breathing space

Monday, May 12

makiling in may

because it was mother's day weekend, i couldn't join the southwoods birding group or mike's sunday dude birding at taal. so, i checked my birding notes from last year and was excited to see that on may 22, 2007, adri and i saw 4 spotted wood-kingfishers and 4 white-browed shamas on the forest trail.
a quick text brigade to the guys and on saturday we were off to makiling at 4am complete with sandwiches and coolers, expecting to spend the entire day birding.

yahoo! makiling was generous to us again. we saw the strange sight of a white-browed shama hopping about the ground on the trail. twice. and the spotted wood-kingfishers! they were unusually vocal even in the late morning until after lunch, and we enjoyed 6 sightings in all! all of them seemed to be preoccupied with eating or hunting, so were pretty much oblivious to our presence.
the grey-backed tailorbird would not be left out, coming out into the open from a tangle of vines, calling loudly. we could clearly see its entire body vibrating with each trill.
a philippine hawk-cuckoo also flew back and forth across the trail, taking wing only
when we were a couple of meters away, only to perch in the same place after we passed it.

so to all birders out there... may is a good time for the residents and endemics. probably going crazy mating and breeding after the migrants have gone.
(ok, i know i have no bird pictures. i don't think i can afford a camera for bird photography soon, so i'll just be content with creepies and crawlies and birders in action.)
http://katrinket.multiply.com/photos/album/31/makiling_creatures

see us in a line watching a female spotted wood-kingfisher downing a juicy caterpillar! it looks funny in the picture,
we didn't realise we were so orderly!

BIRDLIST: Forest Trail
1. Philippine Serpent-Eagle Spilornis holospilus 2
2. White-eared Brown-Dove Phapitreron leucotis 3 heard more
3. Black-chinned Fruit-Dove Ptilinopus leclancheri 3 heard more
4. Luzon Bleeding-heart Gallicolumba luzonica x heard
5. Guaiabero Bolbopsittacus lunulatus 1
6. Colasisi Loriculus philippensis 6 heard more
7. Philippine Hawk-Cuckoo Cuculus pectoralis 2 heard more
8. Scale-feathered Malkoha Lepidogrammus cumingi 3
9. Red-crested Malkoha     (Rough-crested Malkoha) Dasylophus superciliosus 2
10. Philippine Coucal Centropus viridis x heard several
11. Glossy Swiftlet Collocalia esculenta 3
12. Spotted Wood-Kingfisher           (Spotted Kingfisher) Actenoides lindsayi 6 heard more
13. Blue-throated Bee-eater Merops viridis 7
14. Tarictic Hornbill      (Luzon Hornbill) Penelopides manillae x heard
15. Coppersmith Barbet Megalaima haemacephala 4
16. Philippine Pygmy Woodpecker      (Philippine Woodpecker) Dendrocopos maculatus 2 heard more
17. Red-bellied Pitta Pitta erythrogaster x heard
18. Bar-bellied Cuckoo-shrike Coracina striata 4 heard more
19. Yellow-wattled Bulbul Pycnonotus urostictus 3
20. Philippine Bulbul Ixos philippinus 12 heard more
21. Balicassiao Dicrurus balicassius 14 heard more
22. Large-billed Crow Corvus macrorhynchos 3
23. Elegant Tit Parus elegans 1
24. Stripe-headed Rhabdornis (Stripe-sided Rhabdornis) Rhabdornis mystacalis 9 heard more
25. White-browed Shama Copsychus luzoniensis 2 heard more
26. Grey-backed Tailorbird Orthotomus derbianus 1 heard more
27. Black-naped Monarch Hypothymis azurea 1 heard more
28. Plain-throated Sunbird      (Brown-throated Sunbird) Anthreptes malacensis 3
29. Flaming Sunbird Aethopyga flagrans 1
30. Buzzing Flowerpecker Dicaeum hypoleucum 1
31. Pygmy Flowerpecker Dicaeum pygmaeum 1
32. Lowland White-eye Zosterops meyeni 1

