On our raptorwatch weekend trip up north, we were able to squeeze in a short visit to Jelaine and Lala's field study site. The site was mostly agricultural lands with patches of secondary forest. We were not only rewarded with views of perched Grey-faced Buzzards, but a trio of fruiting fig trees revealed some prize birds also! Fig trees heavy with fruit, coupled with careful inspection and patient waiting, can bring in a bonanza of birds! Migrant Brown-headed Thrushes actively flying around in the canopy of the trees. They are always a delight to see as they are not so commonly sighted.
Guaiaberos blended in quite well with the foliage, looking like chubby, brighter than normal, green leaves. Only their sharp calls gave a clue as to where they were.
Philippine Green Pigeons flew back and forth from a nearby leafless tree. They took turns feeding and resting, and we observed a huge flock of around 42 birds!
Joining the green pigeons in their feed-rest routine were three Coppersmith Barbets. They would pok-pok-pok-pok loudly from their perches.
Soon, a quiet pair of Luzon Hornbills joined the feeding frenzy. They were quiet a contrast to the riotous and noisy Yellow-vented and Philippine Bulbuls.
I was quite sure there had to be a White-eared Brown Dove somewhere. After a few minutes of searching, I finally spotted one!
Fruiting fig trees - always a good harvest for both birds and birders!
Migration waits for no one! The new school year moved the second semester from November - March to January - May, which meant that migration was right smack at the middle of the classes! Unable to join raptorwatch for an extended time, I was happy to spend an extended weekend (the Holy Week holiday coincided with the extrapolated peak for Grey-faced Buzzard migration) up north with the raptorwatch team. The weekend coincided with a lecture series (sponsored by the Asian Raptor Research and Conservation Network - ARRCN) by both Japanese and Filipino biologists for a conservation forum to be held at Brgy. Pancian in Ilocos Norte and at the Cagayan State U in Sanchez Mira. It was wonderful timing! So on Friday night, Maia, Jelaine, Lala and I hopped on a bus to join the WBCP raptorwatchers (led by the indefatigable Alex and Tere!), based at our home up north, the Panziann Beach and Mountain Resort. We were welcomed with the usual sumptuous breakfast at Panziann and almost immediately whisked off to the charming town of Adams, a few kilometers away. We stopped in the middle of the road up the mountain to admire a pair of Rufous-bellied Eagles soaring in the sky!
An adult Rufous-bellied Eagle soaring int he hot summer sky.
We stopped along the road several times: for Luzon and Rufous Hornbills, Philippine Fairy Bluebirds, Philippine Falconets, Crested Honey Buzzards, Philippine Serpent Eagles and many other birds out in the open despite the summer heat. At Adams, we checked out a hill where we watched out for migrating raptors, and we were not disappointed! Two large kettles of Grey-faced Buzzards (locally called Sawi, pronounced saah-weeh, emphasis on the first syllable) were soon spotted thermaling right above us!
A kettle of Grey-faced Buzzards, Sawi, in the skies above Adams.
ARRCN members looking out for both resident and migrant raptors.
Soon, the noonday sun (and our rumbling stomachs) called us to lunch. Our hosts' had lunch prepared at a house by the river. Some locals were having a picnic, escaping the summer heat by dipping in the river. It was certainly a good day to do your laundry!
A good day to dry laundry (in Adams) or some octupi (in Sta. Praxedes)
Of course birders could not resist taking a peek at a migrant Common Kingfisher perched in the vines across the river.
Birders (don't forget the cold beer!) stalking a...
Common Kingfisher across the river.
A Brahminy Kite flew above us, in search of prey at high noon.
A Brahminy Kite floating gently with the winds.
On our way back to the lowlands, we stopped to admire the quaint town: we visited a small bignay (Antidesa bunius)winery and admired a long hanging bridge over the river.
And a river runs through it.
On the way down, we also stopped to admire a beautiful jade vine in bloom. Its flowers were not the usual celadon green but a deep indigo color.
A beautiful jade vine just along the road.
