Birding Bohol on my final free morning!

Sorry for the late posting this week. After being away for the week it has taken me this long to catch up on e-mails etc.

If you have read my blog from last week you will know that last Monday morning I jetted off to find some more sites to survey for one of my PhD chapters. Without going too much into detail, I was looking at an agricultural scheme that they use on their rice and trying to find different sites to see how this affects the bird life in an island Eco-system. The island that is running this scheme is Bohol.

The 10^th largest island of the Philippines, Bohol is known for its jungles, Chocolate Hills and being one of the homes of the world’s smallest primate, the Tarsier. It is located approximately 450km South-East of Manila and takes around an hour to fly there. The North East quarter of the island is comprised of a lot of rice terraces/fields and this is where I spent the majority of my week. I left Friday morning free as a back-up in case I needed to meet someone/see something that I couldn’t in the previous days but, as luck should have it, it stayed free and I was able to organize a quick excursion before having to fly home. With the exception of a Pied Harrier seen out of a window on Wednesday, I hadn’t managed to see many birds, so as the alarm went off at 4am on Friday morning I jumped out of bed and was looking forward to my quick trip.

Because of its geographic location the diversity of birds on Bohol is different than that I am use to in the forests of Luzon. Some birds are similar, but a lot are those that can only be found in the Southern Islands of the Philippines. This gave me a great chance to see some new birds as well as some variations on others that I had seen already. I had done a little research, as well as spoken to Paul about his experiences on the Island, and had two species in mind that I really wanted to see. I was picked up from my hotel by a driver that was recommended to me from someone at work. He had a whole half-day planned but I was just interested in the birds (I only had a few hours, I had to make them count). As Clare had work this week she could not have joined me, the result of this being that I wasn’t going to try and see a Tarsier as this is something we are going to do when she is able to accompany me of a future trip.

After leaving the hotel at 4:30 we got to the site around 5:45. We had traveled to Camp Magsaysay the nature center of the Rajah Sikatuna National Park. I was informed that it was not an ideal time to bird as it was rainy season (though the island as a whole is suffering from a terrible drought) and that some of the birds were still nesting. I said I understood but was here because of work and thought I would take advantage of the free morning.

The first bird I came across is an odd case…whilst waiting for my guide a chicken seemed to run out of the underbrush, into the middle of a clearing and bellowed out an almighty “cock-o-doodle-do!!” Then was gone again. At this my driver turned to me and said “Junglefowl”. Now I was a little reluctant to call this one. The Red Junglefowl looks like a bird that I would call a ‘classic-cockerel’, from a farm. Having spoken about them before, I was told that they have bred with domesticated chickens and now it is very hard to distinguish between them. The only real clue is their behavior, with the domesticated chickens not being too afraid of humans. I still wasn’t convinced and pointed it out to the guide. He confirmed it was in fact a Junglefowl, even when I asked if it was ‘just a chicken?’, he swore it wasn’t  So there we have it, I have seen a wild chicken!!

Even before we left the nature center my guide pointed out a bird in one of the trees close by. It was sitting in the classic “I’m not a bird but a tree branch” pose, so took me a little while to find it. When I did it was beautiful. A small (but it was far away), brown hawk with bits of white speckled in. The light wasn’t great but my guide called out “Changeable Hawk-Eagle” (Nisaetus cirrhatus). The thing was just hunched there in the light misty rain we were having. It was also probably due to the rain that I could not make out its feathery quiff. It sat long enough for us to walk around it and see its face before it took off and flew into the canopy.

We left the site and started to walk down the road. With some vegetation on the road, as well as the rain, it was like walking on ice. I have mentioned before how unsteady I am on my feet with very poor balance. So to avoid embarrassment I spent a lot of time staring at my feet, walking slowly and trying not to fall over. We stopped under a tree and my guide said

“Frog-mouth Nest-” I looked up all excited, but he closely followed up with

“-but it went, short time ago”

So no frog-mouth for me. However I am informed the site gets them regularly at night, so I will have to plan another trip once I star data collecting here.

We walked along the road, passing many joggers from the forces base nearby. One of the main issues I had that morning, apart from just trying to stay on my feet, was all the birds tended to spend a lot of time at the top of trees, so it was a lot of vertical bird watching. At a road junction we spent forever trying to see some Drongos which were fluttering among the branches at the very top. Fortunately the rain had passed on, so at least I wasn’t distracted by rain-drops on my lenses.

