My 2006 Philippine list (1 Viewer)

[lankhin]

Maybe a bit late to start writing on a list by now but I will make a long shot and it might take some time :scribe:

3rd January: A day at the poorly known and rarely birded Mt Malindang, which so far probably is known for all its butterflies.

1. Philippine Duck
2. Black-shouldered Kite
3. Apo sunbird (the endemic subspecies malindangensis)
4. Changeable Hawk-Eagle
5. Barred Rail
6. Plain Bush-Hen
7. White-breasted Waterhen
8. Common Moorhen
9. Greater Painted-snipe
10. Metallic Pigeon
11. Spotted Dove
12. Emerald Dove
13. White-eared brown-dove
14. Yellow-breasted Fruit-Dove
15. Pink-bellied Imperial-Pigeon
16. Philippine Hanging-Parrot
17. Hodgson's Hawk-Cuckoo
18. Plaintive Cuckoo
19. Asian Koel
20. Ninox sp (which ever it now was, can’t keep it up with all these splits)
21. Philippine Frogmouth
22. Glossy Swiftlet
23. Purple Needletail
24. Philippine Trogon
25. Silvery Kingfisher
26. White-throated Kingfisher
27. Blue-tailed Bee-eater
28. Coppersmith Barbet
29. Red-bellied Pitta
30. Pacific Swallow
31. Bar-bellied Cuckoo-shrike
32. White-browed Tailorbird
33. Striated Grassbird
34. Plain-throated Sunbird
35. Slender-billed Crow
36. Nutmeg Mannikin
37. Eurasian Tree Sparrow
38. White-breasted Woodswallow
39. Black-naped Oriole
40. Everett's White-eye
41. Purple-throated Sunbird
42. Philippine Leafbird
43. Striated Swallow
44. Flame-crowned Flowerpecker

A good start of the year which inst included any lifer but definitely a few rarities such silvery kingfisher and Apo sunbird.

 

[lankhin]

9th January: Was time for Mt Kitanglad for all its rarities and many restricted species, which hardly exist anywhere else on Mindanao, was a trip which extended over two days, me and two British blokes had some superb birding, camping at the foothills, tracking owls at night and so on, a memory for life.

First day was a sunny and quite warm day, not best conditions for bird-watching, but anyway the birds showed up well.

45. Blue-capped kingfisher
46. Azure-breasted pitta
47. Philippine Hawk-eagle
48. Mindanao Brow-dove
49. Spotted imperial-pigeon
50. Philippine eagle
51. Philippine eagle-owl
52. Mindanao Lorikeet

53. Mindanao Racquet-tail (I just saw a group of 3 adults the first morning, mike which is a morning person saw them at a daily basis, yeeeh I also wants to be a morning person)

54. Philippine needletail
55. McGregor's Cuckoo-shrike
56. Yellowish bulbul
57. Mountain shrike
58. Miniature Tit-babbler lifer
59. Slaty-backed Jungle flycatcher
60. Little slaty flycatcher lifer
61. White-fronted Tit
62. Red-eared parrotfinch
63. Whiskered flowerpecker lifer
64. White-cheeked Bullfinch
65. Apo Myna
66. Cinnamon Ibon
67. Grey-hooded sunbird lifer
68. Black-and-cinnamon Fantail
69. Philippine Falconet
70. Rufous Night-Heron
71. Yellow Bittern
72. Wandering Whistling-Duck
73. Spotted Whistling-Duck
74. Spangled Drongo
75. Gray-capped Shrike
76. Philippine Fairy-bluebird
77. Philippine Oriole
78. Yellowish White-eye
79. Mindanao White-eye
80. White-bellied Flowerpecker
81. Olive-capped Flowerpecker
82. Naked-faced Spiderhunter
83. Little Spiderhunter
84. Olive-backed Sunbird
85. Mindanao Jungle-Flycatcher
86. Philippine Leaf-Warbler

Day two throwed up far less birds and most the common ones which you are able to see all over Mindanao

87. Rufous Paradise-Flycatcher
88. Blue Paradise-Flycatcher
89. Pied Bushchat
90. Clamorous Reed-Warbler
91. Golden-headed Cisticola
92. Zitting Cisticola
93. White-browed Shortwing
94. Philippine Leafbird
95. Black-bibbed Cuckoo-shrike
96. Hooded Pitta
97. Scarlet Minivet
98. Greater Flameback
99. Dollarbird
100. Philippine Kingfisher
101. Whiskered Treeswift
102. Pygmy Swiftlet
103. Philippine Swiftlet
104. Lesser Coucal
105. Little Bronze-Cuckoo
106. Azure-rumped Parrot
107. Blue-crowned Racquet-tail
108. Pompadour Green-Pigeon
109. Small Buttonquail
110. Philippine Woodpecker
111. Mindanao Hornbill
112. White-bellied Munia
113. Bukidnon Woodcock
114. Rufous-headed Tailorbird

 

[lankhin]

16th January: Watching birds in my home grounds for the first time this year, scoping the rice fields and cultivated areas here on Mindanao rarely get you much, a few herons, ducks and rails, maybe some wader if you are lucky.

