Michael W
Mountain Chickadee
We are back from a fantastic 2-week trip to the Philippines, more specifically, the island of Luzon! Ten days were spent in Baguio in the Benguet Province taking part in very rewarding mission work, the reason for the trip.
After landing in Manila following about 24 hours of travelling, we caught a few hours night sleep in a hotel, and then headed south early the next morning (March 17) to Los Baños in Laguna Province. Our crew consisted of my whole family and my grandpa, who was a missionary kid in the Philippines since he was born, then a prisoner of war to the Japanese at Los Baños during WWII. My grandpa has amazing stories about his experiences there, including how his camp was rescued by the Americans the day they were to be shot, after the first roll call bell had gone off. That's can't be coincidence! But all that is another story...
So we were going to go around and see the sights of his remembrance for that first half-day. We saw where his prison barracks were, where they used to play soccer, where the para-troopers landed, where the amphibian tanks took them across Laguna de Bay, etc. It was amazing what he remembered after sixty years of absence! My dad and I were able to see about 15 new birds in between everything. They are listed below as being at "Los Baños".
So after this, we made the 7+ hour drive to Baguio, in Benguet Province. Baguio is the highest city in the Philippines. It is positioned among pine-covered, steep mountains at 1,500m elevation. The climate is much cooler than the lowlands, an added bonus. Our mission work consisted of telling puppet stories to eager little kids, playing music for the people, entertaining people at medical clinics, doing a Week of Prayer for a school, and just helping out with programs for the kids and adults. Although being a lot of fun, it was very exhausting, especially when the little kids mobbed me for autographs and to try to teach me Tagalog, almost all of which I promptly forgot. Or when the ten-year-olds would try to carry me (they actually could).
To see how these people live in comparison to us "wealthy" (in comparison!) Americans was unbelievable. Yet it doesn't take long to figure out that these people may not have the "stuff" that gets in their way, but they obviously have what really matters. They are the happiest people in the world! I never met one grumpy Philippino in the 2 weeks we were in the Philippines.
Now the birds in the places in Baguio where we were are a different story. At the mission, there wasn't more than Crested Mynas, Elegant Tits, Brown Shrikes, White-breasted Woodswallows, and Tree Sparrows. I might add that these were all lifers for me, but they got too normal after ten days in a place that I thought would be loaded with birds! At a more remotely-placed church we went to, we did see Tawny Grassbirds and Philippine Coucals, and at the Botanical Gardens we found a Long-tailed Shrike, but birds were very scarce overall. Except for the Tree Sparrows, which were EVERYWHERE!!! Maybe it's all the smog. It was so bad that my throat hurt much of the time. I don't know if it's the same for all of you, but you know, every once in a while you get behind some old truck or something that just stinks up your car and belches lots of smoke. Well, that's what all the jeepneys and vehicles in Baguio were doing! We lived through ten days of it though, and here I am, living proof.
On Thursday, March 24, we got some time off, and most of us went in 3 buses (our whole mission group was 100+!) to 100 Islands Nat'l Park, in Pangasinan Province, on the west coast of the island of Luzon. It was extrememely hot ahd muggy, and it was nice to get in the water after trudging around the island we landed at. We did see several birds here that we didn't see anywhere else, so it was worth it. In the water, we saw a couple Moorish Idols (I think) and many almost-2-foot-long clams. On the "water jeepney" ride back out, we saw a Striated Heron, a Purple Heron, and a Common Sandpiper, all in the space of about a minute!
We left Baguio very early on Sunday morning, and rode with the others to the airport, where we would meet one of my parent's cousins who lives in the Philippines. After the others were headed into the airport to depart, he took us about an hour south to his house, on the AIIAS campus. That's translated to Adventist International Institute for Advanced Studies. This was our home base for the next few days. We went to several locations to look for birds, one of which was just walking right around campus. We also went a few miles north to a place called The Riviera. It is a very large area of marsh grass, etc, but really no water. Here we were able to find Barred Rails, a White-breasted Waterhen (he said that they were an easy find here, but it took us 3 evenings to find them! He was confused by this. When you want to see something, you can't sometimes.), Golden-headed Cisticolas, Chesnut Munias, both Grassbirds, Long-tailed Shrikes, Red Collared-Doves, Collared and White-throated Kingfishers, Blue-tailed Bee-eaters, etc, etc. It helped a whole lot that Ron was actually birder (imagine the odds of that!), and he knew and had seen the birds we were talking about, so he could show us where they were a lot of time!
