Surfbirds Birding Trip Report: Philippines: Negros and Panay (+Palawan and Mindanao), February 2007

A report is available for Negros, Panay and other islands in the Philippines from the Oriental Bird Club (http://www.orientalbirdclub.org/sales/tripreports.html) but I didn’t find it before my trip, and thought it would be worth doing another report as an update, and in case it reaches different people. The OBC report costs a bit, but I imagine it would be a lot more detailed.

Many thanks to Ferit of Biocon in Pandan for helping me fix up guides and porters to visit the sites around Pandan, and even escorting me to the mayor’s office, and to Ferit and his wife Judy for putting me up in their house by the beach in Pandan for several nights.

I have also included some updates on a couple of sites I visited quickly in Palawan (St. Paul’s NP) and Mindanao (PICOP concession).

North-west Panay Peninsula, 1-3 February 2007

I visited this site to try for the Negros Bleeding-heart, which was discovered on the peninsula a few years ago. Another organization (I’m not sure if it is government or non-government) operates a research station on the peninsula at a place called Sibaliw, but I was told they probably would not allow in tourists, and I did not waste time asking. Instead, I visited an area near the town of Melompati, with a youngish local guide called Panoy who lives there. Melompati is a mineral springs a few kilometres from Pandan town.

A local English-speaking guide called Ronald, who lives in Pandan and used to work for Biocon, helped me to fix up the trip. The north-west peninsula is a new national park (at least it has been signed by the President, although I heard that some members of Congress are reluctant to approve the designation). So you need to pay an entry fee to visit the area. Contact BioCon at biocon_inc@yahoo.com.ph to find out more about arranging a guide as well as the entry fees.

I also had to ask permission from the Mayor in Pandan before visiting this site. He was nice and happy to give me access.

I paid Ronald and Panoy each 2,000 pesos for five days (400 pesos each per day) and a porter 1,000 (200 pesos per day). In the end, I only used three of the days that I had paid for because the site was so dead.

This is limestone country with no surface water. Water has to be carried up from the village. I have heard from a few people that the bleeding-heart requires drinking water; if so, then the particular area I visited is unsuitable.

The first night we camped in a clearing with coconut palms at about 270m. The next night we camped in the forest at about 325m. We didn’t see a single bird on the morning of 3 February 2007, spent in the forest, so I decided to leave. I may have heard a distant bleeding-heart from the clearing, but am not sure. Panoy found and disarmed two snare traps in the forest.

Birds and animals: Philippine Serpent-eagle (1), Emerald Dove (1 roosting at night), Philippine Hanging-Parrot (frequently heard), Philippine Coucal (frequently heard), Philippine Hawk-Owl (frequently heard), Philippine Frogmouth (one heard), Tarictic Hornbill (frequently heard), Coppersmith Barbet (frequently heard), Philippine Bulbul (30… abundant in the clearing), Philippine Tailorbird (1 and many heard), Blue-headed Fantail (3), Elegant Tit (2), Balicassiao (about 5), Crimson Sunbird (about 5), Long-tailed Macaque (1), Fruit-bat sp. (1), many tracks of Warty Pig (according to Panoy), Flying Lizard (1), Rough-backed Forest-frog (1).

South Pandan, 4-7 February 2007

This is the northern end of the mountains that run along the western coast of Panay, and is one of the remaining good sites for the Writhe-billed Hornbill. I heard there is an even better area in the foothills of Mount Maja-as, but I could not get a permit (see next entry). Ronald also helped me fix up this visit and came along. He got in touch with local guide Junior, who lives along the main road a few kilometres south of Pandan, from where we hiked in. There is no entry fee, since this area is not protected. It is also within Pandan municipality, so my permission from the Pandan mayor was also good for this site.

