you find the correct route. Motortrikes should only be used for very short-distance urban trips; otherwise they become mightily expensive. Unlike many other parts of Asia, don't ask: 'how much will it cost me to get to XXX', as you'll be met with the reply: 'it's up to you' - there is usually a set fare of just a few pesos for urban trips, and you'll be paying way over the odds if you suggest a fare! Taxis in Manila? Usual Asian taxi - use only metered taxis and make sure they've set it to zero when you get in. The fare from the airport to Malate should be no more than 200 pesos, but if you use an unmetered taxi you'll be lucky to get away with less than 400.

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Sites visited

Palawan
Puerto Princesa

The Puerto Princesa area was our first stop after the flight. A brief visit to a coastal mangrove area failed to produce Copper-throated Sunbird, but allowed us a first crack at some of the local scrub-loving birds, such as Rufous-tailed Tailorbird, Lesser Coucal, White-collared Kingfisher and Zebra Dove. The tide being in, we were denied the chance to see much in the way of waders and herons, but both Greater and Lesser Sand Plover, and a number of Pacific Reef Egret were conspicuous.

Road to Sabang

We stopped at a number of sites along the road between Puerto Princesa and Sabang. The forest became gradually better as we neared Sabang, though nowhere was it particularly impressive or undisturbed. We did, however, pick up our only Copper-throated Sunbirds and a selection of Palawan specials (in Philippine terms), including Grey-cheeked, Sulphur-bellied and Olive-winged Bulbuls, White-vented Shama, Hill Mynah and the Palawan form of Slender-billed Crow, perhaps a good species in its own right. We also had cracking views of Palawan Scops Owl along the road, a bird which has perhaps the least typical scops owl call I've heard!

Sabang

The immediate vicinity of Sabang probably deserved more attention than we were able to give it. There are plenty of trails leading up and into forest, but we tended to stay to the roadside areas, mainly through lack of time to devote to the island. The forest areas near the village produced Blue-headed Racquet-tail, Asian Fairy-bluebird and numerous Yellow-throated Leafbird. Further searching would likely have produced Palawan Tit, the only feasible endemic which we missed on the island. There are also plenty of rice paddies in the vicinity of the village, with Watercock seen there by one of the group who'd been staying there previously.

St Paul's NP
Palawan Peacock-PheasantPalawan Peacock-Pheasant

We visited a number of spots within this area. The first of these was round the entrance to the underground river, in order to see the long-staying (long-suffering?!) male Palawan Peacock Pheasant which appears daily for a portion of rice. We also saw a good variety of other endemics, including Blue Paradise Flycatcher, Palawan Swiftlet, Palawan Flowerpecker, Palawan Flycatcher and White-vented Shama. We then took a boat back along the coast towards Sabang, landing about halfway along the coast to walk back through the forest. Unfortunately our guide failed to find his trail (!), so we ended up stomping back along the coastal path. Good views of the endemic Ashy-headed Babbler was some compensation. The final site we visited ran along a closed trail near the creek north of Sabang. We picked up our first Blue-naped Parrots, as well as Palawan Blue Flycatcher and Falcated Wren-Babbler here.

Lion Cave trail
Javan (Palawan) FrogmouthJavan (Palawan) Frogmouth

This trail runs off the Sabang road about 20 minutes out from the village. We managed to see the local frogmouth here - again, perhaps an island endemic species, but the taxonomy remains disputed - along with Large-tailed Nightjar, Palawan Hornbill, a flyover Malaysian Night Heron and a great evening passage of bats pouring out of the caves in the karst to feed in and around the forest.

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Luzon
Mt Makiling
Damselfly speciesUnidentified damselfly species

This holds a small patch of forest protected to some degree by the fact that it is used as both research and recreational area by the University of the Philippines. A trail runs up from the campus to a hot and acid mud pool, then along to the highest farm. The trail previously ran to peak 2 of the mountain, but became unsafe in the last typhoon, so has been closed beyond this point. The speciality species, Spotted Kingfisher, is fairly common and for the first hour after dawn is very vocal, but then becomes almost impossible to see. Side trails off the main track seem to be worth exploring, although again we had insufficient time to do this properly. Other endemic birds we noted on the mountain: Luzon Hornbill, White-browed Shama, Black-and-white Triller, Philippine Woodpecker, Blue-headed Fantail, both Red-crested and Scale-crested Malkoha, Elegant Tit, Colasisi, Philippine Serpent Eagle, Yellow-bellied Whistler, Stripe-headed Rhabdornis, Flaming and Handsome Sunbirds. This was the only spot where I saw Emerald Dove.

