Year End Birding - 2019

It had become some sort of tradition that Cynthia and I spend the last days of the year at Subic. And so it was for the year 2019. We arrived at our hotel around 1pm and after a quick check in, we proceeded to our favorite birding destination - the Nabasan trail. Along the way, just to get our mood started, we took photos of the birds we saw along the way such as the White-breasted Woodswallow, the Spotted Dove and the Large-billed Crow - all birds on a wire.

White-breasted Woodswallow

Spotted Dove

Large-billed Crow

At Nabasan trail, we saw an Oriental Dollarbird perched on a wire. Surprisingly the birds in this place seemed to be more skittish than before - imagine the Brown Shrike darting off from its perch and hiding as soon as our car approached it. Same thing with the White-throated Kingfishers. The Dollarbird we saw was no exception. Luckily we got a shot before it flew off.

The species that stayed within view were those that were perched high up in the tree tops allowing us only documentary shots - like this Philippine Cuckoo Dove, the Bar-bellied Cuckooshrike and the Philippine Green Pigeon.

Philippine Cuckoo-dove

Bar-bellied Cuckooshrike

Philippine Green Pigeon

We started off early on our second day and went straight to the Botanical Garden area. Surprise! - no birds at all! Off to Nabasan trail where we met birding friend, Doc Chito. We all waited for the woodpeckers - any kind - to show up. Nada. My wife and I decided to move on further down the trail, so we bade goodbye to our friend and wished him well. As we neared the intersection going to the Kamayan Resort, we encountered a flock (!) of Blue-naped Parrots. They were, without question, our bird of the day.

Moving on, we finally met a cooperative White-throated Kingfisher.

Other than those two, the only bird we saw was a Philippine Falconet that was way too far for a good photo. Exiting the Nabasan trail, we opted to try the Argonaut Road. Before reaching that place we spotted a Philippine Serpent Eagle blending with the tree behind it.

The Argonaut road was more productive even if the birds we encountered were the more common ones such as the Brown Shrike, Collared Kingfisher, Zebra Dove and a gang of Crested Mynas.

Brown Shrike

Collared Kingfisher

Zebra Dove

Crested Myna

To end our birding day, we stopped over the Volunteer Shrine Park where Brahminy Kites are sure sightings. And indeed they were, soaring beautifully as the sun started to set.

On our final day, we went to the Treetop Adventure Park. The park was no longer in operation but still can be accessed. There we met fellow birder Abner Lu (he was the one who told me about this place) along with his group and our new friends, Thomas Yie and Rodger Yu. True enough, this place was a favorite hangout of the Luzon Hornbills.

Coletos also visited the nearby fruiting tree.

Since we will be checking out at around 11 am, we told our new friends that we had to go ahead and visit other birding places. On our way out, we saw a Guaiabero land on the tree ahead of us.

Back at Nabasan, all we got was a Whiskered Treeswift and a Red Junglefowl.

At Cubi Point, we were glad that the Blue-throated Bee-eaters were back - we didn't see them the past two days we came here.

And that was, in my opinion, and nice finale to our year-end birding at Subic. Although it was quite disappointing (we only photographed 30 species) compared to the previous years we spent here, nevertheless, we enjoyed the last three days of 2019, having met old and new friends during those times. 

Subic Birding - Day 1 - Good

It had become some sort of tradition that we spend the year end here at Subic. This year was no exception. Unfortunately at the start of our first day, the weather was inclement. We saw birds, some even close, but the dark skies and occasional drizzle prevented us from taking good photos. The resulting images were either too dark or backlit that not even photoshop can fix them.

One interesting observation we had was when a male Luzon Hornbill confronted a Green Imperial Pigeon. I didn't think it was a hostile encounter, more like curiosity on the part of the hornbill. The pigeon was quite unperturbed anyway.

There was also another bird we saw that I believe was a Blackish Cuckoo-Shrike. As I said earlier, photos were not that good to give 100% confidence in its identification.

Weather was a bit better in the afternoon. This time we got a good enough shot of a Rough-crested Malkoha peeping through the leaves.

The star birds of the day were the Blue-throated Bee-eaters.

Our first day may not have have started well, but in the end something good still happened.

Missing Tit

Early Saturday (March 4) morning I got a Facebook PM from birding friend Bim Quemado. "If you're interested, the White-fronted Tit is easy here at Subic" was his message. A couple of weeks earlier, our friends from the Baguio-Benguet Birding Group also posted photos of this species. The White-fronted Tit was my nemesis bird. Cynthia and I never saw it despite our many attempts.

Sunday afternoon we drove to Subic and proceeded right away to the place Bim said he saw the Tit. Three hours of searching and nada. Early the following day we went back. Again, three hours of waiting and staring at the trees with red flowers and still no Tit. I thought I saw it fly across the road but somehow never found the place where it landed. Or was it just my imagination playing tricks on me.

Although not seeing our target was a heart-breaker, birding wasn't that bad at all. This is the time of year when the Blue-throated Bee-eaters start their nesting period. There were dozens of them congregating on the electric wires waiting for their turn to visit their respective holes on the ground.

Some even displaying a unique posture.

