We tried a bit of a drive deeper into the forest, but it was getting dark and, even though the forest was improving a little, it was a bad time for birds. We decided to head back to the poblacion and to our hotel in order to get some sleep before attempting owling the next morning. Back at the hotel it turned out that a few bird photographers were visiting at the same time. They had some fantastic shots of Yellow-breasted Fruit Dove, some raptors, and (what I was most jealous of) Mindanao Pygmy Squirrel, but no Wattled Broadbill. That's been a bit of a nemesis bird for lots of birders and bird photographers in the Philippines, but I was hoping that our combined bird luck would pan out again on this visit and that we'd re-find it at the site.
For some reason, Dannah's Inn in SNA has always proven to be a good spot to find moths, and this time it was no exception. I spent some time before bed working on expanding my moth list a little bit, even though half of what I saw couldn't be identified.
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| The creatively named Triangles (Trigonodes hyppasia) |
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| Creatonotos wilemani, a Philippine-endemic moth |
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| Sugarcane Looper (Mocis undata) |
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| Barsine nr. cuneonotata |
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| Cirrhocrista bracteolalis |
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| Spodoptera sp. |
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| Eoophila gibbosalis |
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| Rhinoceros Beetle (Xylotrupes pubescens) |
The next morning was an early, early start to get out to the forest before dawn for some owling. My first time owling in SNA had been on my previous visit, when I heard a few good owls, but we were hoping to discover even more- in particular, I'd heard reports from locals about the near-extinct Mindanao subspecies of Philippine Eagle Owl being there, which would have been a mega find. Alas, there were no eagle owls calling, but we were able to see a very distant
Colugo (Philippine Flying Lemur), and a
Philippine Frogmouth was calling from quite close to the road. After a bit of trying, we were able to get it to come out in the open, the first time I'd ever had a proper view of a Frogmouth in the Philippines (embarrassing, I know). Closer to dawn, we had a calling pair of
Mindanao Hawk-owls, always a pleasure to see even if they were high in a tree.
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| My terrible picture of a Philippine Frogmouth |
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| Even worse picture of Mindanao Hawk Owl |
We started walking down the birding road as the sun came up, although as with most places at dawn we could hear a lot and see barely anything. The things we could hear but not see were good birds-
Amethyst Brown Dove, Yellow-breasted Fruit Dove, Black-bibbed Cuckooshrike, Black-and-White Triller, Rufous-tailed Jungle Flycatcher, and the like, but they were all just heard. We did have a good look at a pair of
Mindanao Hornbills in the predawn light, plus some flybys from
Green Imperial Pigeon and
Metallic Pigeon.
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| Male Mindanao Hornbill |
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| The forest road |
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| Moonrise in the jungle |
As I was trying to get a better view of a pigeon that had just perched in a far-away tree, I noticed a couple of birds flitting across the road. I didn't initially pay much attention to that until Irene, who was closer, started gesturing excitedly to us-
Mindanao Wattled Broadbill! A flock of four Wattled Broadbills in fact, all calling out to each other. They moved through so quickly I could only get an out-of-focus record shot, but I was thrilled anyway- there's nothing like seeing someone getting a mega life bird, plus it was a bit of relief that I had more witnesses that there is, in fact, Wattled Broadbill at the site.
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| Mindanao Wattled Broadbill |
Feeling a bit less pressure, I kept on down the road, a bit ahead of the rest. A family of tiny
Philippine Falconets huddled together in a tree was a cute site, while a family of
Rufous Hornbills, the most charismatic bird of SNA, flew over. It was the time of year when the hornbill chicks had just fledged, so I had good looks throughout the visit of some of the bright-yellow juvenile birds.
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| Philippine Falconets |
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| Janardana Bushbrown (Mycalesis janardana) |
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| Rufous Hornbill |
As I was rounding a corner, I heard a three-note call I'd never heard before, but one that sounded a lot like the recordings of White-fronted Tit!
I searched frantically in the trees for the source of it, but never managed to get on it. Without a visual I wasn't willing to claim it definitively, but even knowing it might possibly be in the area was encouraging.
Shortly after, I saw another small bird up in a tree, though it wasn't a White-fronted Tit. In fact, I had no idea what it was- certainly a flycatcher, but nothing like what was known from the area, or any of the other possible birds that were supposed to be there. Pete and Irene weren't in the area so I wasn't able to get them on it, but were initially stumped as well when I showed them my pictures. After some discussion with others after we'd gone home and I'd processed my pictures, the consensus seems to be on
Asian Brown Flycatcher, a migrant bird that's rare in the Philippines, though common elsewhere in Southeast Asia. This was only the third eBird record for the Philippines outside of Palawan (where it's more common), and the southernmost for the country. Making things extra-complicated, the bird looks a bit different from the
dauurica species that migrates to the Philippines, not to mention that it was seen in July, long after when migratory birds would have headed north. With that in mind the possibility of a resident population of unknown heritage is possible, though considering no-one else has seen it it remains a mystery for now.