Another place we went to several times was a little road called Taal Lake Road. Not surprisingly, it lead down the steep almost-cliff to Taal Lake. In this lake, there is an island, and in that island is another lake, and in that little lake is a little island. You can hire boats to take you to that island and hike up to the lake. If you can get on that little island, you can say that you are on an island in a lake on an island in a lake on an island in the ocean! We had people yelling at us constantly to hire them to take us out there! Two of them even jumped in a little vehicle and chased us for a couple kilometers trying to get us to hire their boat!
It was quite a jungle along the road. The problem was that the hillside was so steep that you couldn't really get off the road without risking your life, unless there happened to be a trail. We could hear lots of birds, but we didn't see all we heard. It was my introduction to jungle birding, where you hear a lot more than you see. This jungle wasn't anywhere as dense as those in Central or South America, either, if the descriptions are correct. But we did see many birds, and there were also some new ones farther down the hillside where it got more open. I saw my 600th life bird on our last day there, a sub-adult male Black-naped Monarch, a fitting bird for a milestone.
So ended our time in the Philippines. We were ready to go home, but I wish we could have had more time to go up Mt. Makiling, and find some coastal mudflats. I think we did okay for a non-birding trip, though. It was a great introduction to the Philippines, and I hope to come back someday.
I want to thank those who provided me with information on the birds at the Tokyo airport, as that help gave me five lifers, three of which weren't seen in the Philippines. And I want to give a big Thank You to Cuckooroller (Steve Pryor) for the updated names for all the birds of Luzon. I don't know what we would've done without those new names!
Here is the complete list of species we saw. The names in green are endemic to the Philippines.
Great Cormorant - fly-by at 100 Islands Nat'l Park, Pangasinan Province
Purple Heron - 100 Islands Nat'l Park, probably a juvenile
Great Egret = many at 100 Islands NP, non-lifer
Little Egret - along the rice paddies and mudflats between Baguio and 100 Islands
Cattle Egret - some along that same route with "water buffalo", non-lifer
Striated Heron - seen flying at 100 Islands
Yellow Bittern - at a coconut stop en route back to Baguio from 100 Islands
Brahminy Kite - en route back to Baguio from 100 Islands
Philippine Serpent-Eagle - Cavite Province, Taal Lake Road, adult soaring overhead
Chinese Goshawk - Cavite Province, AIIAS, adult soaring overhead, and one more on Taal Lake Road
Barred Rail - Cavite Province, The Riviera, several
White-breasted Waterhen - Cavite Province, The Riviera, finally saw 1 on third evening try
Black-winged Stilt - seen between Baguio and 100 Islands
Common Sandpiper - Pangasinan Province, 100 Islands, almost identical to winter-plumaged Spotted Sandpiper
Whiskered Tern - easily seen flying over wetlands
Rock Pigeon - in Manila, and a few at Baguio, obviously a non-lifer
Red Collared-Dove - Cavite Province, The Riviera, about ten on wires
Spotted Dove - Cavite Province, The Riviera, non-lifer (Hawaii)
Zebra Dove - Cavite Province, The Riviera, non-lifer (Hawaii)
Philippine Hanging-Parrot - Cavite Province, Taal Lake Road
Philippine Coucal - Benguet Province at Baguio, and Cavite Province
Glossy Swiftlet - common at all places where we were in the lowlands
Pygmy Swiftlet - 1 at Los Baños in Laguna Province
Uniform Swiftlet - Laguna Province, Los Baños
Fork-tailed Swift - Laguna Province, Los Baños, a few
House Swift - Cavite Province, People's Park
White-throated Kingfisher - Cavite Province, AIIAS and Taal Lake Road
Collared Kingfisher - between Baguio and 100 Islands, and in Cavite Province
Blue-throated Bee-eater - Cavite Province, Taal Lake Road; I love those bee-eaters!
