Philippines and Borneo

14th - 30th March 2008

Leader: Frank Rheindt

Participants: Daan Sandee and Noel Mann

This highly successful tour was designed for a couple who wanted to take in the avian highlights of the lowlands of the Philippines and Borneo at a more leisurely pace while avoiding strenuous hikes. Our two guests for this tour placed a special emphasis on good scope views at the birds, which meant an increased time investment for some of the more difficult species, but in the end we succeeded in obtaining great looks at some of the most spectacular and skulking representatives of the Philippine and Bornean avifauna. We recorded a total of 292 species including 16 heard only.

The tour commenced in the early morning of the first day, when we started out from our Manila hotel heading to Los Baños at the foot of Mt Makiling, which would make our base for the following three nights. The upper parts of town constitute the richly-shaded campus of the University of the Philippines, which gradually shifts into tropical forest as one distances oneself from town. In the morning of this first day, we made a brief foray into the forest, where we had our first encounters with woodland birds such as White-eared Brown Dove, Philippine Pygmy Woodpecker and busy flocks of Stripe-headed Rhabdornis, a true Philippine specialty. The rest of the day we mainly stayed around campus looking for birds in the excellent secondary habitat, and indeed it did not take long to come across scope views of such delightful (near-) endemics as Indigo-banded Kingfisher, Barred Rail and Lowland White-eye along the stream. The wetlands around our hotel added Whiskered Tern to our quickly-growing list. In the evening, a search of open grassland provided long scope views of Spotted Buttonquail and briefer ones of Barred Buttonquail, both only within meters of each other. Throughout this first day, we also picked up our first Striated Grassbirds, Zitting Cisticolas, Philippine Coucals, Great Eared Nightjars, Glossy Swiftlets, House Swifts, Asian Palm Swifts, White-throated Kingfishers, Coppersmith Barbets, Barn and Pacific Swallows, Striated Swallows, Large-billed Crows, Yellow-vented Bulbuls, Long-tailed and Brown Shrikes, Asian Glossy Starling, Grey-throated Sunbirds, Purple-throated and Olive-backed Sunbirds, Scaly-breasted Munia, Tree Sparrow and even a Red-crested Malkoha in degraded bush habitat far from its favored forest haunts.

The next two days, we concentrated on the forest around the lower parts of Mt Makiling. The humid cloudy weather was not conducive to bird activity, but after some time investment and proper searching, we eventually did manage to find a good proportion of the forest specialists we were after. Highlights were scope views of perched Spotted Wood Kingfishers, Luzon Tarictic Hornbill and Luzon Boobook, as well as several good views of the shy Scale-feathered Malkoha. Unfortunately, not everyone got onto the Forest Wagtails seen on two occasions along the track, but everyone did have excellent scope views of canopy-flitting Bar-bellied Cuckooshrikes and migrating flocks of Ashy Minivet. After repeated trials, we finally succeeded in attracting both White-browed Shama and Gray-backed Tailorbird to approach us closely, with good views for most of us. On the cuckoo front, Rusty-breasted and Philippine Hawk Cuckoo were seen, while raptors were represented by Philippine Serpent Eagle and a good number of Grey-faced Buzzards on migration. After a number of fly-by’s, a group of perched Colasisis was a welcome distraction. Other species seen on these two days, some of which were encountered again later during the trip, were Purple Needletail, Balicassiao, Philippine and the shy Yellow-wattled Bulbul in the scope, Lemon-throated Leaf Warbler, Elegant Tit, Grey-streaked Flycatcher, Flaming and Handsome Sunbirds, Yellowish White-eye, Grey Wagtail as well as five species of flowerpecker (Striped, Bicolored, Buzzing, Red-keeled and Orange-bellied), four of which granted prolonged scope views.

On the morning of the fourth day, it was time to leave Mt Makiling and head back to Manila. A swift plane ride later, we landed on Mindanao, where we were picked up for a pleasant jeep ride to Bislig, seat of the PICOP paper concession and some of the last remaining fragments of lowland forest on the island. Most of this ride was through converted palm plantations and yielded only common birds, such as Spotted Dove and Collared Kingfisher, but we did pick up some endemism in the form of a beautiful pair of Coleto.

The next four days were spent driving around PICOP concession targeting the last forest remnants in search of some of the most endangered bird species of Asia. Much time was spent in one particularly promising forest patch near a quarry where we picked up a good number of forest-interior birds difficult to see in the logged forest outside. This is where we had close encounters and good looks at such skulkers as the elusive Little Slaty Flycatcher and the narrowly range-restricted Black-headed Tailorbird. The endemic Steere’s Pitta came in closely and perched for the scope for more than 10 minutes, while we also enjoyed prolonged looks (including scope views) at three adults and one juvenile of the even shier Red-bellied Pitta.

