Top Ten Birds for 2016

2016 - It was quite a good year birding wise - we got 6 lifers here in the Philippines (3 of which made it to the top 10) and got even more as we visited two new countries: Panama and Australia. Our top ten this year included not only some of the lifers we got but also some species that had a story to go with them.

10. Pigeon Guillemot. We saw one several years ago perched on a distant cliff near Santa Cruz, California. Last March we made a trip to Monterey. I was surprised to find this species swimming by the pier. Quite close even.

9. Spotted Wood Kingfisher. Not really a rare bird but what made this one special was when it stayed near the "Frogs" area in the campus of the University of the Philippines in Diliman. It lingered there for quite some time that our birding friends flew in from HongKong just to get photos of this kingfisher. And they were not disappointed!

8. Red Junglefowl. Our last lifer for the year. I had always been hesitant to claim it a lifer whenever we see this bird. It looks so much alike the domesticated chicken that it is difficult to confirm whether it is indeed a wild junglefowl or not. When we encountered this one, however, we were in a forest in Subic, kilometers away from the nearest human habitation. Not only that, this rooster had that telltale white spot on its cheek. 

7. White-browed Shama. When news spread that this usually shy bird had been seen in the open prompted us to visit the town of Dona Remedios Trinidad in Bulacan Province. Thanks to our host, Jonet Carpio, we got great photos of a lifer.

6. Changeable Hawk-Eagle. This was another serendipitous encounter. We were in a van that picked us up from the Busuanga Airport in Coron. Suddenly, Rodel, our driver, stopped the vehicle and pointed at a raptor perched on a tree. We quickly unpacked our gear and slowly approached the magnificent bird. Another lifer for us.

5. Rainbow Lorikeet. This is one of the most common birds in the Sydney area. These birds usually come in flocks and stay in the trees. There was a time though when a few of them came down and fed on the red bottlebrush flowers right next to the cabin we were staying in Lane Cove.

4. Powerful Owl. Thanks to our guide, Andrew, we were able to see and photograph this gigantic bird. Lucky for us, the time we saw it, it had its prey still in its talons - an Australian Possum.

3. Southern Lapwing. On the walls of the Radisson Hotel in Panama where we stayed was a picture of this species. All the photos of the birds on that wall had English names except for this one which they labeled as "Tero". I was skeptic that such a bird can be found in the premises of this hotel. I thought that Lapwings which are related to plovers inhabit places where there is a good amount of water. On our second day, as we walked towards golf practice area, I saw it! It had grown accustomed to this environment that it wasn't even bothered by golf carts passing by.

2. Bat Falcon. Another bird shown on the wall of the hotel. Once again I was skeptic thinking that falcons would prefer the forested areas. On our last day at Radisson as the sun was starting to set and we were getting ready to return back to the hotel after birding near the golf practice area that I saw a raptor fly overhead. I only managed to squeeze in four shots and thankfully one of them turned out to be good enough.

1. Narcissus Flycatcher. This species had been my nemesis bird for quite some time now. Five years ago one had been seen and photographed near the main library of the University of the Philippines. Several attempts at finding that colorful flycatcher all failed. Then in November this year news spread in the birding community that another male had been seen in a small garden near the Redemptorist Church in Baclaran. We went, we saw, we photographed. Nemesis bird no more.

Subic Birding - Day 2 - A Lifer to End the Year

We were hoping for a bleeding heart but got fowled instead. Yesterday, Chris Chafer, a birding friend, told me via PM that there were Luzon Bleeding Hearts at the Nabasan Trail. Bright and early in the morning Cynthia and I began our search for the rare pigeon. Halfway inside the trail I saw them - no, not the bleeding hearts but a family of Red Junglefowls. In my excitement (this was a lifer for us!) I forgot to adjust the settings of my camera and so I only got one documentary shot of the male.

After negotiating the entire length of the trail and dipping on our target species, we returned to the junction where we saw the White-bellied Woodpecker yesterday. It wasn't there this time. In its place was a Balicassiao and a pair of Green Racket-tails.

Surprisingly, there weren't a lot of birds. We moved on and went to Hill 394. Again it wasn't birdy at all although we were lucky that a Luzon Flameback dropped by.

From there we tried the area across the Treetop Adventure Park. Here we got good shots of a nesting White-bellied Woodpecker.

Philippine Bulbuls were quite active here as well.

A huge flock (about 20 individuals) of Ashy Minivets passed by stopping at the pine trees for a few minutes.

After lunch we went to the Waterfront area. Other than a couple of Lesser Sand Plovers (?), there were no birds on the seashore.

On the way to the Volunteer's Park, we encountered a Crested Myna along the way.

At the park, the hoped for Brahminy Kites were absent. I'm sure it was because some people were already exploding fireworks by the lake and a Karaoke system was in full blast. As a consolation, my wife was able to photograph a Clamorous Reed Warbler.

To end the year, we had an obligatory shot of the migrant Brown Shrike.