Blue-tailed Bee-eater - Multiple locations
Coppersmith Barbet - Laguna Province, Los Baños
Philippine Woodpecker - Cavite Province, AIIAS and Taal Lake Road
Barn Swallow - many location, non-lifer
Pacific Swallow - many locations
Striated Swallow - many locations, especially at People's Park in Cavite Province
Black-backed Wagtail - Tokyo / Narita Airport, Japan
Gray Wagtail - Cavite Province, The Riviera
Richard's Pipit - Laguna Province, Los Baños, and Cavite Province, The Riviera
Pied Triller - Pangasinan Province, 100 Islands Nat'l Park
Yellow-vented Bulbul - everywhere!!!
Philippine Bulbul - Cavite Province, Taal Lake Road, beautiful song
Blue Rock-Thrush - Cavite Province, AIIAS, beautiful adult remeniscent of Western Bluebird
Dusky Thrush - Tokyo / Narita Airport, Japan, 2 in the distance
Golden-headed Cisticola - Cavite Province, The Riviera, a tiny pair
Arctic Warbler - Cavite Province, Taal Lake Road, 1
Tawny Grassbird - Benguet Province at Baguio, and Cavite Province
Striated Grassbird - easy to see at many locations
Gray-spotted Flycatcher - Cavite Province, AIIAS
Oriental Magpie-Robin - Cavite Province, AIIAS
Pied Bushchat - Cavite Province, The Riviera and AIIAS
Pied Fantail - Pangasinan Province, 100 Islands Nat'l Park
Black-naped Monarch - Cavite Province, Taal Lake Road, sub-adult male, 600th world bird!
Golden-bellied Gerygone - Cavite Province, AIIAS and Taal Lake Road
Elegant Tit - Baguio and Taal Lake Road
Olive-backed Sunbird - Laguna Province, Los Baños, and Cavite Province
Red-striped Flowerpecker - Laguna and Cavite Provinces
Pygmy Flowerpecker - Cavite Province, Taal Lake Road
Lowland White-eye - Laguna and Cavite Provinces
Yellowish White-eye - Cavite Province, Taal Lake Road
Black-naped Oriole - Cavite Province, AIIAS, very cool
Brown Shrike - everywhere!
Long-tailed Shrike - Baguio Botanical Gardens and Cavite Province locations, beautiful!
White-breasted Woodswallow - Most locations
Slender-billed Crow - Cavite Province, The Riviera
Carrion Crow - Tokyo / Narita Airport, Japan
Large-billed Crow - Japan, and Cavite Province, The Riviera, raven-sized
Asian Glossy Starling - Pangasinan Province, 100 Islands
Crested Myna - Baguio, at the mission
Eurasian Tree Sparrow - everywhere!!!!!!!!!
Chestnut Munia - Cavite Province, The Riviera
Many of these names have changed since the Kennedy Guide was published, so here are the changes in the ones I saw. The change could be just a change in the name, or a split, or a lump. I don't know what it is for all of them, so I'll just list the name in the Kennedy Guide followed by the new name of what we saw. Thanks again to Steve for the new names!
Little Heron - Striated Heron
Crested Serpent-Eagle - Philippine Serpent-Eagle
Red Turtle-Dove - Red Collared-Dove
Colasisi - Philippine Hanging-Parrot
Island Swiftlet - Uniform Swiftlet
White-collared Kingfisher - Collared Kingfisher
Philippine Pygmy Woodpecker - Philippine Woodpecker
Red-rumped Swallow - Striated Swallow
Golden-bellied Flyeater - Golden-bellied Gerygone
Bright-capped Cisticola - Golden-headed Cisticola
Gray-streaked Flycatcher - Gray-spotted Flycatcher
Red-keeled Flowerpecker - Red-striped Flowerpecker
There are also many unidentified birds. For instance, I think I flushed a Luzon Bleeding-heart, and we may have seen a Citrine Canary-Flycatcher. But we'll never know for sure on those.
