also at the more traditional site of Kitanglad.
18th March: Bukidnon Philippine Eagle Nest site & Mount Kitanglad (MINDANAO) Montane forest.
With the Philippine Eagles not breeding this year at Kitanglad, and the birds proving difficult for other tour groups before our tour, I decided with Nicky that if we had the opportunity to visit another nest site we should jump at the chance at seeing this impressive formidable raptor at close quarters. Nicky used his contacts to get us privileged access to a new nest site, that the Eagle Foundation had recently set up watch on, not too far from our intended destination of Kitanglad. As we headed up the trail to the new site alarmingly two adult birds passed briefly overhead, not giving anyone a decent look through the closed canopy above us. Sure enough when we reached the nest the adults were nowhere to be found and the chick was hunched low down in the nest, with only the odd feather in view! With this dismal showing the first group ascended the purpose built tower to have a better look at the nest. A long while went by and just as the first group were going to leave with only marginally better views of the chick obtained the loud distinctive whistles of a close adult were heard close by and then two birds cruised by at eye level, allowing those on the right position at the time to get a real eyeful of this immense eagle at close range. For those who missed it better was to come as the eaglet in the nest then stood up fully revealing its massively oversized bill, and one of the adults was found perched up a short distance away from our lofty position in the canopy. Having experienced Harpy Eagles several times before, that are equally impressive in their huge bulk, and perhaps more so in terms of their formidable claws that are close to the size of a bears, the Harpy simply cannot match the huge bill that gives the impression that the Philippine Eagle is a much larger, more formidable raptor. Instantly Richard and Mark were talking of the bird of the trip, in spite of that fact we had seen several pitta species, a bagful of colorful endemic kingfishers, and a host of multicolored Fruit-doves and pigeons! Unfortunately after the first group descended the tower Don and Doris had a fruitless search for the adults while up there. Although they had enjoyed impressive views of them in flight from their position on the ground, the absence of in your face views of the adults left them wanting and I am sure they are extremely grateful to Nicky who arranged a second trip to the nest a few days later free of charge, when they were then treated to unbeatable, prolonged views of these impressive birds at close range from their position in the canopy. On the ground around the nest a passing flock had us homing in on some of the Mindanao endemics we had come to the mountains for including most notably a stunning McGregor's Cuckoo-shrike, in addition to the more expected fare of Cinnamon Ibons, Black-and-cinnamon Fantails and Mountain White-eyes. With the morning distraction and changed plan for the eagle we headed out to Kitanglad a little later than expected, leaving little time for birding after our late afternoon arrival at Del Monte Lodge (sometimes referred to as Eagle Camp), although with our unforgettable experiences with the eagles in the morning there were few complaints. After dark we made our first foray for the many nightbirds in the area, and although proving a little more difficult than planned the Philippine Frogmouth eventually performed in exemplary fashion perching right over our heads, making up for missing it at PICOP the day before.
myna species.
Report and all photos by Sam Woods/Tropical Birding
19th March: Mount Kitanglad (MINDANAO) Montane forest.
Shortly after dawn we began the trek up the mountain towards the 'eagle watchpoint', around which many birds can be found, aside from the obvious, biggish raptor. When birding Kitanglad it is necessary to cover a number of elevations on the mountain, as some of the specialist species can only be found at either low or high altitudes on Kitanglad. So as we made our way up the mountain, along the gently rising track we passed through some cleared areas where cabbage fields, often packed with Eastern Yellow Wagtails, border the montane forest that harbors many of the most special species. On these lower sections we visited a number of bright red blooming trees that held some of the endemic nectarivores we were after - notably Flame-crowned Flowerpecker (a scarce bird that seems to be rarely encountered these days at our other possible site on the tour - Mount Polis); several Pygmy Flowerpeckers and the Mindanao endemics Gray-hooded Sunbird and Olive-capped Flowerpecker; in addition to a few of the more widespread Fire-breasted (Buff-bellied) Flowerpecker. As we made our way up the mountain we picked up our last possible Rhabdornis of the trip - with the high elevation Stripe-breasted Rhabdornis found perched on an open dead snag where it remained obligingly for five whole minutes. Our first (of many) Eye-browed Thrushes flew out from the open trees on the way up, giving their distinctly Redwing like calls as they flew out. The Philippines has a whole host of endemic tailorbirds with three species possible on Mindanao alone. Two of these are found in the lowland forests and were seen already at PICOP, although the third one, Rufous-headed Tailorbird, (a split from Mountain Tailorbird), is as suggested from its close congener's name, a high elevation species. They seemed to be calling from every available thicket of secondary scrub as we moved our way up the mountain, and a pair soon gave us good, close views, to complete the trio of possible endemic tailorbirds we were looking for on Mindanao. In one of the larger clearings we saw a distant adult Philippine Eagle circling higher up the mountain that made us ever more grateful for the incredible views we'd had the day before. It was necessary to trek up to some higher sections for a few species, notably for a mob of fantastic Apo Mynas, that are unlike any other myna in southeast Asia what with their weird Mohican hairstyles, formed by their unique crest of fine black filaments, and bold yellow patch of bare facial skin around the eye. Also up higher was a single White-cheeked Bullfinch, a brilliant Blue-capped Wood-Kingfisher (a big relief for Mark who had been unsighted for the bird at PICOP, a few days before); and a superb male APO Sunbird was found singing from an open perch deep within the forest at our highest point on the mountain. The latter always requires a bit of a hike to reach the elevations necessary for the species, so once this bird had been safely seen we turned around and headed back to the more navigable sections of the trail lower down, where all the other remaining species we were after could be found. Other species picked up included a few of the strangely named Mindanao or Black-masked White-eye in some feeding flocks quite far up the mountain. This species completely lacks the distinctive white eye-ring typical of the other white-eyes, that leads many to believe the species would be far better named simply Mindanao Ibon. Other notable birds included our first Short-tailed Starlings, Oriental Honey Buzzards and Black-shouldered Kite of the tour, a number of Island (Mountain Verditer) Flycatchers, and a few endemic Sulphur-billed Nuthatches in some of the feeding parties lower down on Kitanglad (an endemic 'form' of Velvet-fronted Nuthatch that has now been given full species status); and a brief sighting of the large Mindanao form of White-browed Shortwing.
