Mindanao, Philippines : March 2026 - Part 1

Mindanao has always been high on my to-go list, given a good number of Philippine endemics are only found there. The island also offers the only fair chance for visiting birders to catch a glimpse of the iconic Philippine Eagle, as well as incredible species such as Mindanao Bleeding-heart, Giant Scops Owl, Wattled Broadbill, Short-crested and Celestial Monarch. Seeing all the target birds was going to be an extremely difficult task, and given how hard-going and difficult the birds could be with our past experiences in Luzon, we knew it was going to be a monumental challenge.

The 2nd largest island of the Philippines after Luzon, Mindanao has a good number of mountain ranges, including Apo Mountain, the tallest mountain in the Philippines. Various montane endemics are found around those mountains, making them must visits for birders wanting to maximize their species list. We contacted bird guide Irene Dy, who assisted in coming up with our 10 days itinerary. She was able to join us on our first three days of birding, but having other work to attend to afterwards, she made sure we were in the good hands of local guides at different locations, and gave us some pointers for each site.

While the island of Mindanao is famous for birding, it is not the most popular tourist destination unlike neighbouring islands of Cebu or Bohol, the infrastructure is therefore not as well developed. The presence of remnant rebel groups in parts of the island also deter some visitors, but reports of insurgencies have reduced greatly since 2022, so currently it is relatively safe to travel. During our visit we encountered no problem, despite having to go past numerous police and army checkpoints, travelling was surprisingly smooth.

Cebu Pacific fly a direct flight between Hong Kong and Davao, which takes roughly three hours. After getting past customs, we met Irene outside, who is as energetic and bubbly as ever. Hard to imagine she just finished almost a month of touring! We met with our driver William, who was friendly and extremely helpful. The first day was purely for travelling, where we headed straight towards the small town of T’boli, the drive took 8 hours! By the time we got to the hotel it was already 10pm, but to our surprise the town was full of people. Turns out we arrived during the peak of Seslong Festival, and the town was in full carnival mode! We tried to get as much sleep as we could amongst all the noise.

Day 1 - Lake Holon, T’boli 

Our first proper day of birding started at 5am, birding here is mainly done along a relatively new road built near Lake Holon, we never really got to see the crater lake, but the road cuts through some relatively good habitat and all the birds can be found along here. Our main target was the rare Mindanao Lorikeet, and T’boli is likely the easiest place to see this species in the world. We began our day with some common species such as Coppersmith Barbet, Coletos and Stripe-breasted Rhabdornis. A pair of Mindanao Hornbills showed quite well.

Coppersmith Barbet - race mindanensis

Coleto

Stripe-sided Rhabdornis

Mindanao Hornbill - male

Mindanao Hornbill - female

Since there wasn’t any Lorikeets around, we moved to another area to try our luck. A mixed flock added Little Pied Flycatcher, Citrine Canary Flycatcher, Short-tailed Drongo, Sulphur-billed Nuthatch, and the Mindanao race of Scarlet Minivet, the male were yellow and black! We managed some fly-by views of the Lorikeets, but it wasn’t quite satisfactory. 

Little Pied Flycatcher - male

Citrine Canary Flycatcher

Short-tailed Drongo

Sulphur-billed Nuthatch

Scarlet Minivet - male race gonzalesi

Irene even found us a distant Philippine Trogon! Since we had not had any satisfactory views of Mindanao Lorikeets, Irene wanted to try a forest trail. Before we reached the trail head we added Philippine Serpent Eagle, Buzzing Flowerpecker, and many Warbling White-eyes.

Philippine Trogon - male

Philippine Serpent Eagle

Buzzing Flowerpecker

Warbling White-eye

At the trail, we added another target species: T'boli Sunbird. This species was once treated as a race of the Apo Sunbird, but have since been split, and is now one of the three endemic montane sunbirds in Mindanao. Olive-capped Flowerpecker also showed quite well here.

T'boli Sunbird - male

Olive-capped Flowerpecker

It took us a while to finally track down some perched Mindanao Lorikeets, I first had an adult feeding on some flowers, later on a few landed on a nearby tree and gave great views, including a juvenile with darker bill. While this species is only listed as Near Threatened, with ongoing habitat loss and illegal trapping for the pet trade, they are now considered quite rare, and T'boli seems to be one of the strongholds for these parrots.

