Baras Birding

The ongoing pandemic has limited our birding activities. Friday night I told Cynthia we had to go birding the next day in Baras - a place about an hour's drive away - just to escape the ennui of being cooped up in our condo. My wife warned me not to expect a lot of birds inasmuch as the migrating season was already over and that the weather lately has been extremely hot.

We set off early Saturday morning and arrived at out destination just a little after six am. I parked at the side of the rotonda and unloaded our gear. As I got back to drive, we saw birder friend Linda Gocon looking at some bird on top of an electric post. I quickly drove next to them (she was with another birder, Bambi). Linda told us it was a Stripe-headed Rhabdornis. Unfortunately it was gone when we arrived. We bade our friend goodbye and proceeded to Campeche Road where we partook of our take-out breakfast from Jolibee. While we were enjoying our meal, we saw a pair of Luzon Hornbills perched on a bare tree about a block away from us. Surprisingly it was still there after we were done eating. I picked up my gear and moved slowly toward the insouciant pair and took shots at the slightly backlit subjects.

 Also in the said tree was a Large-billed Crow and on another tree nearby was a Coppersmith Barbet. Unfortunately both were too far for a good photo. At another bare tree a White-throated Kingfisher was basking in the morning sun.

Then I saw an Eastern Cattle Egret fly in and landed right next to what else but a cow. As I tried to come closer the Egret got spooked and flew away. Luckily I was able to get a BIF (bird in flight) shot.

From there we drove to Jerez street to look for the Savanna Nightjar. We didn't see it. On the other hand, Cynthia saw and got a photo of a White-eared Brown Dove.

As we were exiting the road I saw an overstaying Brown Shrike. It was on Cynthia's side so I told her to take pictures of the bully bird.

We made another stop because my wife heard some bird songs. As she was trying to locate the source of that twittering, I took an obligatory shot of the very common Yellow-vented Bulbul.

 

As I was photographing the Bulbul, Cynthia found her quarry. It was a Black-naped Monarch.

Moving on, she got a Pygmy Flowerpecker while I had a female Pied Bush Chat.

As we were driving along Almansor street, a Paddyfield Pipit landed on a dead tree trunk.

 A few meters beyond, another Paddyfield Pipit did the same this time even closer.

We then went to the pond. Sadly it was now dry. Good thing, another White-throated Kingfisher was still there along with a male Pied Bush Chat.

We looked at the waterway and was surprised to see a pair of Red Turtledoves drinking from the shallow stream.

Further down the road, the White-breasted Woodswallows were busy hunting for food. 

Going back to Palo Alto East road, we finally saw a Whiskered Tree Swift perched on an electric wire as usual.

One more drive along Almansor  and we got a shot at a Striated Grassbird.

Back at the dried pond, we got a very unexpected bonus - a young Guaiabero!

It was almost nine am and the heat was becoming unbearable. As we were driving along Frontrera road, a place we have not visited before, I told my wife that we still have not seen a Long-tailed Shrike. And then, lo and behold, a pair just popped up right across from us!

That was a nice ending to our birding day in Baras.

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. 

I Love Caylabne

Caylabne is a private resort in Cavite. It reopened recently after being closed for quite some time. We were grateful to our friend, Peter, for making the arrangements to get us inside this resort to do some birding.

But first, allow me to express our sadness at the lack of birds along the road from Ternate to the gates of the resort. This used to be one of the better birding areas not that far from Metro Manila. It was here that my wife and I got some lifers, such as the Plain Bush Hen and the Blackish Cuckooshrike. We have brought birding friends from Hong Kong and the U.S.A. here and they were not disappointed. However, our experience yesterday was unbelievably heartbreaking. We only saw two species of birds, Brahminy Kites flying overhead and a single Philippine Falconet!

Brahminy Kite

Philippine Falconet

As we approached the gate of the resort, Cynthia yelled "Peregrine Falcon!" which she saw land on the tower. It was partly hidden so we couldn't take any pictures. So we waited for it to fly off. After about 15 minutes it flew and soared away never to return. Luckily, I got one shot that turned out to be good enough.

As we traversed the road to the resort, I saw a dove feeding by the roadside. At first I thought it was a Red Turtledove, but looking at the documentary shots that I got, it turned out to be an Island Collared Dove - a total surprise!

Our next encounter was that of a Collared Kingfisher perched on some dead branches.

Then we saw the pond and there were perhaps more than 50 Philippine Ducks there. We stayed there for a while until the skittish ducks sort of got used to our presence.

Even before we approached the pond, my wife already saw a White-bellied Sea Eagle perched on a tree near the water's edge. However, it was too far for us to get some good shots. It was while waiting for the ducks to come closer that a pair of these eagles flew over and offered better photo ops.

Having our fill with the ducks, we moved on. Hearing some screeching sounds, Peter parked the car and we searched for the source of that noise. It turned out to be four or five Guaiaberos feeding on a fruiting tree.

During some pauses when we were trying to locate the green parrots from among the green leaves, a Grey-streaked Flycatcher would attract our attention by flying after an unfortunate insect and the perching on a branch in full view.

We then had lunch at the resort. After that, on the way back to the entrance, we passed by the "garbage dump" hoping to see some Bee-eaters but they were a no-show. The only bird in that area was a Little Egret near a small pond.

Were it not for the birds we saw inside the grounds of the resort, our birding sortie would have been a total disaster. That's why I love Caylabne.