Day 6 - Maputi Bird Preserve
We packed our things in the morning and headed down from Del Monte Lodge, it was such a lovely stay there, the staff were very attentive and helpful, and to be surrounded by nature day and night was an incredible experience. Overall, I would say the stay at Del Monte have exceeded all my expectations. Carlito walked down with us to the main road, along the way we enjoyed the morning views of the mountains. There wasn't anything particularly exciting in terms for birds, Philippine Jungle Crows and Garden Sunbirds were about the only birds I bothered to get a record photo.
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| Philippine Jungle Crow |
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| Garden Sunbird - male |
We collected our luggages and bid our farewells with Carlito and Joseph. Ever since he assisted Tim Fisher in the 1970s, Carlito has guided birders around Kitanglad for almost 50 years. It was a true honour to be able to bird with one of the birding legends of Mindanao! William was already waiting for us outside their house. We loaded our luggages and off we went to the Maputi Bird Preserve, which is a relatively new birding location, but Irene highly recommended it to us. William dropped us off and we met with the local guide Heber, a bright young man who took us into the first bird hide. Bird hides are nothing new, and have worked wonders in many South East Asian countries, allowing birders to get a glimpse at some usually difficult species otherwise. The bird hides set up here is no different, the main attraction is the Bagobo Robin; a rare and secretive Mindanao endemic, the late ornithologist Robert Kennedy even once called it "unquestionably the Philippines most secretive bird", it wasn't until 2015 that the first ever photo of a Bagobo Robin in the wild was taken! It didn't take long before one showed up and gave incredibly close views! Incredible how this once mysterious species can now be gettable!
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| Bagobo Robin - Still rare, but secretive no more! |
A male Blue-capped Kingfisher almost came in at the same time as the Bagobo Robin, we almost didn't know where to look! It was no less stunning than our first encounter, it may have even looked more stunning this time as we could really take our time marvelling at all the details on the bird!
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| Blue-capped Kingfisher - male |
We swapped the bird hides with another group, the layout of the second hide was very well thought out, with water baths, flowers, platforms and buckets filled with soil and leaf litter to encourage birds to look for food there. They even provided some nesting materials for the birds to pick out! Things were almost just as efficient as the first hide, a pair of Bundok Flycatchers came through, followed by the beautiful Striated Wren-Babbler! Being closely related to the Falcated Wren-Babbler of Palawan, I definitely could see the resemblance between the two species.
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| Bundok Flycatcher - male |
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| Bundok Flycatcher - female |
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| Striated Wren-Babbler |
Brown Tit-Babblers also came through, as well as a female Grey-hooded Sunbird. A pair of Warbling White-eyes came in to pick out some nesting materials. All in all, a really great experience of what a great bird hide can do! It took us no more than 40 minutes to get all the birds! We gave our thanks to Heber who was very helpful and answered all our questions, met up with William again to start our long drive towards Bislig.
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| Brown Tit-Babbler |
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| Grey-hooded Sunbird - female |
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| Warbling White-eye |
We arrived at Bislig just before 5pm, that evening we met up with local birding legend Zardo Goring who would be guiding us for the next three days at PICOP. For years Zardo have guided visiting birders around the old logging trails of PICOP, as an ex-security officer for PICCOP, Zardo knows the area like the back of his hand. We were also to be joined by New Zealand birder James Wickham, who was a solo birder birding around Mindanao.
Day 7 - Road 4, PICOP
For those who are not familiar with what PICOP is, PICOP stands for the Paper Industries Corporation of the Philippines, the birding site consists of patches of lowland forest near Bislig, which were part of the old logging area of the company. The company underwent decline in the 1980s, and is currently not in operation here anymore. The forest owned by the company has therefore become a 'free-for-all' for illegal loggers, poachers and even some rebels to take hold. The government seems to have little control and doesn't do much to eradicate these illegal activities. The forest here is however, still considered one of the best lowland forest remaining on Mindanao, though the depressing outlook of the site have always loomed in the background. Along the roads we often met illegal loggers with chainsaws, and would see trucks after trucks of illegally fallen trees.
