Palawan - November 2023 : Part 3

Day 6 -

The weather forecast predicted some rain for the day, the dark clouds in the morning was not a good sign, but we had to push on anyway. We were heading over to Sabang to see some of the birds in that area, I was hoping to get Malaysian Plover along the beach, and Totic was going to try the Palawan Scops Owl near Sabang later in the evening. Our day started at a fruiting tree by the river, where we stopped to take a look, here we saw plenty of Pink-necked and Thick-billed Green Pigeons.

Fruiting tree by the river

Pink-necked Green Pigeon

The fruiting tree also attracted many Palawan Bulbuls and Black-headed Bulbuls. Common Hill Mynas were also present. I spotted a pair of Palawan Fairy-Bluebirds feeding there, the male gave brief views. A female Blue Paradise Flycatcher was also in the area.

Palawan Bulbul

Black-headed Bulbul

Common Hill Myna

Palawan Fairy-Bluebird - male

Blue Paradise Flycatcher - female

Not long after I said 'wouldn't it be great to have a Black-chinned Fruit Dove here?', a male materialised out of nowhere! It gave fairly good views for everyone, despite being a bit far! This was a lifer for me, having missed the one Kenneth spotted last time we were in Palawan.

Black-chinned Fruit Dove

We went to another, hoping to try for the Red-headed Flameback that's been eluding us on this trip, and unsurprisingly we heard nothing. We did find a few Palawan Rock Frogs by the river, which is an endemic frog that inhabits fast flowing streams.

Palawan Rock Frog

With no luck for the Red-headed Flameback, we went back to the fruiting tree to see if anything else arrived, we only added a few Palawan Hornbills and an Osprey. A few Pygmy Swiftlets were flying around, separated from the usual Philippine Swiftlets with the white rump and smaller size.

Palawan Hornbill - female

Osprey

Pygmy Swiftlet

Enroute to Sabang we stopped by a mangrove area, where we tried for Copper-throated Sunbirds, a pair showed very well and gave great photo opportunities. 

Copper-throated Sunbird - female

Copper-throated Sunbird - male

Nearby we added Eastern Cattle Egret and a Common Kingfisher. A Lesser Frigatebird also drifted past us.

Eastern Cattle Egret

Common Kingfisher

Lesser Frigatebird - female

Since it was raining, we stopped at the viewpoint between Puerto Princesa and Sabang, where we just sat and hoped the rain would clear up. Interestingly, James found a Palawan Horned Frog right by the side of the road! This was a good thing as we could not bird outside in the terrible weather anyway.

Palawan Horned Frog

It was lunchtime by the time we got to Sabang, rain was getting heavier. Totic knew a place for both birds and food and suggest we can wait there for weather to improve. At lunch we added a few Palawan Tits, as well as a confiding Lovely Sunbird. After lunch before the rain came in again, I had close views of Ashy Drongos on the raised platform in the restaurant garden. Unfortunately, heavy rain came in and carried on all afternoon. It was most disappointing, but there was nothing we could do about it. We decided we were probably better off resting in the hotel and headed back into Puerto Princesa.

Palawan Tit

Lovely Sunbird - male

Ashy Drongo

That evening after dinner, Totic first suggested we go look at the Large-tailed Nightjar, this was like a plan B for not being able to look for the Palawan Scops Owl near Sabang. To be honest, I wasn't much interested in this option, but since we had nothing better to do we went along with it anyway. 

By the time we got to the sports ground for the nightjar, the weather had improved. Totic decided then we should change tactic and try for the Palawan Scops Owl at Irawan Eco Park anyway, a decision I had no objection to! We got there and walked into the forest, Totic played the call of the Palawan Scops Owl to see if any would respond, I wasn't particularly hopeful to begin with, but we heard one calling back not too far away! And soon, we were all looking at a Palawan Scops Owl in its full glory! It wasn't easy to get a clear shot with so many branches in the way, but everyone managed to get some decent photos in the end. This bird totally saved our miserable day!