Getting to the forest involves a hike of roughly five hours. You ascend gradually along a river for a long way, and then more steeply to a ridgetop with wonderful views at 600m. Then you descend to a village at 450m that Junior said was abandoned, but at the time of our visit was full of people harvesting “palm fruit” (betel nuts?). Then you leave the main trail (which apparently goes a lot further to a remote village) and go up and down four steep hills through beautiful, tall forest on a rudimentary trail.

Birds were surprisingly thin on the ground at this site, although it wasn’t quite as bad as north-west Panay. I heard that, since this is the only remaining area of forest in the area, many surrounding villages all use it for hunting.

Birds: Philippine Serpent-Eagle (several heard), Amethyst Dove (1 heard) Blue-crowned Racquet-tail (1), Philippine Hawk-owl (heard), Pygmy Swiftlet (3), Tarictic Hornbill (1 plus several heard), Writhe-billed Hornbill (2 plus several heard… it sounds like a sheep!), Greater Flameback (heard), Bar-bellied Cuckoo-shrike (about 10), Philippine Bulbul (1 plus several heard), Balicassiao (1 plus several heard), Philippine Tailorbird (several heard), Blue-headed Fantail (1), Rufous Paradise-Flycatcher (1), Black-naped Monarch (frequently heard), Gray Wagtail (1), Bicolored Flowerpecker (almost certainly 1 male), Red-keeled Flowerpecker (1).

Mount Maja-as

Ferit and Ronald tried to help me fix up a visit to this site. They said that the lower slopes of the mountain have the best forest remaining on Panay, and the best populations of hornbills. Panay Striped-babbler occurs higher up the mountain. Ronald and I went to a town called Culasi, an hour or so south of Pandan, to try to fix up permits with the local environment agency. They asked us to get a permit from the mayor. The mayor was out, so his staff directed us to the deputy mayor. He was out for the morning, so we went to a nearby village called Alohipan on the slopes of the mountain to try to arrange guides and porter… the capitan wasn’t in, so we left a message. On returning, the deputy-mayor’s staff said that we needed to get a permit first from the regional disaster management agency in San Jose (a couple of hours further down the road). This visit was becoming a time-consuming and very uncertain prospet, so I decided not to pursue it further. I heard that a couple of hikers were killed a few years ago after they became lost on Mount Maja-as, which probably accounts for everyone’s reluctance to give out permits nowadays.

Note: I think authors of the OBC report successfully visited this site. Maybe the local authorities will have sorted out the bureaucratic problems I encountered by the time you visit.

Canaway Forest, Negros, 10-11 February 2007

I visited this site with Rene Vendiola, a birding guide based in Dumaguete. Rene’s telephone number is currently (+63 9193 962633). Canaway Forest is a little tougher to get to than Mount Talinis, and Negros Striped-babbler is not as common at the Canaway Forest, but the Forest has more birds in general, and according to Rene is the only place in southern Negros to see White-winged Cuckoo-shrike and some other hill forest birds.

To get there, we took an early morning motorcycle ride about 50km southwest around the coast to the town of Siaton, where we met with the police and stocked up. Then we rode about an hour up into the hills to a village where Rene has a smallholding. The forest is a couple of hours walk from here. We camped by the side of a torrent at 900m. From here, Rene had cut a trail going up to 1100m.

It was a nice change from the sites I had visited on Panay, with plenty of bird activity, including pigeons and doves. Rene did find a couple of snare traps, though.