We also visited a couple of spots on the campus in search of three more endemics: Indigo-banded Kingfisher, Spotted Buttonquail and Lowland White-eye. The kingfisher and white-eye were seen (the latter by only one member of the group) near the dairy farm on a bend of the river, as well as in the botanical gardens. The buttonquail were found along what seems to be the traditional site, a straight trail leading up the hill just beyond the dairy farm buildings. Few other interesting species are found in these areas, so it's perhaps a good idea to get them out of the way p.d.q.! We did pick up Red-striped Flowerpecker and Philippine Coucal, but both are very abundant generally in any case.

Nocturnal work produced Philippine Hawk-Owl, Philippine Nightjar and a distant Philippine Scops-Owl at one point. We were outdone by a combination of a very bright moon and the fact that the birds near the lodge appear to have been tape-lured to oblivion, something of a problem at all the sites we visited.

Hamut
Cream-bellied Fruit DoveCream-bellied Fruit Dove Ptilinopus merrilli

This is an area of selectively-logged forest on the lower Cordillera Central, to the north of Luzon. We flew to Tuguegarao, were met and transported by jeepney to Baliwag, then walked to the campsites. Our itinerary suggested it was a pleasant wander through grassland to the lower slopes of the mountain, which would take us about 3 hours. Well, it's through grassland, yes, but of course is pretty up-and-down, and we pushed on to try and get to forest before nightfall. Even at force-march pace it took just over 3 hours, and we arrived about an hour and a half ahead of our porters, who had the tents and food! We didn't pass through much forest at all on the way up, and the final stretches were along a very narrow, rutted and extremely slippery trail - good thing it hadn't rained for a while! Much of the trail up to camp 2 is in a similar state, so unless you are fairly physically fit and healthy, it's not an option. We camped here for two nights at each camp, working the forest through the daytime.

A good variety of endemic birds were seen, the best of which included Philippine Hawk-eagle, the three fruit dove species (Flame-breasted, Cream-bellied and Yellow-breasted), Amethyst Brown Dove, Sooty Woodpecker, Rufous Hornbill, Philippine Fairy-bluebird, Rabor's Wren-Babbler, Whiskered Pitta, Golden-crowned Babbler and Philippine (Luzon) Bush-Warbler. We also found a number of leeches, or rather, they found us...! This is one site where you must get in contact with Tim Fisher, via Philippine Nature Tours, to establish if it is possible to visit, as many 'official' bird trips visit and accommodation is limited to a handful of tents in very small campsites.

Manila bay/Intramuros/Rizal Park/American Cemetery
Manila bayManila bay

A group of sites in a relatively small area - the first three lie in Malate, within walking distance of each other, the latter is a taxi-ride away to Makati. Don't pay more than 200 pesos for the trip from Makati to Malate and vice versa. Worth visiting when you first arrive, to get a handle on the commonest birds of the Philippines - Yellow-vented Bulbul, Pied Fantail, Brown Shrike, (Eurasian) Tree Sparrow, Zebra Dove, Pacific Swallow... The Pasig river and Manila bay also held a stack of Whiskered Terns, with a big feeding flock way offshore in the bay perhaps containing other species - I wasn't about to trot back to the hotel for a telescope! It's also a great place to yatter with the locals, so I spent a couple of lazy days doing little more than that.

The American cemetery is a monument to those who died in WWII in and around the Philippines. About 17,500 crosses are there, along with a large round memorial listing the names of all those who died. Quite sobering. The park doesn't open until 9 a.m., but if you're early you can wander along the outside and pick up odd birds. This is a well-known site for Lowland White-eye (good, because I'd missed them on Makiling!), Golden-bellied Flyeater (or Gerygone if you prefer) and Barred Rail, all of which are pretty easy to find - check the trees for the small stuff and round the flower beds for the rails.

Naga City
Wandering Whistling-DuckWandering Whistling-Duck Dendrocygna arcuata

A couple of sites around Naga City were visited. The first was a large area of marshland adjacent to the river north of the city, close to the river mouth. Although the only endemic species seen here was Philippine Duck, I managed to see my only Oriental Pratincoles of the trip, along with Red Turtle Dove and a nice variety of odonata.

The second site was a small area of paddy on the outskirts of the city, along the road towards Mt Isarog, where Jonathan wanted to try and photograph Cattle Egrets associating with cattle. This produced my one and only Watercock and the only Moorhens of the trip for me, as well as a couple of Pintail Snipe flushed from wet grass.

Caramoan area
Swiftlet caveSwiftlet cave

Some reasonable lowland forest is present in the areas around Caramoan. We stayed in a small village to the north of Caramoan, walking into the forest and travelling along the coast to a nearby beach. Much of the terrain is pretty tough walking, being steep and slippery limestone karst. The rice paddies also held a good variety of rails - Barred Rail, White-browed and Baillon's Crakes, Plain Bush-hen, and White-breasted Waterhen all seen within a handful of adjacent fields. A magnificent cave system is also present in a nearby ridge, with masses of swiftlets nesting in one section and hordes of bats in the lower section. The whole area would probably be reasonably rewarding if searched more thoroughly - Philippine Trogon, Luzon Bleeding-heart (said to be abundant by the locals), Blue-headed Fantail and Grey-backed Tailorbird were all noted in a very perfunctory bit of birding.