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| Illegally logging in action... |
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| Illegal loggers constantly went back and forth the old logging roads |
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| Loaded logging trucks were seen everywhere at PICOP |
We set off at 4am, as we were hoping to catch a glimpse of the Mindanao Boobook. Our first bird of the day was a Philippine Frogmouth which sat quietly for us to see. A Mindanao Boobook did come in, but it remained high up, eventually we all managed to get a look at the bird, but it was no good for photos. An Everett's Scops Owl also showed, but the views were nowhere as good as the one we had up on Mt. Kitanglad.
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| Philippine Frogmouth |
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| Mindanao Boobook |
As the sun rose, we headed to our first birding spot along Road 4. All the old logging roads were marked with numbers, and Road 4 and Road 42 are now considered the two best tracks for birds. Along the way we added a Barred Rail that ran across the road.
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| Barred Rail |
Not five minutes of arriving to our first spot, Zardo heard the call of the Writhed Hornbill, within minutes we were all looking at three of these beautiful birds, despite the distant it was quite a good view.
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| Zardo - an absolute legend at PICOP |
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| Writhed Hornbill |
A few Philippine Green Pigeons came by, and a Black-faced Coucal decided to bask out in the sun after an evening of rain. James spotted a Handsome Sunbird, which was slightly closer than our previous encounter at T'boli.
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| Philippine Green Pigeon |
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| Black-faced Coucal |
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| Handsome Sunbird |
We also added a Philippine Honey Buzzard at fairly close range, differ to Oriental Honey Buzzard by having a less protruding head. A few Mindanao Hornbills flew by above us as well.
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| Philippine Honey Buzzard |
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| Mindanao Hornbill - male |
We moved onto another spot, where Zardo wanted to try for the Azure-breasted Pitta. It didn't take too long for one to respond, and eventually we got great views of it out in the open! I was amazed by the colours, an electric blue that seems too unnatural to occur in the wild!
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| Azure-breasted Pitta |
At the same spot we added a White-browed Tailorbird, an east Mindanao endemic. A Rufous Paradise Flycatcher gave us quite the excitement, the fiery colours really popped out from the background.
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| White-browed Tailorbird |
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| Rufous Paradise Flycatcher |
We birded back along the main track, a few Philippine Spinetails were circling above. Zardo heard the call of the Short-crested Monarch, it took a while before James caught sight of it in a tall tree, most of us managed a glimpse of this incredible species, but no one managed any record photos. A Mindanao Blue Fantail was slightly more cooperative.
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| Philippine Spinetail |
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| Mindanao Blue Fantail |
Zardo wanted to try for a few birds at the Arboretum, which is really just a tiny patch of rainforest with a few bigger trees, the area is probably no bigger than half a football field. Rufous-lored Kingfisher was our main target here, it took us a while to locate the singing bird, thanks to James with his sharp eyes, who spotted it perched high up.
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| Rufous-lored Kingfisher - female |
A pair of confiding Philippine Trogon also came through, allowing for nice close views of both the male and female of this incredible Philippine endemic! Trogon is one of my favourite groups of birds, and it is not hard to see why with this species!
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| Philippine Trogon - female |
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| Philippine Trogon - male |
Just outside the Arboretum, a young Rufous Hornbill was seen caged. Zardo told us that it was confiscated from poachers, but its wings were injured and could not be released. It was heart breaking to see this majestic bird in such a state, and to see it suffering because of men was absolutely devastating.
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| Rufous Hornbill - confisicated bird |
We drove to the entrance of Tinuy-An Falls hoping to see the Blue-crowned Racquet-tail, as Zardo stated they were nesting in the area. There, we connected with a pair of confiding White-bellied Woodpeckers, as well as many Coletos.
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| White-bellied Woodpecker |
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| Coleto |
After a little while, a pair of Blue-crowned Racquet-tails finally came in, giving us phenomenal views! This is a fairly widespread species of Racquet-tail, with distribution from southern Luzon all the way to Mindanao, but it doesn't make them any less exciting to see.
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| Blue-crowned Racquet-tail |
A Yellow-breasted Fruit Dove was heard nearby, after some diligent scanning we finally caught sight of it on a fruiting tree. The colours on these fruit doves when you can see them well was simply astonishing.