Palawan Scops Owl - no doubt bird of the day!

We even added a Western Hooded Pitta (Yes, they split this species into 5 species) that was sleeping above us, with help of my infrared censor! Definitely a bonus of the evening!

Western Hooded Pitta

Day 7 -

Since Totic had to attend to other work, Marcon took over as our bird guide for the last two days, we know he is more than capable at finding birds for us, so we were happy with this arrangement. We headed over to Zig-zag Road for the morning, a site we didn't visit during the bird race. The weather was clear and dry, a huge difference from the previous day! Things started off fairly well, with many common species including Black-headed Bulbuls and Yellow-throated Leafbirds. An Asian Brown Flycatcher was also seen.

Black-headed Bulbul

Yellow-throated Leafbird

Asian Brown Flycatcher

A Palawan Gliding Dragon was an interesting sighting, although I can never quite photograph them in mid flight. There were plenty of fruiting trees in the area, which attracted many Common Hill Mynas, a few Sulphur-bellied Bulbul was a welcoming sight, I find this to be the least common of the bulbuls in Palawan. Palawan Fairy-Bluebird was also attracted to the area.

Palawan Gliding Dragon

Common Hill Myna

Sulphur-bellied Bulbul

Palawan Fairy-Bluebird

We saw a lot of Green Imperial Pigeons flying around, surely a sign of a fruiting tree somewhere nearby, although probably not visible from the road, as they flew behind the trees and out of sight. A Philippine Cuckoo Dove was heard, although we were unable to locate it. We even heard a Philippine Pitta down in the gully, we tried for a good half and hour but it never came into view despite coming in quite close.

Green Imperial Pigeon

By the road, we added a few Ashy-headed Babblers, as well as Common Ioras within a feeding flock. There were also a few Blue-naped Parrots.

Ashy-headed Babbler

Common Iora

Blue-naped Parrot

I noticed a green bird in the tree above, and was pleasantly surprised to find that it was a Blue-headed Racquet-tail! This is quite a difficult endemic species to get up close, we only saw them flying past in the last few days but never been able to get a clear view! We had incredible views of these endemic parrots, and allowing us to take some decent photos.

Blue-headed Racquet-tail - male

Blue-headed Racquet-tail - female

After this relatively successful morning, we carried on back towards Puerto Princesa, along the way we stopped to try for Red-headed Flameback again but had no luck, we only had a few confiding Palawan Crows and I had a very friendly Palawan Flowerpecker. A few Brown-backed Needletails also came through.

Palawan Crow

Palawan Flowerpecker - female

Brown-backed Needletail

Since James and Gomen have yet to visit Randy's Place, we decided to head over there in the afternoon for some 'easy birding'. The usual birds were there, such as Ashy-fronted Bulbuls, Philippine Pied Fantail and Asian Glossy Starlings.

Ashy-fronted Bulbul

Philippine Pied Fantail

Asian Glossy Starling

The pair of Mangrove Blue Flycatcher was again there to greet us, at least two different individuals of Pale Spiderhunters came through.

Mangrove Blue Flycatcher - female

Mangrove Blue Flycatcher - male

Pale Spiderhunter

We found the the female Brown-throated Sunbirds were the most aggressive species here, they constantly chased each other and other species away. A male Brown-throated Sunbird only came in briefly before getting chased away by the females, although a few Palawan Sunbirds did came in to feed.

Brown-throated Sunbird - female

Brown-throated Sunbird - male

Palawan Sunbird - male

The male Palawan Flowerpecker did not visit as frequently as the other day, but a pair of Copper-throated Sunbird was a new addition for us at this birding spot.

Palawan Flowerpecker - male

Copper-throated Sunbird - male

Other new additions includes a surprising Chestnut-breasted Malkoha, which unfortunately we were unable to photograph. A Collared Kingfisher dropped by briefly, as did a pair of Asian Emerald Doves. 