Birds (forest and fields): Philippine Serpent-Eagle (1 plus frequently heard), Brahminy Kite (1), Red Junglefowl (one heard that Rene thought was wild), Barred Buttonquail (one female on the drive up to Canaway), White-eared Dove (about 5, and several heard), Yellow-breasted Fruit-dove (3 and several heard), Pink-bellied Imperial-pigeon (heard), Philippine Cuckoo-dove (1 and frequently heard), Blue-crowned Racquet-tail (frequently heard), Philippine Hawk-cuckoo (frequently heard), Plaintive Cuckoo (one heard), Pygmy Swiftlet (common), Glossy Swiftlet (common), Dollarbird (3), Blue-tailed Bee-eater (5), Tarictic Hornbill (1 plus frequently heard), Coppersmith Barbet (frequently heard), Greater Flameback (frequently heard), Barn Swallow (common), White-winged Cuckoo-shrike (1 female, and many heard), Philippine Bulbul (about 5, and many heard), Pied Bushchat (4), Philippine Leaf-Warbler (1), Lemon-throated Warbler (1), Mountain Leaf-Warbler (1), Philippine Tailorbird (frequently heard), Citrine Canary-Flycatcher (1), Blue-headed Fantail (3), White-vented Whistler (1), Paddyfield Pipit (2), Long-tailed Shrike (3), Coleto (about 15), Orange-bellied Flowerpecker (2), Olive-backed Sunbird (3), Crimson Sunbird (2), Mountain White-eye (about 5).

Rene also heard Spotted Wood-Kingfisher and Negros Jungle-Flycatcher along the stream, flushed a Philippine Nightjar and saw an Ashy-breasted Flycatcher further up the mountain. He heard a Negros Striped-babbler in a mixed flock at the top end of the trail but we couldn’t find it.

Bayan, 12 February 2007

Rene knows a site for Negros Bleeding-heart near the town of Bayan, about 125 km west around the coast of Negros from Dumaguete, near the border between Negros Occidental and Oriental. I had to hire a car for the day, which cost 2,500 pesos.

We had to ask permission from the local capitan to visit the area, and had to hire a local guide.

Interestingly, this area consists of scrubby woodland patches on limestone, similar to the habitat where I was taken to see the bleeding-heart on Panay. In fact, there were no other forest birds at the site where we eventually ended up hearing a couple of bleeding-hearts, although there were plenty of open-country birds (like Spotted and Zebra Doves and Blue-throated Bee-eaters), which was not the case in any of the open country I visited on Panay. Unfortunately, the bleeding-hearts we found were shy and we made too much noise. My tape recorder also chose that moment to pack it in. So we didn’t see them. Rene pointed out the call; I didn’t know it myself. It sounded a lot like a Yellow-breasted Fruit-dove, but consisting of only two notes, an emphatic note followed by a softer note at a lower pitch.

Mount Talinis, 13 February 2007

The forest on Mount Talinis is accessed from the town of Valencia, where Rene lives. Although he seems to be some way from the forest, a pair of Spotted Wood-Kingfisher moved into his garden after he started composting for earthworms. To get to the forest, we took a motorcycle ride up a terrible road, then walked uphill from 670m to 1250m. The striped-babbler seems common at this altitude, although it lives in the canopy and can be hard to see. Rene said there is more hunting here than in the Canaway Forest, so birds like White-winged Cuckoo-shrike no longer occur.

Birds: Brush/Rusty-breasted Cuckoo (1) (I am checking ID), Blue-tailed Bee-eater (1), Barn Swallow (about 10), Blue Rock-Thrush (1), Oriental Magpie-Robin (1), Pied Bushchat (3), Brown Shrike (2), Mountain White-eye (about 15), Fire-breasted Flowerpecker (1 male), Negros Striped-Babbler (about 5).

Casa Rora Waterfall, 14 February 2007

This waterfall is roughly half an hour by motorcycle from Dumaguete. There is a small entrance fee. The entrance to the waterfall is at about 520m, and you walk down many steps to the base of the waterfall at about 450m. The Flame-templed Babbler occurs in the bushes and trees on the lower slopes near the waterfall. Rene said it is invariably in flocks with the more conspicuous Blue-headed Fantail. He has been here about 30 times and only missed the babbler once. Our flock also contained a pair of Negros Jungle-flycatcher. One of the pair almost entirely lacked the brown breast band. Perhaps this could explain some records of Chestnut-tailed Jungle-flycatcher on Negros and Panay? Rene has seen the jungle-flycatcher here only three times, but says this species is restricted to the edge of good-sized streams and rivers.