20th March: Mount Kitanglad (MINDANAO) Montane forest.
For our last full day on the mountain we were to concentrate our efforts along the same mountain track, although focusing specifically on areas where we may pick up the few missing species we were now after. While settling in for breakfast before we started up the mountain again, (and a little untimely as some of us were at the time answering an urgent call of nature!), a Mindanao Scops-Owl began calling within spitting distance of the camp. With full light approaching fast I sent out the alert and the local guide Carlito and I headed into the bamboo stand, where within seconds it seemed Carlito had this tiny scops owl lined up in the beam for everyone present. The few people there got great views before I turned and realized some of the party were still missing so I dashed back up, picking up the missing persons and returned just in time as Carlito picked it up again on a different perch before it quickly fell silent with the onset of daylight. Things after that initial early morning thrill were a little slower than we'd hoped, with Mindanao Racquet-tails only heard once we were hidden from a clear view under the forest canopy, and try as we might we just simply could not coax in a Long-tailed Ground-Warbler, that was rapidly becoming a nemesis bird for us on the tour, as we'd heard it's distinctive song almost constantly at Polis at the start of the tour and were still waiting for even a glimpse of this notoriously shy skulker. However, we did see a fine juvenile Rufous-bellied Eagle, several Philippine Cuckoo-doves, more Colasisis, Coletos, Black-and-cinnamon Fantails, APO Mynas, Gray-hooded Sunbirds and Brown Tit-Babblers, although the migrant Mugimaki and Snowy-browed Flycatchers were both new additions.
21st March: Mount Kitanglad (MINDANAO) Montane forest.
For our final few hours on the mountain before we made our way out of Mindanao and back to Manila for our final leg of the tour, the group decided to split. Still smarting from the tales of close perched views of adult eagles, Don and Doris returned with Nicky to the eagle nest site nearby, while Richard, Mark and I made a final foray up the mountain for some of the species we were lacking. Two such species made a mockery of our previous efforts further afield on the mountain by appearing almost right in the camp. First up a Pechora Pipit was found feeding right on the trail, inches from the camp, and then just beyond that an almost rodent-like figure crossed the trail behind - it could only have been our nemesis bird! Some tactical pishing from Carlito worked unbelievably well as he persuaded the extremely shy Long-tailed Ground-Warbler to perch out for us really well, within a stone's throw of Del Monte Lodge. This was just one of those times when a final few hours on site paid off really well, and despite some heavy rain that had us sheltering for some time higher up the mountain, I let everyone know that a little rain was a good omen for the racquet-tails, that seem to revel in this weather and are much more frequently seen flying about during a bout of prolonged drizzle. After one of these bouts of heavy rain Richard and Mark spotted a large powerful pigeon flying in, that landed close by giving us fantastic prolonged views of a Metallic Pigeon, a species that is hard-to-come by on Kitanglad where they exist only at very low densities. As the heavy rain faded to drizzle we kept our ears open for the racquet-tails high-pitched calls, and after several teasing periods of hearing some of these distant parrots, we finally picked up a group of three calling Mindanao Racquet-tails as they sailed overhead. With another wave of rain coming in we headed back down the mountain, packed up our things, loaded the horses and made our way back to Damitan where we picked up our vans again for the drive to Cagayan de Oro. From there we met up once again met up with Don, Doris and Nicky, who were full of tales of dramatic close up views of 'on-the-deck' Philippine Eagles that had remained perched by the nest throughout the long bouts of heavy rain. We then boarded our so-called Cebu Pacific 'fun flight' (complete with the on board game that is typical of these domestic flights), and returned to Manila for a last night in the bustling Philippine capital before our final, Palawan leg of the tour.
Source:
http://www.tropicalbirding.com/tripReports/TR_Philippines2007/TR_Philippines2007.htm
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