Highs and Lows in Quezon

Few events have shaken the birding and bird photography world in the Philippines in the past year like the discovery of a freshly built road through primary mountain forest in Infanta, Quezon, just a couple of hours southeast of Manila. Suddenly, endemic birds that were previously extremely difficult, such as Flame-breasted Fruit Dove, Bicol Ground Warbler, and Olive-backed Flowerpecker are now accessible along the side of a nicely-paved road, just a quick trip from home. It's hard to know long it will stay like that- new roads in the Philippines also tend to mean new settlers and new land opened up for illegal logging and slash-and burn agriculture. But for now, it really is a fantastic spot for even the laziest of birders.

This meant less for me as a Mindanao-based birder, as all those birds are still a long plane-ride away, but I still welcome the chance to visit the site on my rare visits back to Manila, especially since every time I go good sightings of the best birds tend to elude. Thankfully, on a quick weekend in the capital last March before leaving for a visit to the US, my frequent partner-in-birding crime Irene was more than happy to join for a one-day Infanta trip. I decided I had two target: the pitta that is often seen at this site, and the Philippine Hawk Eagle, the endangered endemic eagle that's less reliable but still often seen.

We left Manila bright and early at 3AM in order to get to the site before sunrise. Getting to Infanta requires dealing first with Metro Manila traffic (yes, there is traffic even at 3 in the morning), then with the curvy, unreliably paved road that winds up into the southern reaches of the Sierra Madre mountains. We arrived just before dawn, with still a little bit of dark time for owling. Unfortunately, the owls were, as far as we could tell, entirely absent- perhaps as a result of the rain and wind, or perhaps just because I still have terrible luck when it comes to owls. We eventually gave up on the owls, and returned to the car to shelter from drizzle.

By the time the sun came up, the rain had gone and we were greeted with a beautiful sunrise and (even better) chirping birds. A couple of Philippine Fairy-bluebirds, one of the site specialties, were singing in the open from up on a hillside, but it was still too dark for good pictures.

Sunrise over the southern Sierra Madre

We decided to spend the "peak hours" of the morning searching for my pitta target. Unfortunately, despite lots of time stalking around in the undergrowth and walking along the road, all we managed was a single call from far up a mountainside before the bird fell silent, never to call again. It's supposedly relatively reliable, but, well, dipping on relatively reliable birds is somewhat of a constant in my visits to Infanta, so I suppose it wasn't surprising.

On the other hand, we did have good looks at other forest birds. A Blue-headed Fantail darted through the canopy around us, using a bizarre call neither of us had heard before, and it was joined by other common mixed-flock birds like Sulphur-billed Nuthatch and Green-backed Whistler. Even better, we saw two of the specialty endemic fruit doves of the area, Cream-bellied Fruit Dove and Yellow-breasted Fruit Dove (the third, Flame-breasted Fruit Dove, called but wasn't seen, as usual), though neither stopped long enough to get good pictures. A Philippine Cuckoo-dove, on the other hand, did pose fairly well. While waiting and hoping for pittas, I entertained myself with some other insect and plant life in the jungle- there's always something new to discover in rainforests.

Philippine Cuckoo-dove

Nyctemera coleta 

Nothing like some good shelf fungus!

Impressive but as-of-yet unidentified Tiger Beetle (therates sp.)

Along the road, we had good views of some other birds like Philippine Fairy-bluebirds, Yellow-wattled Bulbuls, and an Olive-backed Flowerpecker, another site specialty that can be incredibly hard to get a good picture of- this was my first time managing a picture of any sort, and it even came out halfway decent. More frustrating were the fantastic views we had of a group of Scaly-breasted Malkoha, a large and spectacular-looking cuckoo endemic to Luzon. Why frustrating? Because my camera had the temerity to run out of battery as soon as I pointed, focused, and pressed the shutter button. The flock was nice enough to sit watching me as I fumbled around with my extra battery, only to fly off and never be seen again once my camera was ready again. Of course it was my own fault for not changing the battery sooner, but on a frustrating day it felt more like the birding gods frowning upon me once more.

Olive-backed Flowerpecker

Philippine Fairy-bluebird

Mountain forest from the roadside

We stopped for an early lunch at Hulk Restobar, one of the restaurants along the road, known for its excellent rabbit-based food and horrible sculpture of the Incredible Hulk on the roadside. The restaurant's viewdeck has an excellent viewpoint over the mountains, which is perfect for watching raptors, and where I hoped to see my second target of Philippine Hawk-eagle, after effectively missing the pitta. It proved to be an overall excellent day for raptors, with flyovers from Rufous-bellied Eagle, Philippine Serpent-eagle, Oriental Honey-buzzard, Philippine Honey-buzzard, and Grey-faced Buzzard. Essentially the only raptor missing was, well, the hawk-eagle.

Rufous-bellied Eagle

Rufous-bellied Eagle

Oriental Honey-buzzard

Mountain forest from the Hulk viewdeck

Arundina graminifolia, a beautiful but most likely introduced orchid

Eventually I gave up and chalked it up to yet more bad birding luck, and we moved further along the road to try for the Northern Rufous Hornbills that had been seen recently from very nearby. Irene took a nap in her car while I continued down the road on foot. After walking half a kilometer, I didn't see much besides a Paddyfield Pipit and a Blue Rock Thrush, so I decided to turn back. Just as I turned around to go back to the car and back to Manila, what should fly into a dead tree along the road but a Philippine Hawk-eagle? It stayed there for a minute or so while I took as many pictures as I could, giving far better views than any other raptor we'd seen that day. Ah, birding! Philippine Hawk-eagles are an endangered species, with an estimated population of fewer than 600 mature individuals, so this was a truly excellent find.

Successful Paddyfield Pipit with a beakful of grasshoppers

Philippine Hawk-eagle!

Encouraged by the thought that the day had been at least partially a success, we returned back to Manila for some much-needed nap, and so that I could do some much-needed packing for my visit to the United States.