Mindanao Lorikeet

As we came out of the trail we found a distinctive-looking warbler, which is the undescribed form of the Negros Leaf Warbler. They come with white eye-ring, and some individuals have very pale face. It is possible that this will become its own species in the near future. A Buff-spotted Flameback came in and showed very well for everyone.

Negros Leaf Warbler - undescribed form

Buff-spotted Flameback - male

After lunch and a bit of rest, we were out again looking for birds, but the afternoon was slightly quieter, we kept looking for feeding flocks hoping for the rare Mindanao Plumed-Warbler, but we never even heard any. Elegant Tits were regularly sighted amongst the feeding flocks, while along the way we added Orange-bellied Flowerpecker. 

Elegant Tit

Orange-bellied Flowerpecker - male

Late afternoon we added a very skulky White-eared Tailorbird, I only managed to get a quick look at it, Kenneth and Captain were just quick enough to capture a decent photo. A Bundok Flycatcher was a good addition to our day's list. As we headed back towards the car, William pointed out a few distant Yellow-breasted Fruit-doves to us.

White-eared Tailorbird - photo by Kenneth Lam

Bundok Flycatcher - male

Yellow-breasted Fruit Dove

Day 2 - Lake Holon, T'boli

We began the day back at the trail, hoping to focus on Long-tailed Bush Warbler or Philippine Shortwing. The first birds we saw in the morning were a few Brown Tit-Babblers, which showed quite well. White-eared Brown Doves were quite active in the morning, and we found many feeding on the fruiting trees.

Brown Tit-Babbler

White-eared Brown Dove

Back on the trail, we heard both Long-tailed Bush Warblers and Philippine Shortwings, but both remained hidden from view. We saw again the undescribed form of Negros Leaf Warbler, this time one with darker face and a complete eye-ring. A Flame-throated Flowerpecker gave distant views, and we found a nesting Philippine Hanging Parrot, also known as Colasisi, the Mindanao race with blue face.

Negros Leaf Warbler - undescribed form

Flame-throated Flowerpecker - male

Philippine Hanging Parrot

Since things were quiet, we headed back towards the main road. There we had a feeding flock with improved views of Citrine Canary Flycatcher and Sulphur-billed Nuthatches.

Citrine Canary Flycatcher

Sulphur-billed Nuthatch

We birded along the main road with some success, including a relatively showy Rufous-headed Tailorbird, a species closely related to the Mountain Tailorbird. Ridgetop Swiftlets were the most common swifts there, and the bright sunlight made photographing them easier. We also spotted a few Philippine Spinetail with their distinctive wing shape.

Rufous-headed Tailorbird

Ridgetop Swiflet

Philippine Spinetail

We finally managed to find a photographable Black-and-Cinnamon Fantail. Just as we were trying to get some better photos of the fantail, a larger bird flew in and landed right in front of me, to my complete shock it was a male Blue-capped Kingfisher! Its colours were stunning and it stayed there for a good thirty seconds before disappearing again into the forest!

Black-and-Cinnamon Fantail

Blue-capped Kingfisher - male

Just before lunch we added another very good bird in form of a Philippine Oriole. It was quite vocal but remained high up. With this species, I have now seen all the Oriole species in the Philippines!

Philippine Oriole

After lunch, we tried different spots along the road, hoping to add more species. We enjoyed some very nice views of Turquoise Flycatchers and Citrine Canary Flycatchers.

Turquoise Flycatcher - male

Citrine Canary Flycatcher

A female Flame-throated Flowerpecker came through, and we added a few Cinammon Ibons, a peculiar species from the sparrow family! There are practically no resemblance between them and the sparrows except for its slightly conical shaped bill, unsurprisingly it is placed in its own genus Hypocryptadius.

Flame-throated Flowerpecker - female

Cinnamon Ibon

Irene wanted to try for Long-tailed Bush Warbler at one spot by the stream, we added Yellow-bellied Whistler there, and soon had a warbler calling nearby! It took some scanning, but I managed to locate the bird at the base of a fern! Not everyone got onto the bird, so we got closer and tried again, and this time the warbler came right out! Onto an open branch for everyone to get a good long look! The T'boli population are slightly different from the rest of Mindanao, being slightly darker, making it another potential future split!