Having spent most of our time looking for the imaginary bird with a white forehead, we were not able to photograph much of the avian denizens of Subic. Here are some that we got:

Blue-naped Parrot

Large-billed Crow

Coppersmith Barbet

Coleto

Luzon Flameback

Oriental Dollarbird

Stripe-headed Rhabdronis

White-bellied Woodpecker

Tall Tree Roads

Lately we've been hearing about this new birding place about an hour away from where we live. When our friend Maia posted her blog about their recent birding experience there, that was sort of the trigger that made us decide to try our luck in that place.

The Palo Alto Leisure and Residential Estates located in Baras, Rizal Province was huge! By the entrance gate as we were getting ready to get in, we encountered our first bird of the day - the Balicassiao!

We proceeded to the lodge to meet with the manager to ask for his permission to allow us to bird throughout the subdivision. Dax was very congenial and gave us his blessing, so to speak.

The roads were very well paved and in some places were next to a heavily forested hill with tall trees. There was even a creek that runs through the place. Grey Wagtails were all over the place oftentimes roaming on the streets.

Sounds of "tuk-krrrr" resonated in the cool morning air announcing the presence of Spotted Doves.

As we entered the road going to the falls, we saw five, yes, five Stripe-headed Rhabdornises perched either on the electric post or on the wires next to it.

Striated Grassbirds were already singing their hearts out, well, except for this one who was still trying to shake off its sleepiness.

As we rounded a turn, we were greeted by some Blue-throated Bee-eaters going about their business and not minding the bullying tactics of the Yellow-vented Bulbuls.

It was at the tall trees area that a huge flock of Lowland White-eyes frolicked noisily among the leaves.

At around 10:30 am having gone around the subdivision for about 3 times, we agreed to call it a day. The weather had been indecisive whether to rain or to let the sun shine fully. The whole morning it would occasionally drizzle then suddenly become sunny. 

As we were about to exit we got a surprise. A Red Turtledove showed up and like the drowsy grassbird still tried to get some 40 winks. Or was it just being flirty with us?

Although we did not see a lot of species, we were glad that there was this lovely place not that far from our home. We probably would go back and maybe we would get even luckier.

Subic Birding - Day 1, Only This and Nothing More

"Once upon a December quite dreary while I pondered weak and weary
Having driven quite a distance and my body feeling sore
Our car barely stopping when Cynthia heard a tapping
As of one urgently rapping, rapping that's for sure
Tis some woodpecker my wife was quite sure
Only this and nothing more"

I was reminded of Edgar Allan Poe's poem about the raven as we had an encounter with the White-bellied Woodpecker at the Nabasan Trail. We had barely parked the car when the loud tapping filled the morning air. We did not have any problem finding the bird and we got our shots right away. I hoped that that would be a good beginning to our birding trip to Subic. Unfortunately, it did not turn out that way. We did see a lot of birds, but photographing them was a different story. The local avian population somehow seemed more skittish now. For the whole day that we spent birding we only photographed four more species aside from the White-bellied Woodpecker: White-throated Kingfisher, Whiskered Treeswift, Blue-throated Bee-eater and Philippine Falconet.

Only these and nothing more.

White-bellied Woodpecker

White-throated Kingfisher

Whiskered Treeswift

Blue-throated Bee-eater

Philippine Falconet

Two for the Road

We had to do it again. We hoped it would be better the second time around.

When Cynthia and I birded the long Marikina to Infanta road last September we were a bit disappointed with the scarcity of birds. We thought that it was because we started out a bit late and therefore missed the early morning activities of the birds in the area. This time we left the house at 5 am and were at the birding site an hour-and-a-half later. The sun was already shining brightly then and the birds were surprisingly few. A couple of Balicassiaos flew across the road, stopped for a very short while and then flew off.

My wife's sharp ears told her that there were some birds nearby. The problem was they were nowhere to be seen. Philippine Bulbuls, even a Tailorbird, Black-naped Orioles, White-eared Brown Doves, Coucals were all vocalizing but preferred to be hidden from view. "Flowerpeckers!" Cynthia excitedly peered through the dense leaves. A speck flew overhead and landed on top of the tree across from where we were. "Red-keeled!" I called out as we took several shots.

We resumed our driving after that. However after about 30 minutes we still have not seen anything exciting so we both agreed to turn back and try again the place where we saw the Red-keeled Flowerpecker. Indeed birds were still twittering when we got there. This time another flowerpecker copied the action of its cousin which we saw earlier. The Pygmy Flowerpecker perched almost at the same spot where the Red-keeled did an hour ago.

Cynthia then noticed a raptor flying overhead. It was a Philippine Serpent Eagle soaring despite some feathers missing in one of its wings. 

We were still looking up when a flock of about 20+ Grey-faced Buzzards glided beneath a clear blue sky.

With the raptors gone, I noticed some movement near a barren hillside. Getting closer I was amazed to see quite a number of Blue-throated Bee-eaters either digging a hole for a nest or checking possible sites to begin one. 

On several occasions, they would fly around and that was when we tried getting some BIF (bird in flight) shots.

It being the onset of summer here in the Philippines, the heat was already getting unbearable. It was not even ten in the morning yet. We agreed to call it a day. A kilometer down the road, however, I spotted a male Pied Bush Chat perched on a bamboo fence. As we got off our car we also noticed that there was also a female. Two of them actually.

male

female

Having had our fill of bush chats, we packed up and headed home. Although we didn't see a lot of birds (again!), we were glad that now we got some good shots of two kinds of flowerpeckers, two kinds of raptors and a pair of Pied Bush Chats. Not to mention scads of bee-eaters. Take two on this road wasn't really bad this time.