The Best Pigeons

Birds in North and South America are great, but I have to admit there are some departments where the New World can't even hope to compete with the Old World. Kingfishers are one of those- there are only 6 species of kingfisher in North and South America combined, while there are 9 just on the island I live on right now. Doves and pigeons are another. They tend to be rather dull and not terribly diverse in the Americas, whereas here in Southeast Asia especially evolution kind of went crazy with them. Fruit Doves and Imperial Pigeons are spectacular and good-looking, and then there are some really weird ones like the crowned pigeons or the Tooth-billed Pigeon.

Another weird one is the Nicobar Pigeon, a massive, ground-dwelling pigeon with long, shiny-green feathers that look like hair. It's found throughout Southeast Asia, but mostly on small, uninhabited islands as it's not tolerant to almost any disturbance of its habitat. In the Philippines, there are only two known locations where it can be semi-easily seen: Apo Reef, located west of Mindoro, and Ursula Island, a tiny uninhabited island off the coast of far southern Palawan. Apo Reef is where most people see them, but it usually costs about a million dollars to get there and the pigeons there are released captives rather than truly wild. That leaves Ursula as the best site to see them in the Philippines. I had considered going to see them during my previous visit to Palawan with my uncle Kevin last year, but renting a boat out there proved to be too expensive. I resigned myself to probably never seeing it in the Philippines.

As luck would have it however, later this year I happened to learn about a scheduled tour of Ursula Island in April, run by Wild Expeditions Palawan, the premier birding and general outdoor tour company in Palawan. It was at a reasonable rate and at a time of year I'd be relatively free, so I signed up. Even better, it fell at the same time Nikki was going to visit the Philippines while on break from university in Australia, so she decided to join as well.

When I arrived back in the Philippines from Hawaii, I had just a day or so of rest in Manila (and by rest I mean work) before flying to Puerto Princesa for the start of the tour. There, we met our companions, including Rommel, the birding guide for the tour, and fellow birders Alan and Chin, as well as a lot more people who were more interested in the beaches than the birds.

The departure point for the boat trip to Ursula Island is located in Bataraza, the town on the far southwestern tip of Palawan. Getting there from Puerto Princesa involved a six-hour drive in a cramped, uncomfortable van on twisty, unreliably-paved roads. The trip is beautiful, with views of green rice fields in front of the craggy limestone mountains that make up the backbone of Palawan, but enjoying it was a bit difficult when I was distracted by the bruises slowly but steadily forming on my rear end.

Finally we arrived in the community of Rio Tuba, where the port is located. Rio Tuba has the distinction of being essentially owned in entirety by the Rio Tuba Nickel Mining Corporation, one of the largest nickel mines in Southeast Asia. Nearing the community by road, one starts to notice that vehicles passing are coated in fine, rust-red dust. Eventually, that fine dust covers everything in sight- the roads, the buildings, the trees, and more or less the people. I can only imagine the array of exotic respiratory issues presented by the local population, even those who don't actually work in the mine. Our arrival was in the late afternoon, after which there was nothing to do until the next morning when our boat would depart. That pretty much confined us to the small, grimy hotel we were staying in, as the town as a whole wasn't particularly safe to walk in, something that seems to be a trend for mining communities.

Our boat ride out to Ursula itself was early the next morning. It started innocuously enough, with a bumpy ride down muddy roads to the dilapidated pier where our boats were waiting. I was pleased to see that our boat was one owned by the local unit of Marines, which they insisted they ride in for safety. Once we got out to sea, things got... worse. It turns out that seas can be a little rough that time of year in Palawan, and we were in the back of a boat with no rain cover. Those of us foolish enough to have our cameras out with us soon learned our lesson as waves started splashing in our faces. The ride ended up being more than an hour of constant drenching on the open sea, no doubt as our Marine escort watched us from the cockpit and laughed. I'm sure I saw three or more life birds out at sea, but the boat was bouncing around so much that I couldn't even get my binoculars on them.

Getting out of the boat on the sandy shores of Ursula Island was one of the few times I've been tempted to literally kiss the ground at my feet. Thankfully, the good birds on the island started quickly, with a White-bellied Sea Eagle flying just a few feet above my head. The bird turned out to be a resident, with its perch just above our eating area, allowing great perched pictures (which is good since I messed up all my flight pictures of it). Also near our eating area was a very cute and tame Philippine Pied Fantail, at the very far western end of its range.

Exposure? Check. Focus? Check. Framing? ehhhh....

White-bellied Sea Eagle

Philippine Pied Fantail

After setting our stuff down, we set out into the center of the island in search of our bird targets. Ursula is a tiny island in the middle of the Sulu Sea, one of the more remote parts of the Philippines, in fact. That means that it retains its original virgin forest, which is tall and dense despite it being such a small island. Walking through it was a bit of a challenge, as there was lots of undergrowth filled with spiderwebs to negotiate. Though the spiders were, at least, rather interesting spiders.

Argiope luzona, an orb-weaving spider

Treetrunk Spider (Hersillidae sp.)

For the first bit of walking, we heard lots of wingbeats as strange, unknown birds saw us and flew away, but very few sightings of anything except for a couple of Collared Kingfishers. Asian Koel and Grey Imperial Pigeons, the latter nearly endemic to the Philippines and another small-island specialist, were calling but difficult to see. Finally, we flushed a huge pigeon into the canopy by accident, and what did it turn out to be but a Nicobar Pigeon? We all had good views, though the light was terrible and it was hard to get a good picture as the wind was moving the tree branches all around. Still a great privilege to see one of the rarest pigeons in the Philippines.

