Ode to the Philippine Eagle Center

When I wasn't leading birding trips or gallivanting across Mindanao, one of my most frequent birding activities in Davao was helping with the monthly public birdwatching events at the Philippine Eagle Center. They were events I looked forward to every month, partly since the PEC is one of my favorite places in Davao- it holds a beautiful forest area, and it's the closest most Filipinos are likely to get to a Philippine Eagle (unless they get very lucky). The other reason is that I love introducing more people to birding, especially young people, and helping people enjoy wild birds in ways that don't involve slingshotting them or turning them into adobo. The events were organized by the indefatigable volunteers at the PEC, with help from representatives from the Wild Bird Club of the Philippines (usually Pete or myself). 

My last two First Saturdays before leaving the Philippines and returning to the US were the first Saturdays of May and June of this year. I also posted these on the Birdwatching in Davao facebook page much closer to the date (thankfully), but since I've been itching to make more posts from the Philippines I'll put them up here as well. 

First Saturdays always start in the parking area of the Philippine Eagle Center, and nearly every time some of the best birds are seen by the parking lot. I'm not sure what it is with parking lots the world over, but they seem to always provide good birds. June was no exception, with a Philippine Coucal munching on a katydid and a female Pied Triller in a tree right above our heads- not rare birds, but fun to show to new birders, especially since the former is a Philippine endemic. Rarer and more frustrating was a Himalayan or Oriental Cuckoo that made a brief appearance. Himalayan and Oriental Cuckoo used to be considered the same species, but some overzealous taxonomist decided to split them in two a while back because of their different calls, despite the fact they look identical. Unfortunately they never call when they're in the Philippines, which meant that we weren't able to ID this bird to species level even with really good views of it.

Oriental/Himalayan Cuckoo

Pied Triller

Philippine Coucal with a katydid

Walking from the parking lot into the PEC itself, we had looks at a flock of Philippine Bulbuls and a beautiful Tailed Jay, one of my favorite butterflies in the Philippines. At the pond by the visitor's center, the resident Philippine Sailfin Lizard was lounging on the rocks, still a bit torpid from the cold morning.

Tailed Jay

Philippine Bulbul

Philippine Sailfin Lizard

After the customary wait by the pond for everyone to filter into the center and to see if anything interesting would show up (it didn't), we continued on into the grounds of the PEC. We were lucky enough to see an Orange-tufted Spiderhunter, an uncommon bird endemic to the Greater Mindanao area, perched on a branch and darting back and forth to a spiderweb. We also had better looks at the annoying unidentifiable cuckoo, plus a very cool Spiny Orb-weaver, much too big to be spiderhunter food.

Orange-tufted Spiderhunter

The mystery cuckoo

Spiny Orb-weaver (Gasteracantha diadesmia)

My favorite part was the excellent views that we had of a small flock of Greater Mindanao-endemic Brown Tit-babblers, usually common but difficult to see and photograph since they're total skulkers. These ones were unusually friendly, giving me the best pictures I've ever managed to get of that species. 

Brown Tit-babbler- with those horrid-looking tail feathers it might be in moult.

The last part of the morning before we started our traditional group tally of species gave us good looks at a nesting pair of endemic White-eared Brown Doves, plus a little sliver of the incredible lepidoptera diversity at the PEC.

White-eared Brown Dove

Danaus melanippus edmondii

Common Three-ring (Ypthima semperi)

Brown Pansy (Junonia hedonia)

My first Mapwing! (Cyrestis paulinus)

Hypolycaena sipylus tharrytas

After we did the day's tally (35 species!), I spent some time taking pictures of the nesting swiftlets in the education building- at the nest is essentially the only time it's possible to take a decent picture of a swiftlet anyway. Rai from the PEC pointed out that one of them had a differently-constructed nest, which matched the description of a Pygmy Swiftlet in the field guide. However, the bird was sitting in a way that didn't allow a view of its rump, so I'm not sure whether or not that's what it was. The other birds I'm pretty sure were Ridgetop Swiftlets (formerly called Glossy Swiftlet, but now considered an endemic). 

Pygmy Swiftlet? Or just a different-looking Ridgetop Swiftlet with a weird nest?

Ridgetop Swiftlet

My next visit to the PEC, for the first Saturday of June, was my last visit there, as I wasn't available for the next month's event. Thankfully, it ended up being a doozy of an event, enough to leave me with plenty of fond memories of the PEC. Once again, the parking lot at sunrise was fertile ground for birds, with a Guaiabero perched on an unusually open perch, a pair of immature Brahminy Kites in a distant tree, and a flock of lovely endemic Rufous-crowned Bee-eaters that appeared just as we were about to head inside, joined by an endemic Yellow-wattled Bulbul.

Guaiabero

Brahminy Kites

Rufous-crowned Bee-eater

Bee-eater playing with its food

Olive-backed Sunbird photobombing

Yellow-wattled Bulbul

Inside the PEC, we had unusually good luck with rare endemic birds, getting good looks at a Brown-breasted Kingfisher and a Rufous-lored Kingfisher, the least-common of the three endemic kingfishers found at the PEC. Even more unusual was the sighting of a Black-faced Coucal, the best-looking of the coucals of the Philippines and an uncommon Greater Mindanao endemic. We also found yet White-eared Brown Dove nest.

Brown-breasted Kingfisher

Rufous-lored Kingfisher

Black-faced Coucal

White-eared Brown Dove on the nest

The coolest part of the day was the Brown-breasted Kingfisher perched in the open holding a dead frog in its beak, calling out to its mate even with a beakful of amphibian. It sat long enough for everyone in the party to get great views through Pete's scope- hard to complain about a birding day that involves that. 

Brown-breasted Kingfisher with breakfast

The PEC staff and volunteers deserve a huge amount of credit for all the work they've done over the years to promote environmental awareness in the Philippines- it's far from just First Saturdays, but also includes symposiums, public events at malls, educational outreach in rural communities, and of course all they work they do for the conservation of the Philippine Eagle, which would probably be in an even more dire situation today if it hadn't been for their efforts. Unfortunately it seems that First Saturday trips have ceased since I left thanks to some annoying birding politics. However, Pete is still doing excellent work holding birding events elsewhere in Davao, as are some of the other volunteers who helped out at these events. Still, I'll always remember these fondly as the events that got me into birding way back in 2016, and I'm sure they're remembered fondly by many others as well.