We circled around and started up the side of the hill. It was called the ‘Tarictic Trail’ after the hornbills and it wasn’t long before they made their presence known. Again at the top of the trees, we kept hearing the noisy “ta-rik-tik”. These are a separate sub-species than the ones found on Mt. Makiling, though the most views I got were of dark shapes quickly moving through the canopy and away. At one point we were stood on the side of the hill with the hornbills clearly circling above us (we could hear them). We tried to hear where they landed for a better view but they just disappeared. Ah well.

It was here that I saw something fantastic…my guide turned to me and said

“You see flying Lemur?” I said no, because I haven’t. He then pointed to a nearby tree.

“There” he says, then takes my shoulders and points me in the right direction. Now I must admit at first I thought it was just a lump on the side of a tree. But as I studied it through my bins, I noticed the lump was furry.

“You want it to move?” my guide asked as I was desperately getting a camera out so I could take a picture*. I kept protesting that I could see it fine and to leave it alone but after a second the guide shook some leaves and branches and out of the furry lump came a face! It seemed to stare at the guide for a second with sleepy eyes (they are nocturnal, so it had probably just settled down). The guide shook the branches a little more and the lemur ran up the side of the tree. The only way I can describe how it moved would be to ask you to imagine Spiderman running up the side of a building wearing a light-brown (ish) slanket! That is what it made me think of anyway.

It climbed up until there were no branches close to it and settled down again. I told the guide we should get a move on, leaving the thing to get some well deserved rest. We were then distracted by a number of shapes moving through the forest. After a long trek, as well as trying to see through the leaves again, we saw a number of Coucals and Orioles. The day was starting to look up. Then as we turned a corner, my guide in front, he let out an excited “oh” closely followed by a let down “ah”. He turned slowly with a smile of his face

“Pitta. We missed it. Flew up and away”. Damn!! This was one of the species I really had wanted to see and I had missed it because I was in the back. I was gutted.

For those that don’t know, Pitta’s are small ground dwelling birds that are amazingly beautiful. There are a number of species here in the Philippines but I have yet to see one. On Bohol they have a couple of species but the one that I wanted to see was the Steere’s Pitta (Pitta steerii). A Philippine endemic, this individual is found in the Southern Islands and I was hoping to get it once I was here but I had missed it by being just a little behind. With a stunning blue/turquoise wings (that seems to give it the appearance that it is wearing a loud dinner jacket), a black cap and a slight bit of red between its legs. It had been in the middle of the path as the guide had turned the corner and taken off. As the guide walked on I waited patiently, hoping that my luck would stretch to a return visit, but it did not. I walked on…

To say this distracted me was an understatement. I was really (mentally) kicking myself for missing it when we started on the final descent back into camp. Then the whole world seemed to slow down and to my surprise I could see both of my legs stretched out in front of me. It was during this moment of slow and calm that I realized that the distraction of missing the Pitta and wet, slippy stones had gotten me again. Then came the realization that shortly gravity will claim me as a victim and I would greet the earth like a sack of potatoes! Sure enough, a split-second later my whole left side hit the stone steps and I slipped down the remaining steps until I rested on my bum in camp. Not really elegant.

I dumped my bag back in the car and checked for injuries. Aside from a sore side and a bump on my arm, that was the size of a large chicken’s egg, I had gotten away with it. Even my trousers (which I am also very good at ripping whilst birding) had survived. I was semi-impressed. The guide hunted for some ice, eventually finding some remaining ice cubes in a beer cooler from the night before. So I cold-compressed my lump whilst watching the guide and driver feed the fish in a small pond in camp.