If you look closely you can tell it's a Nicobar Pigeon!

We continued crashing our way through the thick underbrush, but unfortunately never got any better views of the pigeons. Eventually we ended up on the remote beaches of the far side of the island, where we had a Grey-tailed Tattler, the only shorebird I saw on the expedition, and another flyby from the White-bellied Sea Eagle.

Pacific Reef Heron on the beach

Grey-tailed Tattler- is it just me or does it look a bit dark?

We walked back along the beach and had lunch back at the campsite. After lunch we returned to the forest, hoping for a better view of the Nicobar Pigeon. It took some searching, but after a bit we had fantastic views of a few Nicobar Pigeons sitting quietly on tree branches, most of them spotted by the forest rangers who are the island's only inhabitants.

Nicobar Pigeon!

Vanda lamellata, a Southeast Asian orchid

Grey Imperial Pigeon

Nothodanus schaeffera schaeffera, a fairly rare lycaenid

Satisfied with our birding, we returned to camp. Late in the afternoon, Nikki and I took another walk around the island to enjoy the beach and look for the sea turtles that some others had found. We didn't see the turtles, but it was a good reminder of why most people come to Ursula Island: the beaches are absolutely sublime. Pure, white sand on a sunny day, and not a soul around to share the beach with. Life could be worse. I can only hope that the beach quality made the nightmarish boat ride worth it for the non-birders.

Around sunset, the next real show began. Ursula Island, as it happens, is one of the most important roosting sites for Pied Imperial Pigeon, a large and attractive pigeon found in the Philippines and Indonesia. The pigeons go to larger islands (such as mainland Palawan) to feed, but return to their roost every night. Just as the sun began to set, in came the pigeons- thousands, and thousands of them. The beauty of watching flock after flock of black-and-white pigeons flying over one's head in the light of the setting sun is difficult to describe, and difficult to capture in a picture too. It captured the feeling of childlike wonder that's one of the main reasons I've always loved birds, and why I've become a birdwatcher.

Watching thousands of imperial pigeons flying over our heads would have been the perfect way to end the day, but our day wasn't over yet. After the sun had set and we'd eaten our dinner of fresh-caught fish, we headed back into the woods once more to search for another small island target: Mantanani Scops-owl. The owls are fairly common within the proper habitat, but the proper habitat is difficult to find: mostly tiny islands mostly in the central and western Philippines, as well as a couple of islands just off Borneo. It didn't take too long in the forest to hear them hooting in the trees above it, but it took a lot of searching with flashlights before we were finally able to get on one of them. I got a good view, but the darn thing flew off just as I raised my camera, as owls like to do.

Still a better picture than what I have of most owls I've seen.

Roosting Pied Imperial Pigeons

The next morning, we had time for one more quick traipse through the jungle, where I finally had a quick glimpse of Philippine Megapode, my last lifer on the island. After that it was back onto the boats for another terrifying ride to the mainland. The White-bellied Sea Eagle was flying around us as we left, perhaps to wish us goodbye after a successful trip.

Ursula Island was certainly one of the most unique birding experiences I've ever had, as well as one of the most remote places I've ever been in the Philippines. Certainly I'd recommend it to anyone wishing to see some of the best pigeons Asia has to offer (and decent beaches I suppose). Nonetheless, I have to admit that I'm a bit glad that it remains remote and rarely-visited; it adds to the mystique, and helps protect it from the over-development that seems to plague tourist sites in the Philippines, regardless of how well-meaning the developers and visitors are.

Our parting glimpse of the beach

Bad hair day?

It was another long, uncomfortable van ride back to Puerto Princesa, then an excellent dinner at one of my favorite restaurants in town. Nikki flew home early the next morning, but I wasn't leaving until the evening. Instead, Alan and I met up to go birding at Irawan Eco-Park, one of the well-known birding sites in Puerto Princesa city. It was a good if not spectacular morning birding, with lots of Blue-naped Parrots, Common Hill Myna, Black-headed Bulbuls, and even a pair of Palawan Hornbills- all good birds that aren't found in the Philippines outside of Palawan. We saw a phylloscopus warbler (either Arctic Warbler or Kamchatka Leaf Warbler) beating a worm against a branch before eating it, and a Hair-crested Drongo sitting on a partially-constructed nest.

Blue-naped Parrot

Black-headed Bulbul

Arctic or Kamchatka Leaf Warbler

Hair-crested Drongo

Some kind of dragonfly

Much better photograpy-wise was my late afternoon visit to the Badjao Seafront Restaurant, a beautiful restaurant located at the end of a short boardwalk through a mangrove forest. The restaurant is supposedly good for Spotted Wood Owl and Palawan Frogmouth, but of course I never saw or heard either of those because Palawan night birds seem to hate me. There were lots of interesting things there nonetheless, including a female Pygmy Flowerpecker of the Palawan subspecies, a flock of Common Iora, a booming Greater Coucal, and a highly cooperative male Mangrove Blue Flycatcher. It was a great spot, but all I had time for was an hour or so of birdwatching before eating a quick dinner and heading to the airport to go back to Davao and continue my adventures elsewhere.