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Mindanao
Mt Kitanglad
Mountain ShrikeMountain Shrike Lanius validirostris

This site is about 2 hours drive south of Cagayan de Oro. The key species for which the site is famous are Philippine Eagle, although they are not always easy to see - if not nesting, they can be extremely elusive, and Bukidnon Woodcock, which rodes around the lodge at dawn and dusk. As with Hamut, it is important to make contact and ensure there is space to stay at the lodge, as accommodation is limited to one building. We managed to see the following endemics here, as well as many others: Apo Myna, Apo Sunbird, Mindanao Racquet-tail, Mindanao Brown Dove, Giant Scops Owl, McGregor's Cuckooshrike, Rufous-lored Tailorbird, Long-tailed Bush-Warbler and Red-eared Parrotfinch. Bagobo Babbler, Mindanao Scops Owl and Blue-capped Kingfisher eluded us, though.

PICOP logging concession
Blue-capped KingfisherBlue-capped Kingfisher Actenoides hombroni

The 2,000 km2 logging concession operated by PICOP (a Philippine paper-making company) is found in the eastern part of Mindanao, near the town of Bislig. What remains of the lowland forest contains many of the remaining forest endemics still found on Mindanao, although the sites are scattered within the concession. Beyond individual sites for particular species (i.e. Rufous-lored, Silvery and Blue-capped Kingfisher, Little Slaty Flycatcher), we spent most of our time on and around the quarry trail. A separate site was visited in search of Celestial Monarch; this site appeared to be better-quality forest but perhaps more difficult to view birds in. We managed to see almost everything we hoped for here, with the exception of Pink-bellied Imperial Pigeon and Wattled Broadbill, both of which we heard, and Spotted Imperial Pigeon, which we missed entirely. C'est la vie...!

Bislig airfield
Black BitternBlack Bittern Dupetor flavicollis

The airfield on the edge of Bislig bay is a traditional marsh stop-off for Philippine Duck and Eastern Grass Owl on this organised tour route. The marsh has obviously become more of a swamp in recent years, with little open water visible, so our only views of the duck were of birds in flight. However, we managed to see a nice variety of bittern and rails, including a brief Ruddy-breasted Crake and a couple of startled Purple (or Philippine - depends on taxonomy) Swamphen. The whole area looks good for Locustella and perhaps some Acrocephalus warblers as well. There is also a significant roost of Eastern Yellow Wagtail here, with a good 1,500 birds heading in at dusk.

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Negros
Casaroro Falls
Casaroro fallsCasaroro falls

The falls are at the base of Mt Talinis, and can be reached by travelling to Valencia, then arranging a motorcycle or hitching a lift to the falls. The concrete road ends a kilometre or so from the falls, and it is a steep walk to the trail, but the trail itself is well-surfaced and has handrails. The best birding was had along the upper parts of the trail, where views across the valley could be obtained. Trails also lead on from the end of the road, heading up Mt Talinis, although I did not manage to explore this area very much. The only Visayan endemic I saw here was Visayan (or Black-belted) Flowerpecker, but a number of Visayan endemic subspecies of other birds were seen.

There is a small charge (10 pesos) to enter the trail to the falls. It should be noted that jeepneys to Valencia start between 6 and 7 a.m., and the last one back to Dumaguete is at 5 p.m., or thereabouts - outside these times, you would need to use a private vehicle or a motortrike, which can be very expensive! The trails up Mt Talinis may well be worth exploring, as the forest here still seems to be reasonably complete.

San Moritz

A small group of pools just to the north of Dumaguete. Ask for San Moritz, Sibuyan and walk north along the road from the small bar. The pools are viewable from a couple of points, holding a nice selection of waders - Long-toed and Red-necked Stint, Pacific Golden Plover, sand plovers, stilts and various Tringa species, as well as a good number of Javan Pond Heron, presumably a recent colonist, as the field guide suggests they are restricted to Mindanao.

Bais aquaculture ponds
Chinese EgretChinese Egret Egretta eulophotes

Similar to San Moritz, but far more extensive and used for aquaculture, the pools here held more herons and egrets and fewer waders, although I only managed to explore a handful of the pools properly. From Bais city centre, head towards the beach and numerous ponds appear on the right-hand side of the road. Further pools are found about 1km along the road joining from the left. Again, Javan Pond Herons were abundant, along with Chinese Egrets, the standard commoner heron species and a similar selection of waders to San Moritz.

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