This trip really got me in a travelling mind-set. I can't wait for our next international vacation!
Michael
P.S. How do you pronouce Gerygone?
After landing in Manila following about 24 hours of travelling, we caught a few hours night sleep in a hotel, and then headed south early the next morning (March 17) to Los Baños in Laguna Province. Our crew consisted of my whole family and my grandpa, who was a missionary kid in the Philippines since he was born, then a prisoner of war to the Japanese at Los Baños during WWII. My grandpa has amazing stories about his experiences there, including how his camp was rescued by the Americans the day they were to be shot, after the first roll call bell had gone off. That's can't be coincidence! But all that is another story...
So we were going to go around and see the sights of his remembrance for that first half-day. We saw where his prison barracks were, where they used to play soccer, where the para-troopers landed, where the amphibian tanks took them across Laguna de Bay, etc. It was amazing what he remembered after sixty years of absence! My dad and I were able to see about 15 new birds in between everything. They are listed below as being at "Los Baños".
So after this, we made the 7+ hour drive to Baguio, in Benguet Province. Baguio is the highest city in the Philippines. It is positioned among pine-covered, steep mountains at 1,500m elevation. The climate is much cooler than the lowlands, an added bonus. Our mission work consisted of telling puppet stories to eager little kids, playing music for the people, entertaining people at medical clinics, doing a Week of Prayer for a school, and just helping out with programs for the kids and adults. Although being a lot of fun, it was very exhausting, especially when the little kids mobbed me for autographs and to try to teach me Tagalog, almost all of which I promptly forgot. Or when the ten-year-olds would try to carry me (they actually could).
To see how these people live in comparison to us "wealthy" (in comparison!) Americans was unbelievable. Yet it doesn't take long to figure out that these people may not have the "stuff" that gets in their way, but they obviously have what really matters. They are the happiest people in the world! I never met one grumpy Philippino in the 2 weeks we were in the Philippines.
Now the birds in the places in Baguio where we were are a different story. At the mission, there wasn't more than Crested Mynas, Elegant Tits, Brown Shrikes, White-breasted Woodswallows, and Tree Sparrows. I might add that these were all lifers for me, but they got too normal after ten days in a place that I thought would be loaded with birds! At a more remotely-placed church we went to, we did see Tawny Grassbirds and Philippine Coucals, and at the Botanical Gardens we found a Long-tailed Shrike, but birds were very scarce overall. Except for the Tree Sparrows, which were EVERYWHERE!!! Maybe it's all the smog. It was so bad that my throat hurt much of the time. I don't know if it's the same for all of you, but you know, every once in a while you get behind some old truck or something that just stinks up your car and belches lots of smoke. Well, that's what all the jeepneys and vehicles in Baguio were doing! We lived through ten days of it though, and here I am, living proof.
On Thursday, March 24, we got some time off, and most of us went in 3 buses (our whole mission group was 100+!) to 100 Islands Nat'l Park, in Pangasinan Province, on the west coast of the island of Luzon. It was extrememely hot ahd muggy, and it was nice to get in the water after trudging around the island we landed at. We did see several birds here that we didn't see anywhere else, so it was worth it. In the water, we saw a couple Moorish Idols (I think) and many almost-2-foot-long clams. On the "water jeepney" ride back out, we saw a Striated Heron, a Purple Heron, and a Common Sandpiper, all in the space of about a minute!
We left Baguio very early on Sunday morning, and rode with the others to the airport, where we would meet one of my parent's cousins who lives in the Philippines. After the others were headed into the airport to depart, he took us about an hour south to his house, on the AIIAS campus. That's translated to Adventist International Institute for Advanced Studies. This was our home base for the next few days. We went to several locations to look for birds, one of which was just walking right around campus. We also went a few miles north to a place called The Riviera. It is a very large area of marsh grass, etc, but really no water. Here we were able to find Barred Rails, a White-breasted Waterhen (he said that they were an easy find here, but it took us 3 evenings to find them! He was confused by this. When you want to see something, you can't sometimes.), Golden-headed Cisticolas, Chesnut Munias, both Grassbirds, Long-tailed Shrikes, Red Collared-Doves, Collared and White-throated Kingfishers, Blue-tailed Bee-eaters, etc, etc. It helped a whole lot that Ron was actually birder (imagine the odds of that!), and he knew and had seen the birds we were talking about, so he could show us where they were a lot of time!