BIRDLIST: Dairy fields
1. Spotted Buttonquail Turnix ocellatus 1
2. Barred Rail Gallirallus torquatus x heard several
3. Philippine Coucal Centropus viridis 1
4. Asian Palm-Swift Cypsiurus balasiensis 1
5. White-throated Kingfisher Halcyon smyrnensis 1
6. White-collared Kingfisher           (Collared Kingfisher) Todirhamphus chloris 1
7. Blue-tailed Bee-eater Merops philippinus 6
8. Yellow-vented Bulbul Pycnonotus goiavier x common
9. Philippine Bulbul Ixos philippinus 2 heard several
10. Oriental Magpie-Robin Copsychus saularis 1
11. White-browed Shama Copsychus luzoniensis 1
12. Striated Grassbird Megalurus palustris 2
13. Bright-capped Cisticola              (Golden-headed Cisticola) Cisticola exilis 1
14. Zitting Cisticola      (Fan-tailed Cisticola) Cisticola juncidis x heard
15. Pied Fantail Rhipidura javanica 1
16. Long-tailed Shrike Lanius schach 1
17. Brown Shrike Lanius cristatus x heard
18. Eurasian Tree Sparrow Passer montanus x common

Sunday, April 20

raptorwatch

we celebrated an early earth day at tanay, rizal with probably the last raptorwatch for this season. the gazebo at the santos's farm was a comfortable change from the open talahib fields or even the pag-asa watch tower.

loads and loads of food (non-stop nibbling from 10am to 4pm), good company, a lovely breeze and a great view of the sierra madre would've been enough to satisfy me... but the thermaling raptors in the distance and a few overhead flybys were the icing on the cake.

honestly, i had truly thought that it was a bit late in the season and we had little chance to catch any of the migrants leaving. but it too beautiful a day (and i had too much sleep already from yesterday) to stay inside. well, i was sort of right, we probably had a total of fewer than five hundred birds. still...

a hundred raptors rising like a tower up from the mountains in the mid-day heat, higher and higher and higher is truly a fantastic sight. i never fail to marvel at this spectacle. how long have these magnificent birds been doing this? it must be close to perfection. regal creatures these are soaring so far above ground.

and now i realise how appropriate it was to celebrate earth day with these beautiful creatures. they are truly creatures of the earth, traveling across lands and oceans long before boundaries were set by man.

Wednesday, April 9

back from agusan

I just spent a week in Agusan del Sur... 2 days on a floating schoolhouse in Lake Mihaba in the Agusan Marsh, a rainy night on the slopes of Mt. Magdiwata, an afternoon on a floating view deck on Lake Binoni, and a short birding sortie at the Binaba Falls on the Gibong River.
The hospitality of the Agusanons was overwhelming. What started out as a birding trip turned into a true Agusan adventure for our group of ten (Adri and I, Tere, Alex, Tintin, Arnel, Felix, Nicky, Carmela and Edmundo).
I miss the quiet stillness of the marsh the most, and the insect bites the least.
http://katrinket.multiply.com/photos/album/30/agusan_adventure
In the meantime... back to reality in the heat of Manila.

Monday, March 17

summer's here

...and suddenly the cool mornings have turned dry and hot.

summer's here!

what better way to celebrate the start of summer than with a tall glass of razon's halo halo after a full weekend of candaba and subic birding with friends on palm sunday?

strange though that we still have class until wednesday, and that finals are AFTER easter sunday.
still... it's going to be a full summer... a mindanao trip and summer classes on the top of the list.
wonder what else is in store for me?

Tuesday, March 11

a very birdy makiling

Makiling was unusually productive last Sunday, we (Alex T., Tere, Ixi, Mang Boy, Adri & I) racked a total of 49 species seen and/or heard in good numbers.

This coppersmith barbet was part of a pair which took turns hollowing out a a dead branch.

The "flock of the day" were actually 3 flocks of ashy minivets bringing with them several other birds. In one tree (yes, the magic malapapaya tree), around 20 minivets were accompanied by sulphur-billed nuthatches, elegant tits, black-naped monarchs, striped-headed rhabdornis (es?), a striped flowerpecker (yes, with the wagging tail), pygmy woodpeckers, even balicassiaos! Another flock also had an arctic warbler, yellow-bellied whistlers and yellow-wattled bulbuls. We couldn't take our eyes off them (well, we eventually had to)! I love mixed flocks. A surprise is always somewhere in there.

Frightened a red-bellied pitta on the trail. It scuttled into the undergrowth with that occasional look back that I have seen so many times. Argh. After so long a search on the forest trail, a glimpse at last. Still a sighting is a sighting, no matter how fleeting.

There was also a tree draped in a flowering jade vine, how beautiful! So many trees in bloom (have they been freaked by the weather too?), hopefully, fruit (and more birds) will follow soon.

It seems Mariang Makiling was in a good mood that day. I didn't want to leave, but there were other places to be.