Once the lump had started to reduce in size we set off. The guide offered to take me to the Tarsier center but I had to explain that Clare wouldn’t be happy, so he had a better idea. We drove down into the rice fields and parked next to an irrigation canal (as if I hadn’t had enough of these during the week!). We then started to scramble down the edge of the waterway, we were hunting the second bird on my wish list…

Similar to before, my driver kept seeing individual birds disappear further up the waterway. I was convinced that it was the same bird and that we were just chasing it further away. The path was muddy (I almost fell in again) and very thin, so I had to go behind again. We got a good way before it became un-walk-able, so we headed back. When I saw the car, my heart sunk, I had not seen either bird that I had wanted to. My driver convinced me to walk up a little further in the other direction to a head where I could scan with my bins further down the waterway. It was a great plan, so I agreed and moments later found myself stood on a little bit of land, in the middle of the waterway, scanning the nearby vegetation. The driver walked on and just as he vanished I saw a quick burst of movement and there it was…

Sat on a branch of a bush that had no leaves, overhanging the water, was a Silvery Kingfisher (Alcedo argentata)!! It had flown up from the waters edge, out of sight, and not noticed me there with my bins. At first all I saw was his back as he sat ‘bobbing’ his head in a classic kingfisher movement, looking at the water. He then did a quick jump and turn, ending up looking at me. He took my breath away.

Another small endemic kingfisher of the Philippines, the Kennedy et al. Bird Guide illustrates it as a small black and white bird with a dark bill, but in reality it is SO much more. A generally dark blue bird with a small white throat patch that seemed to really highlight the length of its dark bill. The feathers around its crown had a light blue, metallic speckling on the end of the feathers that, to me, gave the impression of a small bright crown. Finally, once it had turned around I got great views of its tiny, bright florescent orange legs. It either didn’t see me or I just didn’t bother it because I was able to crouch down and watch it for a long time before, what I can only assume as a fish, caught its eye and he was off.

We returned to the car and raced our way across the island (I had a flight to catch as well as wash, change, eat and pack). So I had driven many hours, trekked, only got glimpses of birds in the canopy and even fell (which is still sore now, in the middle of the following week) but was it worth it?? Of course!! The flying lemur was brilliant and I almost declared it a mammal day but at the very end the King-of-Fishers flew out and let itself be seen. Only occurring in the Southern Islands, I was VERY happy to have seen this amazing bird. I am going back to Bohol for work and will definitely drop in again…though hopefully next time it won’t be so literally.

*Unfortunately my pictures didn’t come out as the second I took my camera out of my rucksack it steamed up. Who knew the inside of my bag was so cool?!?

This picture (taken from http://www.arkive.org) showing what a stunning bird the Silvery Kingfisher really is!!

Back to Banahaw

If you have read my blogs before you will know that I absolutely adore going birding up Mt.Banahaw. It was my first birding trip in the Philippines up a mountain (even though Mt.Makiling is closer) and my first real experience in a rainforest. Every time we have been, something amazing turns up. It really is fantastic.

So when Paul suggested Banahaw again a few weeks back, I jumped at the chance. The main driver behind the decision was that another stunner of a bird had been photographed nesting up in the mountain. The Whiskered Pitta (Pitta kochi) is a beautifully coloured ground bird, in fact the Philippines is home to a number of pittas, but the whiskered is suppose to be one of the most demanding to actually find in the wild. This new nest on our doorstep was looking good. It is also the first time that I could bring Clare along, as she has been ill and couldn’t make any of the previous trips to my favorite mountain.

So at 4:30 the alarm went off, which this week wasn’t unusual as either Clare, myself or both have been out in the field, so the early mornings are starting to become standard. We quickly assembled our gear and met Paul at the ‘usual spot’, then drove out into the morning.

As uaual we stopped off at Bangkong Kahoy Valley retreat where we caught up with the owner Dion and all the recent bird sightings on the mountain, with a cup of coffee. The pitta was seen a few times but not recently after the chicks had fledged. In fact on the way we spoke of how unlikely we were going to see these birds as it was too late in the morning (it was light already) and we still needed to make our way to the site. We quickly drunk the coffee and we set off to meet our guide, Tony.

We drove a little further up the road and parked in the normal place. We then met Tony and started our climb up the mountain. Having not been for a long time I expected little difference in the landscape but short of a few less flowing trees and the trail a bit more washed away it was very similar to previous trips. We climbed slowly to see what was about.

Our first stop was what we heard, oppose to saw. The mountain tailorbirds were calling again and Paul tried to entice them in with the bird calls on his ipod, but unlike before, they did not fall for it. Maybe they were the same individuals that we had previously seen and wised up to our little trick. I did get eyes on a chestnut-faced babbler and a few white-eyes however. We moved on.

