Philippines Custom tour

Luzon, Mindoro & Mindanao

23rd February - 3rd March 2006

Leader: Rob Hutchinson

Participant: Keith Riding

Philippine Boobooks - Mt Makiling, Luzon (Rob Hutchinson/Birdtour Asia)

This short custom tour visiting Luzon, Mindoro and Mindanao was an extension to participant Keith Riding’s business trip and aimed to find some of the more difficult species missed on a previous month-long birding trip to the archipelago.

On our first day we arrived at Mount Makiling, Luzon mid afternoon and after checking into our Lodge close to the forest edge headed immediately for some casual birding in the nearby Botanical Gardens. Here we were soon enjoying our first endemics; Red-keeled Flowerpeckers were much in evidence and we picked out a single Striped among them, Lemon-throated Leaf Warbler, Stripe-headed Rhabdornis, Balicassio, Guaiabero, Colasisi, Coleto and Red-crested Malkoha all performed. Back at our Lodge, Philippine Falconets entertained in a nearby dead tree, and then as dusk fell we were treated to a chorus of Spotted Wood-Kingfishers and philippensis Philippine Boobooks and although both remained elusive at this time, later in the evening a pair of Boobooks gave fantastic views as they growled down from overhead branches.

An early start the next morning saw us in prime position along the summit track at dawn where once again Wood-Kingfishers and Boobooks were vocal and one of the later again obliged with good close views.
Moving on slowly as dawn broke we soon picked up a movement ahead in the form of a Red-bellied Pitta feeding in full view on the track. Things were to get even better however when subtle movements close to the Pitta drew our attention and in the half-light we picked out an Ashy Thrush sat quietly in the leaf litter. The bird soon began to feed and we were treated to a 10 minute telescope view as the Thrush and Pitta fed side-by-side on the track in quickly improving light. With one of the Philippines most shy and elusive endemics, and our primary target at the site, under our belts the remainder of the morning was spent at various spots along the trail picking up some of our other targets including Luzon Hornbill, Handsome Sunbird, Pygmy Flowerpecker and Philippine Drongo Cuckoo, while other endemics seen included more Red-crested Malkohas, Philippine Coucal, Island Swiftlet, Black & White Triller, White-browed Shama, Blue-headed Fantail, Elegant Tit and a small group of Yellowish White-eyes.
The afternoon was spent in relaxed fashion close to our Lodge but produce good birds; Naked-faced Spiderhunter, Philippine Pygmy Woodpecker, noisy groups of Bar-bellied Cuckoo-shrikes, single Striped and Pygmy Flowerpeckers, the only Lowland White-eyes of the trip and several Purple Needletails giving superb high-speed Fly-bys.
As dusk approached it was time again for the Spotted Wood-Kingfishers to become active and this time we were more fortunate with a fine male giving splendid views on the forest edge. In the evening one of several pairs of calling Philippine Boobooks again gave great views close to our Lodge.
A final morning on the mountain produced further views of several birds from the previous day including Pygmy Flowerpecker but new birds seen included Flaming Sunbirds glowing in the tree-tops, Philippine Hawk-Cuckoo and great views of a male Philippine Trogon posing nearby. In the late afternoon we returned to Manila in preparation for our trip to the island of Mindoro.

Mindoro Boobook - Sablayan Penal Colony, Mindoro (Rob Hutchinson/Birdtour Asia)

Early the following morning we took a flight to San Jose and Mindoro’s west coast and after buying supplies for our stay and accompanied by Oriental Pratincoles hawking the roadside fields, we were soon on our way northwards to Sablayan Penal Colony where some good lowland forest still remains close to Siburan Sub Prison.
The participants’ previous tour had not previously visited Mindoro so having been made very welcome by the prison authorities and allocated 2 inmates as guides we were keen to begin our exploration. This proved worthwhile and the endemics soon started to appear with our first foray producing good views of the endemic Scarlet-collared Flowerpecker, inquisitive Mindoro Hornbills and the distinctive mindorensis Philippine Coucal – a likely future split.
After a short rest a late afternoon wander along the forest edge produced further views of ‘Mindoro’ Coucals and Mindoro Hornbills together with noisy Blue-naped Parrots and a surprise Eastern Marsh Harrier – a widespread Asian species on our list of ‘target-birds’.
As dusk fell we positioned ourselves on the forest edge and were soon enjoying excellent views of a pair of Mindoro Boobooks screeching above our heads. Later in the evening another pair of Boobooks showed in a different spot but more surprising was a calling Chocolate Boobook which came in to our recordings – this recently split species extends only marginally beyond the Philippines to the Indonesian Island of Talaud and appears to be seen only rarely away from Mindanao.
The following morning we were greeted by a hawking Great Eared-Nightjar over the accommodation before we were on our way into the forest again. Trekking into the forest again produced views of ‘Mindoro’ Coucals and Mindoro Hornbill while new species included fine views of Pink-bellied Imperial Pigeon, Blue-crowned Racquet-tail, White-eared Brown-Dove, singing Mangrove Blue Flycatchers and the distinctive axillaries race of Pompadour Green-Pigeon – another potential split. It was not until we reached good, untouched forest however that we began to hear the distinctive calls of the endemic Black-hooded Coucal and eventually managed good brief views of this elusive species. It was while searching for the coucals that we heard the distinctive vocalizations of the Mindoro Boobook and we were soon enjoying fantastic views of a pair of these brilliant Owls in broad daylight!
With all possible endemics seen bar the rare and elusive Mindoro Bleeding-heart we were very happy with our success here as we departed once again for San Jose stopping en-route at Lake Labuao where Purple Heron, Common Moorhen and White-browed Crake were all added to our trip-list.