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| Yellow-breasted Fruit Dove |
We headed down towards the waterfall, along the stream there Zardo hoped to find the Southern Silvery Kingfisher. Things looked quiet at first, as it was a Sunday and many tourists were around. I scanned the distant rocks and there it was! Perched on a swinging vine! We got closer to it, and to our delight the Kingfisher actually flew closer, giving incredible views under the sunlight, it is not difficult to see why it was named 'silvery', as it certainly glistens under the sun.
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| Southern Silvery Kingfisher |
On our way back to the hotel we tried our luck with the Philippine Duck at some paddy fields, Brahminy Kites showed very well there. At least one Philippine Duck was spotted at a distance, we tried to get closer to it but it flew off way before we got anywhere near it.
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| Philppine Duck - left side of the tree... |
Day 8 - Road 42, PICOP
We got going again at 4am, this morning we were heading to Road 42, since the roads were not suitable for William's van to go onto, a jeepney was arranged to take us up to the old logging road. We tried for the Mindanao Boobook at another spot, but results were more or less the same, the owls were active but never gave good enough views for photos.
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| Mindanao Boobook - no good for photos again! |
As the sky got brighter, we started seeing more birds around us, including a Black-chinned Fruit Dove. Short-tailed Drongos were the first birds to be active, we had a close one that gave great views.
Road 42
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| Black-chinned Fruit-Dove |
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| Short-tailed Drongo |
A Philippine Jungle Flycatcher gave us a little run around, but eventually we all had good views and a few good photos to show for. This species was split with the Crocker Jungle Flycatcher, and is now a south Philippine endemic.
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| Philippine Jungle Flycatcher |
Mindanao Blue Fantail came through together with a Philippine Leaf Warbler, the latter provided brief views, but the vocalisation was diagnostic, as is the case with most leaf warblers.
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| Mindanao Blue Fantail |
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| Philippine Leaf Warbler |
Our jeepney parked further up the road, and literally the first bird we saw upon arriving was an Azure-breasted Pitta sitting right out in the open! It was sitting higher up than the other one we saw, allowing us to get a better look at the red vents.
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| Azure-breasted Pitta |
Along Road 42 we added Yellowish Bulbul and a Black-bibbed Cicadabird, both lowland specialist of the Philippines. However, as we walked along the road, chainsaw was a constant background noise.
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| Yellowish Bulbul |
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| Black-bibbed Cicadabird |
Zardo took us onto a small forest trail, where we tried for the rare Little Slaty Flycatcher, it didn't take too long for a male to come in, it remained half hidden most of the time, but occasionally showed well for a brief moment before diving back into the undergrowth. Another quality endemic in the bag!
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| Little Slaty Flycatcher |
We continued on, listening out for bird flocks constantly, Zardo pointed out the call of the Minanao Pygmy-Babbler, and sure enough two descended from above! Two Stripe-sided Rhabdornis were also spotted, foraging almost like a nuthatch or a treecreeper, no wonder they used to be called the Philippine Creepers!
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| Mindanao Pygmy-Babbler |
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| Stripe-sided Rhabdornis |
We finally had decent views of an Olive-backed Flowerpecker, this species replaces the Olive-capped Flowerpecker found at higher elevations, but is equally interesting to look at.
Olive-backed Flowerpecker
A small flock containing Rufous Paradise Flycatcher caught our attention, the bird showed exceptionally well and perched for a good minute for everyone to get good photos of. The call of the Short-crested Monarch was heard, it was another commotion of everyone scrambling for views. Ultimately, everyone saw the bird, I managed to see the male well but only photographed the female when it decided to fly in and perched above me for a few seconds!
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| Rufous Paradise Flycatcher |
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| Short-crested Monarch - female |
On the way back we even had a two distant Rufous Hornbills, but it shocked us when we heard gunshots while we were watching the birds, obviously firing at them. We were told that poachers target big birds like hornbills and imperial pigeons, believing their meat are extra nutritious. We were glad to see the pair were unharmed in the end...A shocking reminder of the difficulties these birds face here at PICOP.
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| Rufous Hornbill - luckily still alive... |
We headed back to the Jeepney for lunch, along the way we added no birds, but several interesting critters...