We walked the route I am very familiar with and turned off into the jungle to get to the small waterway, which we followed up the mountain. This still wasn’t new to us as we had been by this way almost every time we have come. Then, as we got to the part we normally cross over and continue around the valley, we turned and started to head up the stream (which is a term I use loosely. It was more of a stream bed with puddles than an actual stream). The nest had been spotted by someone walking up the waterway to see higher up, a complete accidental find. The path was level for a bit and no more challenging than the previous walk but then it suddenly became very rugged! We stopped at the foot of the valley looking up and Tony informed us it was going to be like this all the way up and asked if we wanted to continue. We all agreed thinking that it would be good to see the landscape that the pitta liked and if we were to return very early one morning, what kind of route we would have to navigate in the pre-dawn morning. So off we set…

It was difficult. It was hard and by no stretch of the imagination a path that was used regularly. We were often scrambling up a steep incline of wet vegetation, on loose mud on top of wet rock. The forest was alive with the sounds of at least one of us slipping at any time…except Tony that seems to have mountain goat qualities, even more impressive was that he was doing all this in flip-flops! There were times when I was climbing up behind Clare and I would stop on what I thought was secure ground when all of a sudden it would give way and I would have to make a grab for something to keep me up. We climbed for what seemed like a very long time and asked how much further. The answer was upsetting, we had only travelled about a third of the way. We had to continue for twice as long again and it wasn’t going to get any better.

For some reason, I have always been better going up the mountain than I have going down. I guess it has something to do with gravity, but I am much better at fighting it than going with it. I looked back at the route that had given way underneath us and then looked at Clare that seemed to have struggled a little with the latest climb (she has much shorter legs than us, so couldn’t make some of the steps that we could) so decided it would be best if we started back. I knew this route of the mountain pretty well and felt confident that I could indeed navigate all the way back if we needed to. We talked to Paul and had agreed to meet back at the stream. So as Paul and Tony shot up the valley, Clare and I turned around and tried to make our way back down.

Going at our own speed and taking a bit more time to think about my footing, we made it in good time. The land was still giving way and the rocks were still covered in slippy moss, but we made it down. We sat down by the stream for some snacks and water but then realised that we had indeed become the snacks for the local mozzie population. So we walked a little bit further up the route, away from the water, and waited there. As we waited we kept perfectly still and quiet, hoping to get something good flying down to the water but with the exception of hearing a large flock of something pass over us in the canopy, the area was a little short on wildlife….aside from the mosquitoes of course.

It wasn’t long before we heard the other two on their descent down. Once they were with us again Paul asked if we had seen anything good, no I replied and explained that it had been very quiet. He said it was terrible as he had just been up to the site and seen two incredible birds, lifers for him in fact. Then described the island thrush and the flame-breasted fruit-dove to me as well as what it was like further up the trail. I was gutted. I had missed out on these two stunning birds but Paul is optimistic that there is no reason why they wouldn’t be there again when we return to try and find the pitta.

We then started back down the mountain, along the same route as we had climbed up. Again, stopping at the same spot for the babbler, white-eyes and this time a few sunbirds to brighten up our day. It was quite cloudy and occasionally we were covered in a light mist of rain but at least it wasn’t really sunny, that really does take it out of you when you’re on an exposed mountain path. Then, as we were just getting back to the small village where we park the car, Tony spotted a few smaller birds in the trees. So we stood and tried to find them. First was a mountain verditer-flycatcher, a cute little blue bird with black markings around its eyes that gives it a slight impression of wearing a lone-ranger eye-mask. Then we spotted a pygmy flowerpecker that seemed to be buzzing around the flowers on a bush and then all around the tree above our heads. Both are brilliant birds and a great way to finish a trip up the mountain.

We paid and thanked Tony and made our way back to the retreat for another coffee. We talked about birding and the plans for the long weekend (we get Monday off this week also) and then made our way home. The combination of the earlier week with climbing a mountain must have taken its toll as the ride home was quieter than usual. Once home we both just dumped our stuff and sat down. We were knackered. I was also still feeling a little bit gutted about the two missed birds but I guess I will have to learn from this experience and have to push myself a little further in the future if I want to see new species. Birding, especially in the Philippines, is not an easy hobby by far.

Paul did manage to snap a few of his birds which you can see here, on his blog.