Collared Kingfisher

Asian Emerald Dove

I was very happy when a flock of White-bellied Munias decided to drop in for a drink, giving us much better views than at Iwahig. The Blue Paradise Flycatcher only showed briefly this time, not wanting to pose for us.

White-bellied Munia

Blue Paradise Flycatcher - male

Later in the afternoon we headed over to the Spotted Wood Owl site near Princesa Garden, it didn't take long for us to locate it, as it was mobbed by a bunch of Palawan Drongos. We had quite close view this time as it eyed us from above.

Spotted Wood Owl

In the final daylight hours we headed into Princesa Garden Island Resort to photograph the Philippine Cockatoos, we got there slightly earlier than expected, so it was cold drinks at the bar first, once we heard the Cockatoos coming in we walked over to their roosting trees. A few White-breasted Woodswallow perched quite low, allowing good views.

White-breasted Woodswallow

It is always a joy to see the Philippine Cockatoos, they are just so playful and active! They are always interacting with each other, which makes watching them so much fun, whether they are chasing each other or dangling upside down from the coconut tree. It is still very hard to comprehend this species that is living in such close proximity to people is a critically endangered species with a global population of just around 1,000 birds.

Philippine Cockatoo - star bird of Princesa Gardne

Totic joined us after dinner, since we were successful with the Palawan Scops Owl the night before, we thought we would focus on some herping. We headed back into Irawan Eco Park and walked along the stream there. The Busuanga Wart Frogs seems to be the most common, followed by the Philippine Toad. 

Busuanga Wart Frog

Philippine Toad

A few Yellow-bellied Puddle Frogs were seen, both striped and non-striped individuals. We also saw quite a few crabs along the stream, which should be an Isolapotamon species.

Yellow-bellied Puddle Frog

Isolapotamon sp.

The best frog of the night was probably a Palawan Spadefoot Toad, these quirky looking frogs inhibits lowland rainforest near streams.

Palawan Spadefoot Toad

Unfortunately we didn't see a lot of snakes, I found us our only snake of the night, an Oriental Whip Snake, which is actually a new species for me surprisingly, as it is suppose to be one of the most common snake throughout much of South East Asia. We also had two sleeping Rufous-backed Dwarf-Kingfishers.

Oriental Whip Snake

Rufous-backed Dwarf-Kingfisher

Day 8 -

Since we already seen most of our main targets, we left the itinerary of this day quite open. Gomen's flight was earlier than most of ours and had to leave early in the morning, hence missing the last day of our trip. James wanted to get some more footage of the Falcated Wren-Babbler, so we headed back into Napsan for another try. Just like last time, the birds 'performed' so very well, at one point both birds came calling on the log! This is now certainly one of my favourite bird species in the world now!

Falcated Wren-Babbler

After that we just did some casual birding along the road, but it was mostly quiet. There were other wildlife for us to enjoy, including a few Cyclophaea cyanifrons along the stream, a young Common Sun Skink, as well as a Palawan Bronzeback, which unfortunately we could not get a hold of and it slithered up the slope and disappeared.

Cyclophaea cyanifrons

Common Sun Skink

At another location near Irawan Eco Park, Marcon wanted to try for Red-headed Flameback again, I've completely given up on it at that point, but went along with him, good thing we did as we ended up with a nice confiding Blue Paradise Flycatcher.

Blue Paradise Flycatcher - male

We packed our things back at the hotel and checked out at noon. In the afternoon we just relaxed and did some shopping. Later in the afternoon, Totic agreed to show us the roosting site of the Flying Foxes. We were not disappointed, there were hundreds and hundreds of Flying Foxes at the roost, at one point they filled up the sky and was truly a spectacle. I initially thought these were Palawan Flying Foxes, but upon some research it seems these were actually Large Flying Fox, which I've previously seen in Subic Bay in Luzon, but the scale of the colony was nowhere close to this one!

