The Best Birds

Oh, where to begin about the best bird. It's the world's largest eagle, with a wingspan of over 7 feet, and its scientific name, Pithecophaga Jeffreyi, refers to its penchant for eating monkeys as a staple of its diet. It's found only in the Philippines, or more specifically three or four islands in the Philippines, and even there only in areas with large expanses of primary forest. It's nearly extinct, with a total population of less than 500 birds in the wild. It is, of course, the Philippine Eagle, the national bird of the Philippines, and if there's a better bird in the world I have yet to hear about. 

Oh, and as of May 2018, I'd still never seen the damn thing, despite living for two years in Mindanao, the last stronghold of the Philippine Eagle, and living in Davao, where it's somewhat of an emblem of the city. It was really quite embarrassing. In my defense, Philippine Eagles are incredibly difficult to find, especially for independent, budget-minded birders like me. Foreign birders visiting the country on the official tour generally make the slog up to the Del Monte Lodge (really a glorified shack) on Mount Kitanglad to view the eagles nesting on the opposite side of a valley, or perhaps soaring a kilometer or so away. It's great, assuming that one has $600 or so to spare for a 3-day excursion. 

For the budget-conscious, meanwhile, options are generally limited to climbing a mountain in Mindanao and spending hours staring desperately at the sky in hopes for an eagle flyby. I'd done just this, in fact, back in 2016 when I visited the Cinchona Forest Reserve (on the opposite side of Kitanglad from the Del Monte Lodge). I had, in fact, heard the eagle calling as it flew overhead, but as I was deep in the forest I never managed to see. That made me quite possibly the only birder in the world to have Philippine Eagle as a "heard only" on my life list. Quite a distinction, though not one I wanted to remain with for the rest of my life. 

It was with great interest, therefore, that I read about the pair of eagles that have their territory in the Cinchona area had built a nest and hatched a chick this year. Any story of a Philippine Eaglet hatching is good news, as their incredibly low reproductive rate is one reason they're facing extinction today. Eagles only lay one egg when they nest, and it takes at least two years for the young bird to become independent enough to stray away from its parents. Even better for me, however, it turned out that the nest area was accessible via trail, and the birds could be observed from a safe distance. Once the nest was discovered the area was closed for a while to allow the chick to grow to maturity undisturbed, which I thought made sense. Once a bunch of bird photographers started posting hundreds of selfies of themselves in the forest on Facebook, however, I knew that it was safe to visit. 

My first trip to Cinchona was immediately after my semi-successful climb up Mount Dulang-Dulang, with Brendan Sloan still joining. We arranged to stay in the "White House" at the Cinchona Forest Reserve headquarters, which doubles as the house of Blackie, the head park ranger at Cinchona and sometime-birding guide. It's the most basic of accommodations, essentially consisting of empty bedframes with no mattresses or bedding (though Blackie and his wife can occasionally supply sheets and pillows), but it gets the job done, and at least there's electricity and running water, unlike the Del Monte Lodge which is about 60 times the price. 

We arrived at the White House late in the evening after having climbed up and down a mountain, with time only to put down our bags and instantly fall asleep. We opted to try some owling the next morning, as Brendan was still missing Giant Scops-owl, but it was a total bust, with nothing but heard-only Philippine Frogmouth and Everett's Scops-owl. After a spot of breakfast, we began hiking towards the eagle's nest. The area around the White House was surprisingly good for birding, with a beautiful Yellow-breasted Fruit Dove skulking in a tangle of vines, and a few Amethyst Brown Doves in a fruiting nearby- the first time I'd ever gotten a picture of one, though none of my dove pictures came out spectacularly.

Yellow-breasted Fruit Dove

Amethyst Brown Dove

The walk to the eagle's nest took about an hour up a gentle slope. We got very lucky in that it had been dry weather for the past few days (I guess the chicken sacrifice the previous day did its job), meaning that the blood leeches (locally known as alimatok) were not as prevalent as usual. That left us free to ignore our feet and spend our time looking out for birds. We didn't spend too much time on the mixed as we'd already seen everything, and they remained high in the canopy and difficult to photograph, as birds in the Philippines usually are. More tantalizing was a calling Blue-capped Wood Kingfisher, one of the most difficult-to-see endemic kingfishers, which remained resolutely out of view despite my best efforts. 

Cinnamon Ibon

Tisis sp.

As a matter of fact, we heard the Philippine Eagle long before we saw it: the young bird was making repeated keening sounds as its parent was at the nest feeding. We rushed up to the nesting site hoping to see the adult at the nest, but by the time we were in the proper place it had flown off. It took a long time before we actually managed to spot the juvenile bird, but just as I was beginning to think I would somehow walk away with yet another "heard only", I saw the bird through the foliage. 

Why hello there.