115. Pheasant-tailed Jacana
116. Philippine Cuckoo-Dove
117. Pink-necked green-pigeon
118. Guaiabero
119. Brush Cuckoo
120. Violet Cuckoo
121. Philippine Drongo-Cuckoo
122. Eastern Grass-Owl
123. Asian Palm-Swift
124. Blue-throated Bee-eater
125. Sooty Woodpecker
126. Australasian Bushlark
128. Yellow-vented Bulbul
129. Philippine Bulbul
130. Sunda Thrush
131. Long-tailed Bush-Warbler
132. Dark-necked Tailorbird
134. Rufous-fronted Tailorbird
135. Oriental Magpie-Robin
136. Pied Fantail
137. Black-naped Monarch
138. Brown Tit-Babbler
139. Elegant Tit
140. Sulphur-billed Nuthatch

 

[lankhin]

27th January: Time for some bird watching by the sea, choosed to scope the beaches of Davao city, a famous ground for waders and sea-birds here on Mindanao, I love the sea but its a quite dead place for bird-watching, at least here around the southern Philippines with 4-5 regulary sighted sea-birds species AT MOST, then some rarity might show up once in a decade.

141. Chinese egret (always good to get this one, the rest of the year get more relaxed with this one on the list)
142. Terek sandpiper
143. Common Greenshank
144. Eurasian curlews
145. Whimbrel
146. White-collared kingfisher
147. Greater egret
148. Cattle egret (quite rare close to the sea)
149. Kentish plover
150. Lesser frigate-bird
151. Bar-tailed Godwit
152. Lesser egret? (immatures)
153. Crested tern
154. Lesser sand-plover
155. Greater sand-plover
156. Malaysian plover
157. Little Ringed Plover
158. Nicobar pigeon (spotted in some brushes)
159. Stork-billed Kingfisher
160. Coleto
161. Great-billed Heron (another good one, seen briefly flying over me)

Quite a poor list, but still later in the year (they return again in November) you get almost nothing in this habitat, it this now or never, well you might see some terns or frigate birds in May-October but they are few and rarely seen.

 

[lankhin]

3th February: A day trip to visit my old uncle which lives in Iligan city, he is still feeling just fine and he took me on a trip to the Maria Cristina Falls, for some "water games", altough not much birding done, I couldent resist to spend some minutes, looking around in the beutiful habitat around the falls as my uncle sleept a few hours in the middle of the day.

162. Darter (very rare)
163. Purple Heron
164. Striated Heron
165. Oriental Hobby
166. Blue-breasted Quail
167. Island Collared-Dove
168. Variable Kingfisher
169. Rufous Hornbill
170. White-bellied Woodpecker
171. Oriental Pipit
172. Chestnut-tailed Jungle-Flycatcher
173. Cinnamon White-eye
174. Metallic-winged Sunbird
175. Fire-tailed Sunbird
176. Orange-bellied Flowerpecker
177. Yellow-bellied Whistler
178. Large-billed Crow

 

[lankhin]

18th-21th February: I thought it was about time to visit Negros again after some poor birding in June 2005, where I apparently searched in the worst localities possibly, so I took with me my wife and five kids with the promise of a "holiday under the palms", altough I didnt spend much time under some palms, but was instead egger to finally make somewhat of this holiday, and the Negros trip has always been in my back head as among the worst trips I have been on, when it comes to the birding, I saw 14 species during 5 days.

We stayed in the small village called Pontevedra, the first I did in the morning was to grab a quick breakfast as soon as the resuturant had open and then quickly headed off to Mt Talinis, probably the most reaible site on Negros today. And I cant express what a day it become, I meet some locals which, after have paid them a fortune showed me the best localities around this magnificent mountain. Later went to Lake Balinsasayao for the rest of the Negros near-endemics where I did just fine on my own.