What a wonderful first day on the field! There was hardly enough time to go birdwatching the next couple of days, when the back-to-back conservation forum was held. On the first day, we gathered the local communities of Adams, Pancian and other nearby barangays. In the morning there were lectures on birds, birdwatching, raptor migration, Grey-faced Buzzard conservation, roles of raptors in nature, the natural heritage of northern Luzon and threats to that biodiversity.
In the afternoon, the highlight of the program was a conservation forum that allowed the members of the community to talk about their strengths and weaknesses in conservation and to come up with action plans where they could address their needs. The forum ended late in the afternoon, and when all the participants had left, we all took a breather down by the beach.
Relaxing by the sea in the afternoon.
The next day, we held the same program at the Cagayan State University, this time with the townspeople of Sanchez Mira, a known roosting site for the sawi. Our audience was composed of college students, local government officials and employees, farmers and even hunters! The campus was a great site for talking about the conservation of the sawi. During breaks, we could watch the raptors thermaling over the campus, even from the University CEO's office windows!
Only in Sanchez Mira: Raptorwatching from an office window!
A pair of sawi above the CSU campus.
Early the next day we were headed back towards Sanchez Mira, this time to check out the community raptorwatch site set-up by Alex and Tere. Once again, our drive was interrupted several times by raptor sightings on the way. Rufous-bellied Eagles, Philippine Serpent Eagles and kettles of migrating Grey-faced Buzzards urged us to stop by the roadside to observe these regal birds of prey.
An immature Rufous-bellied Eagle
A Philippine Serpent Eagle flying by.
One of hundreds (was it thousands?) of migrating sawi that weekend.
We finally reached the raptorwatch site, set-up in the middle of a rice field, facing a small coconut grove where the Sawi would roost. Volunteer students and faculty from the CSU took shifts counting and observing the migrants.
The community raptorwatch site at Sanchez Mira
Record-keeping by the locals!
We would observe kettles of Sawi flying in over us and perching on the trees in the distance.
Sawi flying over and...
... landing on the nearby trees!
It was great to see community involvement in the raptorwatch. To have gotten in touch with the locals and to have started conversations with them is a wonderful first step to what will hopefully be the long-term conservation of the migrant raptors in northern Luzon. During the conservation forum, Toru Yamazaki, the president of the ARRCN, asked the audience: "Where do you think is the Grey-faced Buzzards' home? In Japan where they summer and breed? Or in the Philippines where they winter?" The audience answered "Japan!" loudly and with such conviction. "No," said Yamazaki-san, "their home is BOTH Japan and the Philippines! Both the Philippines and Japan are important to the Grey-faced Buzzard, without the other, the Grey-faced Buzzard will not survive!"
Filipino and Japanese raptorwatchers - partners and brothers of the migratory Sawi.
What a wonderful perspective! I have always looked at migrants as guests we should welcome, perhaps it is time to see them as brothers coming home.
our northern birding adventure continues... after having visited laoag local birder richard and a successful yellow bunting twitch, we proceeded further north for our "official" buisness: raptorwatching! we were on alex and tere's pet project: to find out the exit point for migrating raptors leaving the philippines during spring migration. it was serendipitous that adri and i had vacationed with other mbb-ers at brgy pansian in pagudpud way back in april 2005 and it was there where we had our first views of thermaling raptors while waiting by the highway for our bus back home. to our newbie birder eyes it was a strange but wonderful sight. we had identified the birds as raptors, but why were they behaving so strangely? they were like a tornado of birds, and we hadn't yet heard of raptors gathering together like that, much less raptor migration. i remember telling wbcp prezi mike about it and it was only then that he explained the annual migration of raptors to us. so eight years later, we were finally on our way to see if this spot would help clear up the black hole of information on raptor migration in the philippines. a month earlier, wbcp-ers jun, jude and adri had already done a recon of the area, choosing the best possible sites for spring raptorwatch. our base would be a house on a hill in claveria, cagayan. but on the way, we stopped by other sites also. as we approached the northern boundaries of pagudpud after lunch, past the more popular saud and maira-ira beaches, adri suddenly yelled "raptors!" we all jumped out of our cars in time to see a few grey-faced buzzards thermaling over the mountains.