After a relaxing evening at a beach resort close to San Jose we took an early morning flight back to Manila and connected with our onward flight to Davao City on Mindanao. Not wishing to waste any time we headed straight for Baracatan on the slopes of Mount Taloma in the Apo range. Here our late afternoon birding produced some interesting birds with good numbers of wintering Eye-browed Thrushes, Stripe-breasted Rhabdornis, Tawny Grassbird, Short-tailed Starling, Philippine Falconet and excellent views of a perched immature Rufous-bellied Eagle.

Philippine Eagle - Mt Kabul, Mindanao (Rob Hutchinson/Birdtour Asia)

The following morning we departed early for our long awaited visit to Mount Kabul, near Barangay Salaysay, a known breeding site for the Philippine national bird – the Philippine (Monkey-eating) Eagle. Despite much effort Keith had been unfortunate enough to miss the Eagle during his previous visit so this was arguably the most-wanted species on this trip…
Thanks to the skill of our motorbike drivers we were delivered safely to our designated spot after an exciting (?), white-knuckle ride along rough tracks into the mountains, which produced the only Plain Bush-hen of the tour crossing the trail. Here although we didn’t find any evidence of breeding this year we enjoyed fantastic views of a pair of Philippine Eagles soaring majestically over the adjacent valley, undoubtedly one of the most memorably sightings of the whole tour.
Several Philippine Serpent Eagles shared the thermals and a single Philippine Falconet hunted from favored perches close to our lookout. Nearby secondary growth surprised with a singing Cryptic Flycatcher giving good but all-to-brief views. During the day we also saw Rufous-headed Tailorbird, Tawny Grassbird, Brown Tit-Babbler, Mountain White-eye and Philippine Pygmy Flowerpecker.

The following day was again spent on the forested slopes at Baracatan and while the difficult Whiskered Flowerpecker couldn’t be found we were delighted to find a pair of our other target bird - the rare Mindanao Lorikeet, a species very rarely seen on the usual Mindanao birding circuit. Other endemics flowed during the day; Yellow-breasted Fruit-Dove, Black & Cinnamon Fantail, Stripe-breasted Rhabdornis, Brown Tit-Babbler, Yellow-bellied Whistler, Naked-faced Spiderhunter, Mountain White-eye, Fire-breasted, Buzzing, Bicoloured & Olive-capped Flowerpeckers, Short-tailed Starling, Philippine Leaf Warbler and Cinnamon Ibon. Both Philippine and Purple Needletails gave great views among a large congregation of Philippine Swiftlets in the afternoon before a torrential rainstorm bought a premature end to the days birding.

Our final morning was spent in slightly lower elevation forest close to the Philippine Eagle Breeding Centre at Malagos. This produced some interesting birds; Black-headed Tailorbird, Grey-hooded Tailorbird, Black-faced Coucal and Yellow-wattled Bulbul were new for the trip but the highlights were excellent views of tape-responsive Streaked Ground-Babbler and Rufous-lored Kingfisher. Finally great views of a stunning Silvery Kingfisher on a small pond nearby provided a fitting finale to a very enjoyable and successful tour.

This tour was focused on a short-list of key species missed during a previous visit and we were very successful recording among others – Ashy Thrush, Mindanao Lorikeet and Philippine Eagle, among the Philippines most threatened and difficult to see endemics, while our trip to Mindoro recorded all of our expected target species. During the tour we recorded a total of 144 species including 66 endemics, 3 near endemics (Coleto and Chocolate Boobook) and a further 16 heard only.

Click here to view the Systematic Bird List

Click here to download the report as a pdf

For further information on Custom Tours to the Philippines please contact us via info@birdtourasia.com or follow the links for our scheduled departure tours, please click here