Yellow-bellied Whistler

Long-tailed Bush Warbler

As the light faded, we added a nice looking Metallic-winged Sunbird, which showed beautifully. Finally, we had more good views of Mindanao Lorikeets coming into roost!

Metallic-winged Sunbird - male

Mindanao Lorikeet

Day 3 - Lake Holon, T'boli > Mt. Kitanglad

We had just over an hour of birding at T'boli before we had to leave for Mt. Kitanglad, and Irene had to get to the airport to catch her flight back to Manilla. We walked along the road scanning for birds, I spotted a sunbird sitting very high up, but couldn't quite see the colours, Kenneth took a photo and immediately shouted "Handsome!", turns out it was a Handsome Sunbird, a wonderful addition to our life list! A few Metallic-winged Sunbirds were also seen in the area. Finally, we had a few more Mindanao Hornbills that came through for a nice view before we had to leave.

Handsome Sunbird - male

Metallic-winged Sunbird - male

Mindanao Hornbill - female

We bid our farewell to Irene at General Santos International Airport, and started our long drive northwards towards Mt. Kitanglad. Along the way we stopped at the petrol station and had a few nesting Pacific Swallows.

Pacific Swallow

It wasn't until 3pm that we arrived at Malaybalay. Upon arriving we were greeted by Mr. Carlito Gayramara and his family. We checked most of our luggages at their place, because for the next four days we were staying at the famous Del Monte Lodge. Calling it a lodge is probably an overstatement, as the campsite has only basic amenities and does not have a generator. It is important to pack enough batteries for your cameras and bring a power bank for recharging your phones and torches. We only packed what we needed for the next three nights, and set off towards Mt. Kitanglad.

The jump-off point is reached by a short ride in a jeepney, after that our bags were loaded onto a horse and we walked up towards Del Monte Lodge, which takes just less than an hour to reach. Along the way, we added a male Eastern Marsh Harrier and a Black-winged Kite, as well as numerous Philippine Hanging Parrots.

The horse helping us carry our bags up to the campsite

Eastern Marsh Harrier - male

Black-winged Kite

Philippine Hanging Parrot

We reached the lodge just before 5pm, and settled our stuff into our tents. The sheltered campgrounds are located just to the side of the main wooden building, where they provide with you a camping mattress, a sleeping bag, a blanket, and a towel. The main building now serves as the dining area. There is a flushable toilet and a shower room, where you can take showers using a bucket. Coffee and tea as well as various snacks are provided there, making it quite a luxurious campsite!

Del Monte Lodge

Just before dinner, Carlito went out with us to look for some night birds. We had brief fly-by views of a Bukidnon Woodcock. I spotted a distant owl which turned out to be a Chocolate Boobook. The call of the Giant Scops Owl nearby gave us great hopes, and I am glad the owl decided to show itself to us! This is the largest scops owl in the world, with hairy legs like an eagle owl! Carlito followed the call of a Philippine Frogmouth and found it within the thickets, turns out this female was sitting on a nest!

Chocolate Boobook

Giant Scops Owl

Philippine Frogmouth

With a few major targets in our bag, dinner was served, they even have chilled beers and bottled cokes if you so wish! After dinner, Hoiling took out her UV moth lights and set up the moth sheet. Without other artificial lights in the area, the UV light worked wonders!

Epipleminae sp.

Noctuoidea sp.

Lithosiini sp.

Sacada sp.

Alucitidae sp.

Agathodes sp.

Alcis sp.

 Argyrocosma sp.

Locharna sp.

Cyana sp.?

Brahmaea hearseyi

Tasta sp.

Other than moths, we found plenty of interesting frogs in the area, some of which I still have no idea what they are! Highlight for me was probably the Spiny Tree Frog, a stunning species.

Common Southeast Asian Tree Frog

Shrub Frog sp.

Spiny Tree Frog

Shrub Frog sp.

Philippine Sticky Frog

Shrub Frog sp.

Shrub Frog sp.