stopping by the side of the highway by a beautiful/ugly tree to count raptors at pagudpud
this was repeated again after the scenic patapat viaduct, this time, a few of the buzzards were observed perching on the trees. alex explained that it was not yet the day for these birds, and they were still resting before the long journey over the north philippine sea to taiwan. and then again entering cagayan province, at a scenic viewpoint over sta. praxedes town, chinese goshawks flew over us just as we had gotten out of the car.
claveria town: we could actually see those twin rocky islets from our house on the hill (inset)
at our house (for the next three days) on the hill in claveria, jerry and nora, the caretakers , welcomed us with sad news! we were too late they said! just four days before the skies over the house were thick with migrating raptors! still, we were optimistic that there were many more raptors to be observed. we took over the second and third floors of the house, the latter for our living quarters and the former for our official raptor watching. raptorwatching was a 10 hour/day affair, but definitely not a chore! we woke up at our own times (all before 6am!) and headed straight for the balcony which overlooked most of the quiet town of claveria, including the ocean, ricefield and hillside vistas. we kept close watch over the hills on the west side, the whole day, each of us claiming part of the balcony as our personal workstations (plus breakfast, lunch and merienda tables). by mid morning of the first day we had familiarised ourselves with the hilltops: we had definite landmarks, "beautiful tree", "anahaw grove", "the low V", the rectangular tree", "sa pababa" etc., etc. delicious breakfast and lunch were all brought up to the balcony by nora, who wanted to ensure the least interruption to our count! coffee, soda, water and beer were flowing continuously throughout the day. aaaah the trials of raptorwatching!
breakfast at raptorwatch: waiting while raptors rise from behind the hills
as early as 630am, individual raptors would fly out, and by 8am, kettles of raptors continuously rose from behind the beautiful tree. average kettle size was 50 - 80 birds, but at one point we counted 2,000 birds streaming overhead! it was like the whole sky was full of raptors.
don't clean your screen: those dots are raptors rising from behind adri's beautiful tree
kettles over the tree line
a kettle of raptors is an awesome sight
most of the raptors were the chinese goshawks, with a few hundred grey-faced buzzards. there were also a few japanese sparrowhawks, oriental honeybuzzards, ospreys and peregrine falcons.
a grey-faced buzzard with 3 chinese goshawks, can you tell which is which?
most of the raptors counted were chinese goshawks at the peak of their spring migration
some of the raptors like this grey faced buzzard clearly had damaged flight feathers. will they make it?
2 grey-faced buzzards pass each other above the balcony (the black fringe on the upper left corner is the roof of the house!)
sometimes, we would spot resident raptors as well: philippine serpent eagles, brahminy kites and even barred honey buzzards.
the silhouette of a resident barred honeybuzzard far, far away
i don't think i can ever tire watching the aerial show of the raptors riding on the thermals rising from the mountains, bringing them higher and higher in the sky, until they suddenly break free of the avian tornado and start streaming in a single direction creating a river of raptors.
kettling chinese goshawks
streaming off after gaining height by riding the hot air thermals
sometimes they gained enormous altitudes before streaming!
the challenge of counting a kettle of raptors: this kettle was initially estimated to contain 80 raptors- severely undercounted!
on the first day we counted a record 7,085 raptors, and on the second day: 2,493. such satisfying numbers for balcony birding.
a peak of 3098 raptors on the hour just before noon on the first day!
of course we were also entertained by many other bird species. lowland white-eyes, colasisis, olive-backed and purple-throated sunbirds, striped headed rhabdornises, philippine bulbuls, blue-throated bee-eaters, scale-feathered malkohas, luzon tarictic hornbills and many other birds provided momentary distractions. never seen but always heard were philippine hawk-cuckoos, philippine tailorbirds, white-eared brown doves and even white-browed shamas. migrating cattle egrets heading out to sea in the hundreds was a spectacular sight. when bored we would scan the ricefields and find waterhens, crakes, sandpipers, stilts and even a pair of philippine ducks! while scanning the hilltops, purple needletails which looked like miniature fighter planes on show were a joy to watch.