Another place we went to several times was a little road called Taal Lake Road. Not surprisingly, it lead down the steep almost-cliff to Taal Lake. In this lake, there is an island, and in that island is another lake, and in that little lake is a little island. You can hire boats to take you to that island and hike up to the lake. If you can get on that little island, you can say that you are on an island in a lake on an island in a lake on an island in the ocean! We had people yelling at us constantly to hire them to take us out there! Two of them even jumped in a little vehicle and chased us for a couple kilometers trying to get us to hire their boat!
It was quite a jungle along the road. The problem was that the hillside was so steep that you couldn't really get off the road without risking your life, unless there happened to be a trail. We could hear lots of birds, but we didn't see all we heard. It was my introduction to jungle birding, where you hear a lot more than you see. This jungle wasn't anywhere as dense as those in Central or South America, either, if the descriptions are correct. But we did see many birds, and there were also some new ones farther down the hillside where it got more open. I saw my 600th life bird on our last day there, a sub-adult male Black-naped Monarch, a fitting bird for a milestone.
So ended our time in the Philippines. We were ready to go home, but I wish we could have had more time to go up Mt. Makiling, and find some coastal mudflats. I think we did okay for a non-birding trip, though. It was a great introduction to the Philippines, and I hope to come back someday.
I want to thank those who provided me with information on the birds at the Tokyo airport, as that help gave me five lifers, three of which weren't seen in the Philippines. And I want to give a big Thank You to Cuckooroller (Steve Pryor) for the updated names for all the birds of Luzon. I don't know what we would've done without those new names!
Here is the complete list of species we saw. The names in green are endemic to the Philippines.
Great Cormorant - fly-by at 100 Islands Nat'l Park, Pangasinan Province
Purple Heron - 100 Islands Nat'l Park, probably a juvenile
Great Egret = many at 100 Islands NP, non-lifer
Little Egret - along the rice paddies and mudflats between Baguio and 100 Islands
Cattle Egret - some along that same route with "water buffalo", non-lifer
Striated Heron - seen flying at 100 Islands
Yellow Bittern - at a coconut stop en route back to Baguio from 100 Islands
Brahminy Kite - en route back to Baguio from 100 Islands
Philippine Serpent-Eagle - Cavite Province, Taal Lake Road, adult soaring overhead
Chinese Goshawk - Cavite Province, AIIAS, adult soaring overhead, and one more on Taal Lake Road
Barred Rail - Cavite Province, The Riviera, several
White-breasted Waterhen - Cavite Province, The Riviera, finally saw 1 on third evening try
Black-winged Stilt - seen between Baguio and 100 Islands
Common Sandpiper - Pangasinan Province, 100 Islands, almost identical to winter-plumaged Spotted Sandpiper
Whiskered Tern - easily seen flying over wetlands
Rock Pigeon - in Manila, and a few at Baguio, obviously a non-lifer
Red Collared-Dove - Cavite Province, The Riviera, about ten on wires
Spotted Dove - Cavite Province, The Riviera, non-lifer (Hawaii)
Zebra Dove - Cavite Province, The Riviera, non-lifer (Hawaii)
Philippine Hanging-Parrot - Cavite Province, Taal Lake Road
Philippine Coucal - Benguet Province at Baguio, and Cavite Province
Glossy Swiftlet - common at all places where we were in the lowlands
Pygmy Swiftlet - 1 at Los Baños in Laguna Province
Uniform Swiftlet - Laguna Province, Los Baños
Fork-tailed Swift - Laguna Province, Los Baños, a few
House Swift - Cavite Province, People's Park
White-throated Kingfisher - Cavite Province, AIIAS and Taal Lake Road
Collared Kingfisher - between Baguio and 100 Islands, and in Cavite Province
Blue-throated Bee-eater - Cavite Province, Taal Lake Road; I love those bee-eaters!