Day 4 - Mt. Kitanglad

We had breakfast at 4:30am, and headed up the mountain at around 5am. Our mission of the day was to find the fabled Philippine Eagle up at the Eagle Viewing Platform, which was THE main reason of our visit to Del Monte Lodge. Carlito led the way, for a 73 year old man his steps were light and swift. His family member and co-guide, Joseph Lumilang, brought up the rear with tripod and a telescope. Along the way we saw many Philippine Hanging Parrots, a few Long-tailed Shrikes and Striated Grassbirds.

Carlito - still very fit with very sharp eyes

Philippine Hanging Parrot

Long-tailed Shrike - race nasutus

Striated Grassbird

The path going up doesn't really cut through any good habitat, it was mainly farmland with small patches of trees. Along some taller trees we encountered our first Apo Mynas! Probably the craziest-looking starling out there, it sports a fluffy crest and a bright yellow wattle around its eyes. A Short-tailed Starling was also seen briefly. We reached the platform shortly after 7am.

Apo Myna

Short-tailed Starling

The platform consists of a bench made out of bamboo and a tent to provide some shade. We got started with scanning the skyline immediately. I have read some birders wait hours and hours with little luck, or waiting for many hours to just get a few seconds of distant flight views, so naturally we prepared for the worst...Weather was very good, and raptors were active early on, with numerous Oriental Honey Buzzards soaring around. A Pinsker's Hawk Eagle also came by, but only gave brief views.

Views from the Eagle Platform

Oriental Honey Buzzard

Pinsker's Hawk Eagle

Roughly around 8:40am, Joseph shouted "Eagle!", and we all scrambled for view. I spotted a small dot along the ridge drifting right, luckily everyone got onto the bird before it disappeared behind the hill. It wasn't until just past 9am that the eagle flew back out again, this time soaring in the thermos, allowing everyone to get a clear look. Though the eagle was well over 2km away, the wing shape, size and colour were unmistakable. Carlito whistled, and several times the Philippine Eagle responded. At around 10:30am, the eagle finally settled down and gave some perched views, while it was too far for my camera, the views were decent in the scope, we could see it stretching its wings, preening, and occasionally calling.

Philippine Eagle

With this incredible lifer in the bag, we watched the eagle until 12pm and left the viewing platform. We birded along the way back towards the lodge, with birds such as Stripe-breasted Rhabdornis and Pied Bush Chats seen.

Stripe-sided Rhabdornis

Pied Bush Chat - male

We reached a small clearing with a bird flock, in it were Turquoise Flycatcher, Everett's White-eye and Rufous-headed Tailorbird to name a few. A Red-eared Parrotfinch was seen by Kenneth and Captain, but Captain unfortunately got too excited and scared off the bird before myself and the rest of the group had any view! Kenneth on the other hand managed one good photo before it flew off.

Turquoise Flycatcher - female

Rufous-headed Tailorbird

Everett's White-eye

Red-eared Parrotfinch - photo by Kenneth Lam

Things were a bit quiet the rest of the way, only a photogenic Grey-streaked Flycatcher showed itself as well as a few Philippine Hanging Parrots. A few of us stopped by the Philippine Frogmouth nest again to see it during the day, it always amazes me how well their camouflage works in the forest, as it simply looks like a dead leaf if you are not paying attention.

Grey-streaked Flycatcher

Philippine Hanging Parrot

Philippine Frogmouth

After lunch and some rest, a few of us headed out again to look for birds near the lodge. We added Grey-hooded Sunbird, and Kenneth and I had luck with a Flame-crowned Flowerpecker. A flock of relatively confiding Cinnamon Ibon came through for us to get a good look. The best birds were probably a flock of seven Mindanao Raquet-tails, although they only gave a brief fly-by views. A White-lined Water Snake was also spotted.

Grey-hooded Sunbird - male

Flame-crowned Flowerpecker - male

Cinnamon Ibon

White-lined Water Snake

That evening, we tried for Bukidnon Woodcock again with Joseph, hoping we would be able to get some photos. It was a no-show by the woodcock, but we did manage an Eastern Grass Owl!