Large Flying Fox

After dinner, we bid farewell to Totic and Marcon at the airport. It had been quite a journey and I am glad we spent more time exploring the island, as there was much to see here on Palawan. Unfortunately for us, the Philippines Airline changed our flight time on our return trip, therefore we ended up spending 11 hours at Manila Airport, otherwise the whole trip was relatively hiccup free.

We ended up with 119 species in our 8 days on Palawan, we probably could have added a few more species if our day at Sabang wasn't ruined by the rain. With the addition of Palawan Scops Owl and Falcated Wren-Babbler, I've now seen all but one endemic birds on Palawan, the only remaining endemic is the Palawan Striped Babbler, which will require a three days hike up to Mount Victoria. I am sure we will be back again someday to find this final endemic of Palawan.

Trip List:

	Species Name	Scientific Name
1	Red Junglefowl	Gallus gallus
2	Rock Dove	Columba livia
3	Spotted Dove	Spilopelia chinensis
4	Zebra Dove	Geopelia striata
5	Asian Emerald Dove	Chalcophaps indica
6	Pink-necked Green-Pigeon	Treron vernans
7	Thick-billed Green-Pigeon	Treron curvirostra
8	Black-chinned Fruit-Dove	Ptilinopus leclancheri
9	Green Imperial-Pigeon	Ducula aenea
10	Philippine Cuckoo Dove	Macropygia tenuirostris
11	Greater Coucal	Centropus sinensis
12	Chestnut-breasted Malkoha	Phaenicophaeus curvirostris
13	Square-tailed Drong-cuckoo	Surniculus lugubris
14	Philippine Hawk-Cuckoo	Hierococcyx pectoralis
15	Palawan Frogmouth	Batrachostomus chaseni
16	Large-tailed Nightjar	Caprimulgus macrurus
17	Brown-backed Needletail	Hirundapus giganteus
18	Pygmy Swfitlet	Collocalia troglodytes
19	Philippine Swiftlet	Aerodramus mearnsi
20	White-breasted Waterhen	Amaurornis phoenicurus
21	Black-winged Stilt	Himantopus himantopus
22	Common Sandpiper	Actitis hypoleucos
23	Wood Sandpiper	Tringa glareola
24	Common Greenshank	Tringa nebularia
25	Oriental Pratincole	Glareola maldivarum
26	Whiskered Tern	Chlidonias hybrida
27	White-winged Tern	Chlidonias leucopterus
28	Lesser Frigatebird	Fregata ariel
29	Rufous Night Heron	Nycticorax caledonicus
30	Malayan Night Heron	Gorsachius melanolophus
31	Little Egret	Egretta garzetta
32	Striated Heron	Butorides striata
33	Javan Pond Heron	Ardeola speciosa
34	Eastern Cattle Egret	Bubulcus coromandus
35	Great Egret	Ardea alba
36	Medium Egret	Ardea intermedia
37	Grey Heron	Ardea cinerea
38	Osprey	Pandion haliaetus
39	Crested Honey-Buzzard	Pernis ptilorhynchus
40	Crested Serpent-Eagle	Spilornis cheela
41	Grey-faced Buzzard	Butastur indicus
42	Crested Goshawk	Accipiter trivirgatus
43	White-bellied Sea-Eagle	Icthyophaga leucogaster
44	Palawan Scops Owl	Otus fuliginosus
45	Mantanani Scops Owl	Otus mantananensis
46	Spotted Wood-Owl	Strix seloputo
47	Palawan Hornbill	Anthracoceros marchei
48	Common Kingfisher	Alcedo atthis
49	Blue-eared Kingfisher	Alcedo meninting
50	Rufous-backed Dwarf-Kingfisher	Ceyx rufidorsa