179. Intermediate Egret (Ponteverde)
180. Pacific Reef-Heron (Ponteverde)
181. Cinnamon Bittern (Ponteverde)
182. Barred Honey-buzzard (Mt Talinis)
183. Brahminy Kite (Ponteverde)
184. Spotted Buttonquail (Mt Talinis)
185. Negros Striped-babbler (Mt Talinis) lifer
186. White-winged cuckoo-shrike (Mt Talinis) lifer
187. Negros bleeding-heart (one word needed to express it, WOW!) lifer
188. Visayan Tarictic (I found a new hornbill to love ) lifer
189. Visayan Wrinkled Hornbill (Lake Balinsasayao) lifer
190. Flame-templed babbler (Mt Talinis) lifer
191. White-throated Jungle-flycatcher (Lake Balinsasayao, apparently the first record from this locality in over 10 years) lifer
192. Visayan Flowerpecker (Mt Talinis) lifer
193. Scarlet-collared Flowerpecker (Mt Talinis) lifer
194. Malayan Night-Heron (Mt Talinis)
195. Gray-headed Fish-Eagle (Ponteverde)
196. Watercock (Ponteverde)
197. Purple Swamphen (ponteverde)
198. Common Moorhen (Ponteverde)
199. Beach Thick-knee (Lake Balinsasayao)
200. Green Imperial-Pigeon (Ponteverde)
201. Lesser Coucal (Ponteverde)
202. Philippine Nightjar (Mt Talinis)
203. Spotted Kingfisher (Mt Talinis and Lake Balinsasayao)
204. Rufous-backed Kingfisher (Ponteverde)
205. Black-bibbed Cuckoo-shrike
206. Balicassiao (Ponteverde)
207. Crested Myna (Ponteverde)


Can one get a more sucessful trip to Negros?

No I dont think so, all near-endemics spotted, and a total of 87 species seen during two days, a good number when you look at the huge habitat lost which has affected Negros. A region is which is worth visiting again, my intrest for the central Philippines did get large after this trip, whats next? maybe Samar or Cebu, who knows.

 

[lankhin]

14th March: I had for a long time wanted to visit Bislig (PICOP Concession) here on Mindanao but the effort and time to go there had so far lacked, but in March 2006 I finally ended up there after many hours of doubting. This site is among the best and last places on Mindanao to find certain species, friends of mine has visited this place at numerous occasions and with their help I knew were to look for the rarest and shyer birds. The day ended up better than I expected, but I suppose it will take years before I visit the site again

208. Mindanao Bleeding-heart
209. Amethyst brown-dove
210. Blue-naped Parrot
211. Black-faced Coucal
212. Giant Scops-owl
213. Mindanao Wrinkled Hornbill
214. Mindanao Broadbill
215. White-eared Tailorbird lifer
216. Stripe-breasted Rhabdornis

The trip to Bislig was mainly done to get some of the last Mindanao species; most of them are rare elsewhere on the Island.

 

[lankhin]

29th March: A buesiness trip to Samar was neccesary to make contacts in my new job therefore I spend one day on this Island in late March, not much birding was done really and I was just able to make a brief, two hours trip during the afternon the first day, I visited a fragmented forest some 40km outside the Samar capital, I have no clue if the forest had a name or not. However the typical Samar birds was noted, a total of 18 species seen and of these three were lifers.

217. Samar Hornbill lifer
218. Visayan Broadbill lifer
219. Yellow-breasted Tailorbird lifer

 

[lankhin]

5th July: After a long non birding period I visited Mt Apo in hope to add a few species to my year list, but the main reason why I visited Mt Apo whas to have some a calm moment after a busy time at work and just relaxing.

220. Mindanao Scops-Owl
221. Whitehead's Swiftlet lifer
222. Mount Apo Sunbird

 

[lankhin]

8th July: As I was on my way to the grosery store for some shoping I passed my ordinary fields, as usually they was filled with grazzing water buffalos, a few cows and a couple of horses, cattle egrets, a few ducks and some sort of wader was spotted on the rice fields, nothing unusually seen on the way to the grosery, on my way back home again, about an hour later, I spotted a few black-brownish birds walking, my first impression was night-herons as they looked very much the same as large black-crowned night-heron, but the way the bird was feeding was not quite correct for night herons so I looked at them for about 5 minutes, when they finally raised their heads and started to walk into more open terrain I was able to make a better id, it was surely pond-herons. I saw at least 4-5 individuals, its a rare heron in the philippines. Only my third obervation of this species on Mindanao.

223. Javan Pond-Heron