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| Cosmocoris sellatus |
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| Two-spotted Flying Lizard |
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| Eutropis sp. |
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| Lipinia sp. |
After lunch, Captain and Ki were resting in the Jeepney, while a few of us were out and about looking for various things. James suddenly exclaimed "Broadbill!". Kenneth and I rushed over, soon joined by Hoiling. It was the most fantastic view of a Wattled Broadbill we could have ever hoped for! Eye-level at close range! Dickson nearly missed the bird as he wandered off too far, luckily they stayed long enough for him to get back, an incredible top target species in the bag!
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| Wattled Broadbill - female |
While we were still marvelling at the Wattled Broadbill, James was already at the other end looking at a Short-crested Monarch! He got an incredible photo of the male, so we got to work to try and do the same. It was easier said than done, as the bird was now a lot further away. Rusty-crowned Babblers and Yellow-wattled Bulbuls were among the other birds in the flock.
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| Rusty-crowned Babbler |
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| Yellow-wattled Bulbul |
In the end, I managed a very distant record shot of the male Short-crested Monarch, it is not the best photo but I will take it! Kenneth unfortunately couldn't get a single record shot, given how quick he is usually with his camera, it just shows how difficult the birds were!
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| Short-crested Monarch - record shot of this incredible species |
Zardo wanted to try our luck with the Philippine Pitta, since many of us had not seen this species. I had only heard them in Palawan before, so I was hoping to improve on that. We tried the first spot and a bird responded from afar but never came close. After 30 minutes we decided it was not going to come any closer, so we headed back out to the main road. I thought it was worth trying from there and whistled a few times, sure enough another Philippine Pitta answered from the opposite side of the road! A few more whistles later the sound got even closer! We started scanning the dark forest floor, when Hoiling suddenly exclaimed "I got it!". And she sure did, as the bright red underside showed really well even in the dimming lights. I whistled a few times, hoping to draw it closer to the open, to my delight it worked, and the Pitta perched up onto a buttress root, giving everyone a great view! It was still quite far away, and the lights were fading, but what a bird to get before the day ended!
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| Philippine Pitta - what a gem! |
Day 9 - Road 42, PICOP
This was our final morning at PICOP. We decided to skip owling in the morning, since the Mindanao Boobooks seems uncooperative for photos, we rather focus our efforts on finding the ultimate prize of PICOP; the Celestial Monarch. It is not difficult explaining why birders dream of seeing this bird, having a name with the world 'celestial' in it says it all, it is an other-worldly creature, a bird that came straight from heaven! We headed back up towards Road 42 to try our luck. Our first bird was not a bad one, as a Black-bibbed Cicadabird showed very well as soon as we got out of the jeepney.
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| Black-bibbed Cicadabird |
Our luck continued as we made our way up the track, when heavy wing-beats above us announced the presence of four Rufous Hornbills! Two adults with two recently fledged juveniles! They showed incredibly well for us, a huge improvement from yesterday's views, and no gunshots heard while we were watching them! It was in a way a relief to see this species able to breed here, it shows how resilient life can be, but I truly hope they can thrive there, not just survive.
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| Rufous Hornbill - female |
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| Rufous Hornbill - male |
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| Rufous Hornbill - juvenile |
We continued on to where Zardo felt had the highest chance for Celestial Monarch, and to everyone's excitement we heard the distinctive three note "pew-pew-pew" call! We scanned the trees, hoping to see any movement. And there I saw it, a flash of blue hopped out from behind the leaves high above us! I told everyone where to look and tried to get a shot, but everything was a blur! The bird was showing extremely well before disappearing, but I could hardly focus my camera onto the bird, and thats when I realize I was physically shaking! It was a mixture of emotions, I was incredibly excited that I had just seen a dream bird, and gutted that I couldn't get a half-decent photo of the bird!
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| Celestial Monarch - just to show how shaky my hands were... |
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| The group watching the Celestial Monarch above |
Luckily, the bird only left for a short while before returning. Forcing myself to calm down I took the shots I needed to get. At that moment, all the emotions of seeing all the destruction around us rushed to my head. The chopped trees, the gunshots, and the fact that this incredibly beautiful bird decided to show itself to us despite all these. Tears welled up in my eyes, as I suddenly realized we might well be the last generation to get to see this incredible species at PICOP. It was the most emotional I had ever felt seeing a bird. After a lot of high fives and hugs, everyone were overjoyed by the fact that we had just seen THE most wanted bird at PICOP!