51	Stork-billed Kingfisher	Pelargopsis capensis
52	Collared Kingfisher	Todiramphus chloris
53	Dollarbird	Eurystomus orientalis
54	Spot-throated Flameback	Dinopium everetti
55	Great Slaty Woodpecker	Mulleripicus pulverulentus
56	White-bellied Woodpecker	Dryocopus javensis
57	Peregrine Falcon	Falco peregrinus
58	Philippine Cockatoo	Cacatua haematuropygia
59	Blue-headed Racquet-tail	Prioniturus platenae
60	Blue-naped Parrot	Tanygnathus lucionensis
61	Philippine Pitta	Erythropitta erythrogaster
62	Western Hooded Pitta	Pitta sordida
63	Golden-bellied Gerygone	Gerygone sulphurea
64	Fiery Minivet	Pericrocotus igneus
65	Bar-bellied Cuckooshrike	Coracina striata
66	Pied Triller	Lalage nigra
67	Ventriloquail Oriole	Oriolus consobrinus
68	Black-naped Oriole	Oriolus chinensis
69	White-breasted Woodswallow	Artamus leucorynchus
70	Common Iora	Aegithina tiphia
71	Philippine Pied-Fantail	Rhipidura nigritorquis
72	Ashy Drongo	Dicrurus leucophaeus
73	Palawan Drongo	Dicrurus palawanensis
74	Black-naped Monarch	Hypothymis azurea
75	Blue Paradise Flycatcher	Terpsiphone cyanescens
76	Brown Shrike	Lanius cristatus
77	Palawan Crow	Corvus pusillus
78	Citrine Canary-Flycatcher	Culicicapa helianthea
79	Palawan Tit	Periparus amabilis
80	Rufous-tailed Tailorbird	Orthotomus sericeus
81	Zitting Cisticola	Cisticola juncidis
82	Striated Grassbird	Megalurus palustris
83	Sand Martin	Riparia riparia
84	Pacific Swallow	Hirundo tahitica
85	Barn Swallow	Hirundo rustica
86	Palawan Bulbul	Alophoixus frater
87	Sulphur-bellied Bulbul	Iole palawanensis
88	Black-headed Bulbul	Microtarsus melanocephalos
89	Ashy-fronted Bulbul	Pycnonotus cinereifrons
90	Pin-striped Tit-Babbler	Mixornis gularis
91	Palawan Babbler	Malacopteron palawanense
92	Ashy-headed Babbler	Pellorneum cinereiceps
93	Falcated Wren-Babbler	Ptilocichla falcata
94	Velvet-fronted Nuthatch	Sitta frontalis
95	Asian Glossy Starling	Aplonis panayensis
96	Common Hill Myna	Gracula religiosa
97	Grey-streaked Flycatcher	Muscicapa griseisticta
98	Asian Brown Flycatcher	Muscicapa dauurica
99	White-vented Shama	Copsychus niger
100	Blue-and-White Flycatcher	Cyanoptila cyanomelana
101	Palawan Blue Flycatcher	Cyornis lemprieri
102	Mangrove Blue Flycatcher	Cyornis rufigastra
103	Palawan Flycatcher	Ficedula platenae
104	Palawan Flowerpecker	Prionochilus plateni
105	Pygmy Flowerpecker	Dicaeum pygmaeum
106	Brown-throated Sunbird	Anthreptes malacensis
107	Purple-throated Sunbird	Leptocoma sperata
108	Copper-throated Sunbird	Leptocoma calcostetha
109	Palawan Sunbird	Cinnyris aurora
110	Lovely Sunbird	Aethopyga shelleyi
111	Pale Spiderhunter	Arachnothera dilutior
112	Palwan Fairy-Bluebird	Irena tweeddalii
113	Yellow-throated Leafbird	Chloropsis palawanensis
114	Scaly-breasted Munia	Lonchura punctulata
115	White-bellied Munia	Lonchura leucogastra
116	Chestnut Munia	Lonchura atricapilla
117	Eurasian Tree Sparrow	Passer montanus
118	Grey Wagtail	Motacilla cinerea
119	Paddyfield Pipit	Anthus rufulus