Birds: Glossy Swiftlet (common), Barn Swallow (about 10), Philippine Bulbul (about 5), Flame-templed Babbler (2), Philippine Tailorbird (frequently heard), Negros Jungle-Flycatcher (2), Blue-headed Fantail (1), Gray Wagtail (1), Crimson Sunbird (1).

St Paul’s National Park, Palawan, 16-18 February 2007

A few new lodges seem to be popping up in this beautiful park. I ran into another birder here called Mikael de Boer, who was staying at the Taraw lodge. This seemed to have good food and was reasonably close to the start of the trails. Mikael gave me a lot of information on his sightings – thanks! Both the Monkey and Jungle trails were open during my visit. The tame Palawan Peacock-Pheasant is still greeting people who disembark at the ranger station by the river entrance (although I walked there myself since I hadn’t brought enough money for the boat). I saw many of the Palawan endemics and specialities in just two days, including Blue-naped Parrot, Blue-headed Racquet-tail and Palawan Hornbill (the last two in a fruiting tree in the karst area as you descend to the river entrance), Hooded Pitta (3), Yellow-throated Leafbird (quite common), Sulphur-bellied Bulbul (3), Palawan Tit (2), Ashy-headed Babbler (common), Falcated Wren-babbler, White-vented Shama (common), Palawan Blue-flycatcher, Blue Paradise-Flycatcher (1 and frequently heard), Lovely Sunbird, Palawan Flowerpecker.

PICOP concession, Mindanao, 20-24 February 2007

Zardo Goring is based in Bislig city, on the coast of eastern Mindanao, and is still available to guide visitors to this site. You should contact him in advance at zardogoring@yahoo.com, since he sometimes has work commitments and is not available at short notice. I recommend asking Zardo to arrange a minivan to meet you at Davao airport. It cost me 4.000 pesos for the ride back to Davao, but it is a long trip and the price is well worth it. I got a taxi on arrival in Davao, but the driver didn’t know the way, and we ended up getting stranded on a country road at 3am after getting our second flat tyre.

I was happy that I decided to spend 5 days here, even though it meant I couldn’t visit Mount Kitanglad, because we kept seeing fantastic new birds every day. There is some excellent forest with wide, flat trails running through it, but Zardo has to drive further and further from Bislig find it these days. Most of the older site information is out of date, but Zardo has found new areas for most of the specialities.

Some of the less common birds we saw included Blue-breasted Quail, Australasian Grass-Owl, Philippine Hawk-Owl, Philippine Frogmouth (poor views of a calling bird), Philippine Nightjar, Philippine Trogon, Silvery, Rufous-lored and Blue-capped Kingfishers, Rufous, Writhed and Mindanao Hornbills, Sooty Woodpecker, Wattled Broadbill (one popped up in a huge mixed flock), Azure-breasted Pitta (3), Philippine Leafbird (normally hit and miss according to Zardo, but we saw several), Philippine Fairy-Bluebird (now very scarce here according to Zardo), Streaked Ground-Babbler, Rusty-crowned Babbler, Chestnut-tailed Jungle-Flycatcher, Little Slaty Flycatcher, Blue Fantail, Celestial (one pair) and Short-crested Monarchs (the latter female only), Yellow-bellied Whistler, Olive-backed Flowerpecker (also hit and miss according to Zardo, though we saw four).

Some of the more interesting common birds included Pink-bellied Imperial-Pigeon, Guaiabero, Philippine Drongo-Cuckoo, Black-faced Coucal, Black-and-white Triller, “Mindanao” Scarlet Minivet, Yellow-wattled and Yellowish Bulbuls, Philippine Oriole, Pygmy Babbler, Brown Tit-babbler, Rufous-fronted and White-browed Tailorbirds, Rufous Paradise-Flycatcher, Metallic-winged and Purple-throated Sunbirds (the latter a gorgeous red-bellied race), Naked-faced Spiderhunter, White-bellied and Red-striped Flowerpeckers.