a very friendly rhabdornis showed up everyday
as did a very shy scale feathered malkoha
cattle egrets flying out to sea at sunset: directly north!
and the best non-raptor is no doubt a very proud rufous hornbill which delighted us by perching and flying across the hill's face just as we were wrapping up the count on the first day. everyday, the loud raucous calls of the rufous hornbills could be heard from the forested hills.
after breakfast on the third day, we decided to split up. alex and tere would continue the count from claveria while mang boy, adri and myself would check out the viewpoint at sta. praxedes. it was a magnificent view of the valley and surrounding mountains and it did not disappoint us.
the view of sta. praxedes town and its environs from the highway
as the morning progressed we would see kettles of raptors rising into the sky. almost dots in the distance, the numbers over the expansive sky was impressive to say the least!
at sta. praxedes, some of the raptors would rise so high and disappear into the clouds!
sometimes, raptors would come over the hill on the other side of the highway, so low that we actually heard quite clearly for the first time the loud call "tikwi!" which gives the grey-faced buzzards their local name!
"tikwi!" my first time to hear the call of a grey-faced buzzard
as many as 15 philippine serpent eagles were soaring high in the skies with their own mournful call.
i had never seen so many serpent eagles take to the sky at the same time before!
although the heat was in the high 30's we could not bring ourselves to stay in the shade of the trees without a view of the skies for long. even here by the roadside, surrounded by forested hillsides we saw and heard many other birds: philippine hawk cuckoo, arctic warblers, plain-throated sunbirds, elegant tits, yellowish white-eye, philippine trogon, black-naped monarch, and rufous hornbills.
a pretty tree with pink shoots by the side of the highway. is this apitiong?
it was a challenge though to bird by the highway, with vehicles barelling through every now and then. here we counted 4,090 raptors in 3 and a half hours. after lunch it was time to move on and we said goodbye to our house on a hill and to pretty claveria town and thanked nora and jerry for taking such good care of us. we drove back to ilocos norte and checked into pannzian beach and mountain resort where adri and i had seen the raptors thermaling so many years ago. we all took a break from raptor watching that afternoon, and enjoyed a swim in the strong waves of pasaleng bay. but it was back to counting early the next morning. what could've beat our house on a hill balcony office? on the beach on lounge chairs under the shade of a talisay tree of course! complete with cold iced drinks delivered by the staff! we were even joined by kenneth, the son of the resort owner! it was joy to see the amazement on his face as we showed him the kettling raptors: first with the naked eye, then through binoculars and finally on the scope.
our "office" at panziann: we had to constantly move our chairs to stay under the shade of the talisay tree
we even added a few highlights to our resident raptors' list: a pair of juvenile philippine hawk-eagles displayed proudly in the early morning sun, and a pair of white-bellied sea eagles impressed us (and some of the resort guests' kids!) with their regular success in picking up banded sea kraits from the sea and carrying them to some hidden perch (nest?). alex had even spotted the remains of a common kingfisher under some coconut trees: an unfortunate migrant who had made his last trip across the seas, perhaps the victim of a migrant falcon. (and yes, we still could hear the rufous hornbills honking regularly even on the beach!)
blurred in flight: a resident white-bellied sea eagle carrying off a huge banded sea krait!
the remains of a common kingfisher
the raptor count for our last morning: 1,991! over 14,000 raptors counted in four days! an monumental number to match an extraordinary journey. thank you to alex and tere for inviting us to join them on their voyage of discovery: a week of birding, the outdoors, culture and food! we're looking forward to the autumn migration! pictures are nice but a movie is better. here's adri's digiscoped video of a part of a kettle of raptors dancing in the skies.