Blue-tailed Bee-eater - Multiple locations
Coppersmith Barbet - Laguna Province, Los Baños
Philippine Woodpecker - Cavite Province, AIIAS and Taal Lake Road
Barn Swallow - many location, non-lifer
Pacific Swallow - many locations
Striated Swallow - many locations, especially at People's Park in Cavite Province
Black-backed Wagtail - Tokyo / Narita Airport, Japan
Gray Wagtail - Cavite Province, The Riviera
Richard's Pipit - Laguna Province, Los Baños, and Cavite Province, The Riviera
Pied Triller - Pangasinan Province, 100 Islands Nat'l Park
Yellow-vented Bulbul - everywhere!!!
Philippine Bulbul - Cavite Province, Taal Lake Road, beautiful song
Blue Rock-Thrush - Cavite Province, AIIAS, beautiful adult remeniscent of Western Bluebird
Dusky Thrush - Tokyo / Narita Airport, Japan, 2 in the distance
Golden-headed Cisticola - Cavite Province, The Riviera, a tiny pair
Arctic Warbler - Cavite Province, Taal Lake Road, 1
Tawny Grassbird - Benguet Province at Baguio, and Cavite Province
Striated Grassbird - easy to see at many locations
Gray-spotted Flycatcher - Cavite Province, AIIAS
Oriental Magpie-Robin - Cavite Province, AIIAS
Pied Bushchat - Cavite Province, The Riviera and AIIAS
Pied Fantail - Pangasinan Province, 100 Islands Nat'l Park
Black-naped Monarch - Cavite Province, Taal Lake Road, sub-adult male, 600th world bird!
Golden-bellied Gerygone - Cavite Province, AIIAS and Taal Lake Road
Elegant Tit - Baguio and Taal Lake Road
Olive-backed Sunbird - Laguna Province, Los Baños, and Cavite Province
Red-striped Flowerpecker - Laguna and Cavite Provinces
Pygmy Flowerpecker - Cavite Province, Taal Lake Road
Lowland White-eye - Laguna and Cavite Provinces
Yellowish White-eye - Cavite Province, Taal Lake Road
Black-naped Oriole - Cavite Province, AIIAS, very cool
Brown Shrike - everywhere!
Long-tailed Shrike - Baguio Botanical Gardens and Cavite Province locations, beautiful!
White-breasted Woodswallow - Most locations
Slender-billed Crow - Cavite Province, The Riviera
Carrion Crow - Tokyo / Narita Airport, Japan
Large-billed Crow - Japan, and Cavite Province, The Riviera, raven-sized
Asian Glossy Starling - Pangasinan Province, 100 Islands
Crested Myna - Baguio, at the mission
Eurasian Tree Sparrow - everywhere!!!!!!!!!
Chestnut Munia - Cavite Province, The Riviera
Many of these names have changed since the Kennedy Guide was published, so here are the changes in the ones I saw. The change could be just a change in the name, or a split, or a lump. I don't know what it is for all of them, so I'll just list the name in the Kennedy Guide followed by the new name of what we saw. Thanks again to Steve for the new names!
Little Heron - Striated Heron
Crested Serpent-Eagle - Philippine Serpent-Eagle
Red Turtle-Dove - Red Collared-Dove
Colasisi - Philippine Hanging-Parrot
Island Swiftlet - Uniform Swiftlet
White-collared Kingfisher - Collared Kingfisher
Philippine Pygmy Woodpecker - Philippine Woodpecker
Red-rumped Swallow - Striated Swallow
Golden-bellied Flyeater - Golden-bellied Gerygone
Bright-capped Cisticola - Golden-headed Cisticola
Gray-streaked Flycatcher - Gray-spotted Flycatcher
Red-keeled Flowerpecker - Red-striped Flowerpecker
There are also many unidentified birds. For instance, I think I flushed a Luzon Bleeding-heart, and we may have seen a Citrine Canary-Flycatcher. But we'll never know for sure on those.
This trip really got me in a travelling mind-set. I can't wait for our next international vacation!
Michael
P.S. How do you pronouce Gerygone?