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| Celestial Monarch - male |
As if the bird knew we had not had enough views, what probably was the same Celestial Monarch showed again just a little further down the road! This time in much better light! Having gathered myself by now, I was able to get some much better photos of this incredible bird, which would go down as one of the most memorable bird sightings in all my birding years! And the cherry on top, Kenneth and I was walking back towards the jeepney, I said to him "wouldn't it be crazy if we see a Bleeding-heart now?", and not a minute later we saw a chunky dove with dark back from the footpath ahead of us and off to the left side. We immediately asked each other "Was that a Mindanao Bleeding-heart?". Indeed it was, as not 20 seconds later, an American birder came towards us asking us whether we had seen the Bleeding-heart he just flushed towards us! Even though it was not the best view, having just seen it flew by us was an incredibly exciting experience!
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| Celestial Monarch - most incredible view I could have only dreamt of! |
We headed back to the hotel at around 10am. Captain consulted James who came through Mt. Tagubud before he got to Bislig, saying it was probably possible for us to go past there to find the Lina's Sunbird before reaching Davao. That sounded like a good plan, so we bid our farewells to Zardo and James and headed towards Mt. Tagubud. William knew the Lina's Sunbird spot well, having driven different groups to that very spot just this month. It took roughly three hours to get there, and as James described, the Lina's Sunbird was almost the first bird we heard and saw! We managed some really great views of a male within the first 10 minutes of arriving! With this species, we have completed the montane sunbird trio of Mindanao!
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| Roadside birding at Mt. Tagubud |
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| Lina's Sunbird - male |
At the same spot, we also had a few confiding Mindanao Heleia, giving us the best view of this endemic species we've had on this trip! A flock of Short-tailed Starlings finally showed well for everyone. With that, we headed towards Davao, extremely happy with the results from our final birding day.
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| Mindanao Heleia |
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| Short-tailed Starling |
Conclusion
William was extremely nice to offer to drop us off at the airport next morning, it was a pleasure to have met him and to hear his thoughts on the things happening around Mindanao. As a birding tour driver he was top-notch, and I can't recommend him enough! Our flight back to Hong Kong was right on time with no complications.
Looking back on the trip, I felt grateful that we had great local guides along the way, Irene Dy who is always incredibly helpful and willing to share her knowledge about the local birds, Carlito and Joseph with their keen eyes and hearing, Heber for his energetic enthusiasm, finally Zardo who knows PICOP like no other! Without them, we would have missed quite a lot of species.
The island of Mindanao was incredible, with some of the most highly sought-after birds in the Philippines, the quality of the species were simply superb. While birding here was generally hard work, I found the birds to be slightly easier when compared with Luzon, that being said I have not been to all the sites in Luzon so I could be slightly biased. It is also clear that the island as a whole is generally under-surveyed, with so much still unknown, and quite a few likely splits in the near future, it makes for quite an exciting birding destination for visiting birders.
While the montane forests seems relatively well protected, the destruction of the lowland forest was heartbreaking. To be birding while hearing chainsaws and gunshots was a new experience for me, and one I hope will change if the locals understand the benefits eco-tourism can bring to the community. There's been many such examples where locals have turned from hunting birds to protecting the birds, so there may still be hope.
Mindanao is generally considered safe nowadays, we never felt threatened or endangered in anyway while we were there, even when we were walking around Bislig on our own at night. Safety is still a genuine concern when birding here, as remnant rebel groups are still active in some areas despite the lack of heated conflicts. That being said, it is always a good idea to hire local guides who know where and when it is OK to go somewhere.
A massive thanks to Irene for coming up with the itinerary and booking everything for us, also a huge thanks to all our birding buddies, who provided plenty of laughs and great company. It was incredible to be able to hit all the big targets on this trip, and more! I had a total of 76 lifers, which was a lot more than I expected in the beginning of the trip! I know I am already looking forward to my next trip to the Philippines, wherever it maybe.
Full trip list: https://ebird.org/tripreport/487300