Eastern Grass Owl

Day 5 - Mt. Kitanglad

This was our last full day on Mt. Kitanglad, so we knew we had to make the most of it. Breakfast was served at 1:30am, and we were heading up the mountain by 2am. We needed to wake up early to reach the higher elevation because we wanted to try for Mindanao Scops Owl, a montane specialty. It took us just 40 minutes to reach the eagle platform in the dark, the starry night sky was an impressive sight. We even flushed two more Bukidnon Woodcocks along the way. It took another 30-40 minutes of walking from the eagle platform until we reached suitable habitat for the montane endemic. From there we searched for the owl, at first nothing seems to be calling, but after 5 minutes an owl responded in the distant. It got closer and closer until we were finally able to get it into view, but the views weren't that great. It wasn't until 15 minutes before dawn that we finally had one close enough for a decent photo! A bird well worth hiking up at 2am in the morning for!

Mindanao Scops Owl

As sun rose higher, birds started calling around us. The dense vegetation up here made photographing birds very difficult. Carlito told us that we had to hike another hour until we reach suitable Apo Sunbird habitat, another key species to get here at Mt. Kitanglad. We saw several feeding flocks on the way, including Mindanao Heleia, McGregor's Cuckooshrike, Yellow-bellied Whistler and Sulphur-billed Nuthatch.

Carlito in his elements

Mindanao Heleia

Yellow-bellied Whistler

McGregor's Cuckooshrike

Sulphur-billed Nuthatch

We stopped once we reached 1900m altitude, here we waited for the Apo Sunbird, as there were several flowering trees that they like to visit. It took a while before we saw our first bird, but it didn't show well enough for us to get good photos. At around 8:15am, Captain and Ki stated they were getting quite tired, so Dickson accompanied them down, while Kenneth, Hoiling and I waited a little longer, hoping to get a better view of the Apo Sunbird. Joseph stayed with us, and he was on the look out for White-cheeked Bullfinch. 15 minutes after the guys left, Joseph spotted two birds flew behind a flowering tree, and we all investigated...I saw a head poked out from behind, and it had a finch-like bill! Surely it must be the Bullfinch! We scrambled for views, hoping to get a record shot of the bird. I managed to clicked one shot of the wing of a bird inside the foliage. I checked the photos and it had black and yellow markings...at that moment it all clicked for me, it was a Mindanao Serin! I shouted "Serin!", and to my relief, Kenneth got an even better photo of the bird as it flew out! The Mindanao Serin is a mysterious bird with very few records, likely one of the rarest endemic species in the Philippines! The last known photo record of this species was in 2012, and prior to that there were only a handful of records. What's better, it was a lifer for Joseph as well! And, we even figured out that they feed on the fruits of the Celery Pine! Hopefully this will give people something to look for in the near future. We were all smiling and pumped with adrenaline as we headed back down hill.

Mindanao Serin - my photo showing the wing pattern and feeding on the Celery Pine

Mindanao Serin - photo by Kenneth Lam

Along the way, we even caught up with two Apo Sunbirds at fairly close range, I managed to grab a good photo of the male. This species is only found on several mountains on Mindanao, making it highly range-restricted. While this was an exciting bird to see, it was completely overshadowed by the Serin sighting!

Apo Sunbird - male

We met up with the guys further down and told them about the serin, but they were way too exhausted to climb back up for the bird by that point. We continued down hill, stopping again at the Parrotfinch spot, it showed again but not well enough for me to get a photo, but at least I had a good look at the bird. An Olive-capped Flowerpecker was far more obliging.

Olive-capped Flowerpecker

Red-eared Parrotfinch - if you can find it in the photo...

After the 18km hike, we rested at the lodge in the afternoon. A few Ridgetop Swiftlets occasionally came into the dining area to roost, while occasionally birds such as Sulphur-billed Nuthatch and Philippine Bulbul would come through.

Ridgetop Swiftlet

Sulphur-billed Nuthatch

Philippine Bulbul

A pair of very confiding Negros Leaf Warblers provided some good photo opportunities, the normal Mindanao race does not have the white eye-rings, and is far more yellowish overall. Further down from the lodge we added a Philippine Pygmy Woodpecker.

Negros Leaf Warbler - race mindanensis

Philippine Pygmy Woodpecker - male

At dusk, we tried our luck again for some owls, an Everett's Scops Owl was heard but it kept relatively quiet. Luckily, our thermo picked it up by the side of the footpath, and it stayed for as long as we wanted! Giving us phenomenal views of this Philippine endemic!

Everett's Scops Owl