There's something special about seeing a Philippine Eagle in the wild that I find it difficult to describe. Even though the bird we were seeing hadn't fledged yet, it was still absolutely massive- from where we were it looked like it was the size of a Labrador Retriever, and could probably eat one if it wanted to. At the risk of anthropomorphizing a bird, something about its stance and the way it surveys the forest around it clearly says "king of the forest" (or "apex predator" if you want to get scientific). Some of the bird photographers went as far as to give the young eagle a name, which seems like a bit much, but it's impossible not to feel like the bird you're looking at is something special, because it is.

We spent a couple of hours near the nest in the hide that had been constructed, hoping the adult bird might return but mostly just enjoying being in the presence of one of the best birds in the world. Eventually we began the climb down as it was getting hot and the adult showed no signs of coming. We were fairly well-concealed from the eagle in the hide, but it also felt right to not spend too much time potentially disturbing it anyway. The walk down was uneventful except for a possible sighting by Brendan of a Goodfellow's Jungle-flycatcher- but unfortunately too quick to confirm as the bird disappeared into the forest before he could get on it properly. Down nearer to the White House, the Yellow-breasted Fruit Doves were still in their usual tree, and a Whiskered Treeswift observed us from its perch. 

Whiskered Treeswift

Yellow-breasted Fruit Dove

After a quick lunch, we headed down the mountain, as I had to continue on to Cagayan de Oro for work and Brendan had other appointments elsewhere on Mindanao. That might have been the end of this blog post, but I left Kitanglad wondering if I'd really seen enough of the Philippine Eagle. Fortuitously, I found out that Jing, my coworker and sometime-birding companion, was also interested in seeing Philippine Eagle, and that we fortuitously had work meetings nearby a few weeks later in June. With that in mind, it was an easy decision to return to the mountain and look for Philippine Eagles. 

We arrived, yet again, late at night at the White House after a bumpy ride on the back of motorcycles, though this time I had the chance to do some mothing in the area, one of my favorite activities when birds aren't around. Moths in the Philippines are difficult because the majority of them either haven't been scientifically described or can't be identified from photos. Therefore, it's not a great activity for people wanting to accumulate big lepidoptera lists (and yes, there are people who list moths, butterflies, and dragonflies- usually Brits who get bored after they've seen all 20 species of bird usually found in the UK). On the other hand, there's always something cool and interesting-looking to be seen. Most of what I saw at the White House couldn't be IDed beyond family or genus, but it did include a possible range extension for Monocerotesa proximesta, a striking geometer moth, and a Lappet Moth, a cute moth that looks like a cross between a pig and a dead leaf. 

Herminiinae sp.

Monocerotesa proximesta

Herennia sp. (not a moth!)

Lophophelma sp.

Lappet Moth (Paralebeda sp.)

Leptomantella sp. (also not a moth!)

Idiochlora sp.

The next morning, we woke up bright and early to head up the trail to the eagle's roost. By this time, a few weeks after my first visit, the chick had already fledged, meaning that it wasn't guaranteed that it would be in its nest site. However, young eagles generally stay close to their nests for the first few months after they fledge, so we were optimistic we would see it. Sure enough, after a bit of searching, we found the Philippine Eagle perched near where it had been- but this time it was even bigger, and even closer to us. 

The young eagle looked possibly even more majestic than it had the last time, even when it was making keening noises in an attempt to get its parent to come and feed it another monkey or flying lemur. It's the sort of thing you can spend hours with and take hundreds of pictures of without getting tired of it. 

Just look at that beak...

The way down the mountain brought a few more birds, including extremely close views of Black-and-cinnamon Fantail and a surprise appearance from a Blue-capped Wood Kingfisher, though it remained rather far away and backlit. I had time for a few more moths and flowers at the White House below before we headed down the mountain once more and on to our meetings.

Black-and-cinnamon Fantail

Blue-capped Wood Kingfisher

Cool walking stick (Lonchodinae sp.)

Bertula sp.

Psilogramma discistriga 

Mocis undata

Dendrobium tiongii

Majestic as the bird is, and as encouraging as it is to see a successful nesting, the chick has a tough road ahead of it. While the low reproductive rate of the Philippine Eagle is one reason the birds are considered Critically Endangered today, the other reason is human encroachment on their environment and persecution by newcomers to their homes. Settlers are creeping ever higher up the mountains of Mindanao and cutting down ever more forest, but even though the high-altitude forests are probably safe for the medium term, the eagles are shot at depressing rates by farmers and hunters, either due to fears about them eating livestock or simply because of the inexplicable human urge to capture and/or kill anything that looks beautiful or interesting.

The Philippine Eagle Foundation has done admirable work in Philippine Eagle conservation, rehabilitating injured birds and working with local communities to raise awareness about the importance of the eagles, but even with their assistance the future of the species looks uncertain. There was initially optimism for the PEC's captive breeding program, but 7 of the 8 captive-raise chicks released to the wild have since been shot and killed, mostly because they lack a fear of humans and gravitate towards the nearest farm they can find. It seems that conservation of the existing population in the wild is the best way forward, but unless the government seriously ups its environmental regulation game  that's not certain to succeed. Unfortunately, like so many natural spectacles in the Philippines, the Philippine Eagle is something to see before it's gone.