The absolute highlight of our PICOP leg and in fact (for some of us) of the entire trip was a Mindanao Bleeding-heart on the trail in the quarry fragment. This species is seen but sporadically in PICOP and even less elsewhere in Mindanao. We briefly spotted it on the trail disappearing into the undergrowth. Initially disappointed for some of us to miss the bird, we played a recording of its vocalisation, but based on previous experience with the unresponsiveness of this species in Samar, we had little hope of seeing it re-emerge onto the path. We were all the more thrilled to see the figure of this giant pigeon make its way out of the undergrowth and perch exposed right in the middle of the path for a good 7 seconds before slowly disappearing again.

In the forest interior, we picked up a number of mixed flocks containing Rusty-crowned and Pygmy Babbler, Brown Tit Babbler, Black-naped Monarch, Yellowish Bulbul, Yellow-bellied Whistler, Blue Fantail, Metallic-winged Sunbird, Rufous Paradise Flycatcher, Rufous-tailed Jungle Flycatcher, Mindanao Drongo, Rufous-fronted Tailorbird and – best of all – Short crested Monarch in the scope. Unfortunately, not all of us got onto the rare Philippine Dwarf Kingfisher that briefly perched along the trailside before flying off into the forest. Equally, only some of us succeeded in obtaining views of the elusive Streaked Ground-Babbler that came in closely to tape but skillfully remained out of sight most of the time.

Outside in the clearings, we had good treetop activity in the form of Black-bibbed Cuckooshrike, Philippine Leafbird, Naked-faced Spiderhunter, Scarlet Minivet, Philippine and Black-naped Oriole, Guaiabero, Plaintive, Violet and Philippine Drongo Cuckoo, several Philippine Falconets, Crested Goshawk, Barred Honey Buzzard, Pink-bellied Imperial Pigeon, Whiskered Treeswift, a superb Rufous-lored Kingfisher, berry-picking Black-chinned and Yellow-breasted Fruit Doves, Philippine Green Pigeon, White-bellied Woodpecker and Mindanao Flameback, all of which were seen sitting perched through the scope. Excellent views were also had of all three hornbills (Rufous, Writhed and Mindanao Tarictic) as well as Philippine Trogon, Philippine Needletail, Island and Pygmy Swiftlet, Silvery Kingfisher and Olive-backed Flowerpecker, while on the nocturnal front Philippine Frogmouth and Philippine Nightjar were seen well.

An excursion to a local wetland yielded close encounters with Black and Yellow Bitterns, a few Philippine Ducks and infinitely more Wandering Whistling-Ducks, a number of confiding White-browed Crakes, our first Purple Herons, Great, Cattle and Little Egrets, Brahminy Kite, Osprey, Pied Bushchat, Bright-capped Cisticola, Black-headed Munia and about 2000 Eastern Yellow Wagtails roosting in the high grasses. The nearby seashore was frequented by sparse wader flocks including Kentish and Lesser Sand Plover, Common Greenshank and Rufous-necked Stint. Some of the more widespread species first encountered in PICOP, all of which were seen again later during the trip, include Emerald Dove, White-breasted Woodswallow and Little Spiderhunter.

After these four successful days in PICOP, we packed our bags and continued to Davao, from where a bonanza of three consecutive plane rides via Manila and Kota Kinabalu would take us to Sandakan at the north-eastern tip of Borneo. Our next destination, Sepilok, is famous for its Orang-Utan research station but also boasts some nice secondary forest that we were going to visit for a day and a morning in search of Borneo’s stunning avifauna. From our base at the pleasant Sepilok Forest Edge Resort (where the endemic Dusky Munia was common), we made a series of sorties into the surrounding forest tracts and picked up our first specialties in the form of the endemic Yellow-rumped Flowerpecker, Bornean Black Magpie and a group of Black Hornbills. Best of all was a bold Blue-headed Pitta that approached us closely on the trail. Babblers were represented by the shy ground-living Black-capped Babbler, as well as Rufous-fronted and Chestnut-winged Babbler and two tit-babblers (the recently split endemic Bold-striped and the charismatic Fluffy-backed).

Here at Sepilok, we also picked up our first White-bellied Sea Eagles, Crested Serpent Eagles, White-breasted Waterhen, Common Sandpiper, Green Imperial Pigeon, Blue-crowned Hanging Parrots, Long-tailed Parakeets, Asian Drongo-Cuckoo, Raffles’s, Red-billed and Chestnut-breasted Malkohas, Greater Coucal, Blue-throated Bee-eater, Gray-capped, Buff-rumped, Banded and Great Slaty Woodpeckers, Black-and-red, Banded and Black-and-yellow Broadbills, Black-winged Flycatcher-Shrike, Greater and Lesser Green Leafbirds, Olive-winged, Cream-vented, Red-eyed, Spectacled and Buff-vented Bulbuls, Green Iora, Greater Racket-tailed Drongo, Dark-throated Oriole, Brown Fulvetta, the unique Erpornis, Oriental Magpie Robin, Dark-necked, Ashy and Rufous-tailed Tailorbirds, Verditer Flycatcher, Pied Fantail, Crested Myna, Crimson, Ruby-cheeked, Red-throated and Purple-naped Sunbirds as well as Thick-billed and Yellow-eared Spiderhunters.

