Pajareo sin fronteras

Ohhh, Palawan. Unlike most of the places I visit, it's a name that will be familiar to anyone who's done even a little bit of research about tourist destinations in the Philippines, thanks to its pristine beaches and spectacular scenery. It's even more of a magnet for birders both from the Philippines and abroad, in part because it's far less environmentally degraded than most of the rest of the country, and in part because it has a huge number of birds that can't be seen elsewhere. Geologically, it's more closely related to Borneo and mainland Asia than the Philippines proper, being much "older" than the rest of the country, which was mostly created due to volcanic activity from the Philippine Sea Plate colliding with the Eurasian Plate. Bird-wise, that means that it shares many birds with Borneo that aren't in the rest of the country, like Common Iora and Crested Serpent-eagle, and has a large number of endemic birds, including the spectacular

Even before I came to the Philippines, Bohol had been an island I was already hoping to visit. When you google tourist locations for the country, it's one of the destinations that comes up first, along with the usual things like Palawan, the rice terraces, and Boracay. With a mixture of the dramatic landscape of the Chocolate Hills, countless white sandy beaches, and easy viewing of the rare Philippine Tarsier, it's like it's made for a tourist brochure. My reason for coming there during Kevin's visit was twofold: first of all, Nikki and her family were there for a quick weekend getaway, so it was a good excuse to spend some more time with her. Secondly, Bohol is home to Rajah Sikatuna National Park, which holds a stretch of pretty good-quality rainforest and some very good birding- a good way to pick up some more endemics and new birds for both of us. We only one night on the island, so it was a pretty tight schedule- the first day for some touristy things, and the s