The time came to move on to Kinabatangan River, which has become famous amongst birdwatchers from all over the world for its river cruises that allow a close approach to some of the most enigmatic birds in South-east Asia. After settling into the cozy Kinabatangan Jungle Camp, we set out on a series of boat trips. The primary target, Bornean Ground Cuckoo, is an elusive skulker that was off the regular birdwatching map until a few years ago. We lucked out on the second day, when we finally enjoyed great looks at this bird after having tried to see it for three hours. Everyone agreed that the long wait and the hard efforts were fully worth it. Besides the ground-cuckoo, birds of note included the occasional Storm’s Stork, a single Lesser Adjutant, a few Lesser Fish Eagles and Wallace’s Hawk Eagles, a vocal White-chested Babbler, great views of a second Blue-headed Pitta, as well as a single Hooded Pitta that some of us glimpsed from the boat. Birds, however, were not the only highlight of these boat cruises, and we also ended up with a primate tally of two male Orang-utans, a number of Proboscis Monkeys and numerous Long-tailed Macaques.

An hour-long land-based sortie along the Jungle Camp’s trail system was too brief to produce a long list of specialties, but did yield our trip’s only Black-throated Babblers, as well as the shy forest-dwelling Yellow-bellied Bulbul. Apart from these highlights, the Kinabatangan river cruises provided plenty of opportunities to view more widespread bird species that we had not seen before on this trip, such as Oriental Darter, Intermediate Egret, Striated Heron, Black-shouldered Kite, Pink-necked Green Pigeon, Black-bellied Malkoha, Scarlet-rumped Trogon, Dollarbird, Blue-eared and Stork-billed Kingfishers, Oriental Pied, Wrinkled and Rhinoceros Hornbills, Blue-eared Barbet, Maroon Woodpecker, Fiery Minivet, Black-headed Bulbul, White-crowned Shama, Asian Paradise Flycatcher and Hill Myna.

Our final destination of this trip was one of the last remaining areas of primary forest and wilderness in Malaysian Borneo around Danum Valley. We stayed at the famous Danum Valley Field Centre, which usually caters for scientists and has been the setting of some ground-breaking research in tropical biology and climatology, but which graciously made an exception in accommodating us birdwatchers. As expected, the previous couple of weeks had been quite rewarding but at the same time exhausting for our guests, so that we refrained from long forest walks at Danum and instead concentrated on the forest immediately surrounding the Field Centre. Despite this limited mobility, we still managed to find some amazing birds that had eluded us at previous sites on this trip.

The best feature about Danum’s avifauna is its diversity. Rich mixed flocks contained a plethora of babblers (Sooty-capped, Scaly-crowned, Rufous-crowned, Ferruginous, Abbott’s, Grey-headed, Chestnut-rumped and Moustached Babbler as well as Chestnut-backed Scimitar Babbler). A long stalk attack on a Black-crowned Pitta finally ended with positive views of it. Scope views of a perched dwarf-kingfisher revealed its hybrid identity intermediate between Rufous-backed and Black-backed. Indeed, the two “species” broadly intergrade here in Borneo and behave like a single species. A quick stint to the river bank by the Field Centre rewarded us with Malaysian Blue Flycatcher and the rare Straw-headed Bulbul. Other notable forest-interior species included Diard’s Trogon, Rufous Piculet, Buff-necked Woodpecker, Lesser Cuckooshrike, Rufous-winged Philentoma, Large-billed Blue-Flycatcher, Hairy-backed, Grey-bellied and Grey-cheeked Bulbuls, Chestnut-naped and White-crowned Forktail, Rufous-tailed Shama, Grey-headed Canary Flycatcher and Spotted Fantail.

Birding at the forest edge yielded perched views of Bushy-crested Hornbill, Malaysian Bronze Cuckoo, Brown Barbet, Crimson-winged, Grey-and-buff and Orange-backed Woodpeckers, Dusky Broadbill, Puff-backed Bulbul, Asian Fairy-Bluebird, Bronzed Drongo, Slender-billed Crow, Arctic Warbler, Plain Sunbird, Yellow-breasted Flowerpecker, Rufous-bellied Eagle and White-fronted Falconet. Buffy Fish Owl was seen at night near the lodge and flushed in daylight in the forest. Other notable additions to the trip list included Silver-rumped and Brown-backed Needletail, Grey-rumped Treeswift, Yellow-bellied Prinia as well as Spectacled and Grey-breasted Spiderhunters.

Days flew by much too fast in Danum, so it was soon time to pack our bags again and bid farewell to this fantastic birdwatching site. An early-morning jeep ride took us to Lahad Datu (Leopard Cat en route). At Lahad Datu Airport, Paddyfield Pipit was the last Bornean addition to our trip list. After a flight to Kota Kinabalu and then to the Philippines, this great trip came to an end at Clark Airport in Manila, accompanied by the song flight of the Philippine race of Oriental Skylark, our last bird of this tour.

Click here to view the Systematic Bird List

Click here to download the report as a pdf

For further information on our tours to Philippines and Borneo please contact us via e-mail or follow the links for our scheduled departure tours, please click here.