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| The enigmatic Asian Brown Flycatcher |
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I walked back up the road to reunite with the others, and we continued to the area of the mystery flycatcher and possible White-fronted Tit. Neither of them were present, but we did see Metallic Pigeon and Bar-bellied Cuckooshrike, as well as lots of smaller birds in the bushes, including Brown-throated Sunbird, Rufous-fronted Tailorbird, and Pygmy Flowerpecker, a new site record. Best of all was a pair of Philippine Fairy-bluebirds we tempted out of the forest. While the Luzon subspecies is relatively common, they're rare and declining in Mindanao, which is a shame as it's likely they'll be split to become a Mindanao-endemic species. Getting proper views of this was excellent then, even if I didn't get any good pictures.
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| Rufous-fronted Tailorbird |
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| Brown-throated Sunbird |
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| Bar-bellied Cuckooshrike |
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| Philippine Fairy-bluebird |
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| Impressive ant's nest |
Further down the road, we found a large tree full of holes, one of which appeared to hold nesting Coletos, and another that had nesting Blue-crowned Racket-tails! Parrots in Southeast Asia, especially the larger ones like racket-tails, are particularly sensitive since they're constantly trapped to become pets, so it's always a good thing to see them nesting.
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| Blue-crowned Racket-tail peeking from a nest hole |
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| Phalaenopsis sanderiana, an endemic orchid |
As Pete and I were trying to get a better look at a Black-bibbed Cuckooshrike, we heard a strange song from above us. Pete soon recognized it- White-fronted Tit! And sure enough, the song almost matched the recording that we had of the Luzon subspecies, though it was a bit different. We called Irene and Yepyep over, then set about frantically trying to get a view of the mega bird. Part of reason White-fronted Tits are one of the most difficult and sought-after Philippine endemics is that their favorite spot is the tallest part of a tall tree, and they almost always remain in the canopy far away from birders. The Mindanao birds, apparently, are no exception, and we only saw of it when it flew over us calling. It was the briefest of glimpses, but long enough to see the white on its face and a white wing-bar. Pete was the only one of us quick enough on the draw to get a picture, which, even though it's just a blurry flight shot, was the first-ever picture of a Mindanao White-fronted Tit.
We were thrilled with the mega sighting, especially Pete, for whom it was the first new Philippine endemic seen in years. White-fronted Tit hasn't been seen in PICOP, the main lowland birding site in Mindanao, for over 10 years, and even with the addition of the four of us there may be fewer than 10 birders who had ever seen the nehrkorni subspecies, ever. This subspecies is somewhat different-looking from the Luzon birds, with its huge white wing-patch and more white on the face, and that plus a rather different song may make it distinctive enough for a future split. What a relief, then, to know that it's not extinct as had been feared!
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| Trying to re-find the White-fronted Tit |
The White-fronted Tit continued calling and occasionally flying over our heads, though we were never able to get onto its perch. Eventually it got hotter and quieter, so I decided to wander further down the road as the others kept trying to get tit pictures. I ran into another flock of Mindanao Pygmy-babblers and a very friendly Philippine Falconet, as well as lots of cool non-bird wildlife: an endemic Two-spotted Flying Lizard, a graceful-looking Black Looper, and two tiny but fearsome crab spiders, waiting for unsuspecting pollinators to come by their flowers.
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| Philippine Falconet |
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| Mindanao Pygmy Babbler |
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| Two-spotted Flying Lizard (Draco bimaculatus) |
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| Common Five-ring |
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| Crab Spider (Thomisus sp.) |
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| Another Crab Spider (Thomisidae sp.) |
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| Black Looper (Hyposidra talaca) |
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| Lorquin's Satyr (Ptychandra lorquini) |
We stayed a bit longer in the tit area to have lunch, sharing some food with our guide, the head of barangay security. I sat down with him over lunch to learn a little bit more about the state of the forest in Barangay Kuden. Considering the sorry state of the environment in Mindanao, it's sadly rather strange to see that this much primary forest is left over in a lowland area. It turns out that the reason there's still forest in Kuden is somewhat ironic: most of the area belongs to a logging corporation owned by a family of oligarchs from Luzon. The family are old friends of the former dictator Ferdinand Marcos, who, when he wasn't busy doubling the national poverty rate and abducting and torturing his political rivals, spent a lot of time giving vast tracts of lands in Mindanao to his cronies to be exploited for mining and logging.
The forest of Kuden remains relatively pristine thanks to the logging company of this particular crony, which is protecting it only so that it can be clear-cut later. There's a logging ban in the area at the moment, and the situation is doubly complicated since the land is the ancestral domain of the Manobo people, who are staking their own claim. The situation at the moment is in a sort of uneasy equilibrium, but it's hard to see that holding indefinitely. Myself, and lots of people in the local community and local government, are crossing our fingers and hoping that there's a solution that protects the rights of the indigenous people and keeps the ecosystem intact at the same time, but, like so many places in Mindanao, this is a place to see before it's gone.
After lunch, we decided to continue exploring, turning onto a stretch of road I'd never explored before. We stopped in an open area near to a steep forested slope that seemed like the perfect place for a Wattled Broadbill, or perhaps Mindanao Bleeding Heart, to show up. Neither of those did, and in fact most of what I saw there at first was insect life- a spiny praying mantis nymph on Pete's hat, plus some lycaenid butterflies on the limestone pebbles of the road.
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| Praying mantis nymph- unfortunately still without an ID |
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| Pierrot (Caleta argola) |
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| Common Hedge Blue (Acytolepis puspa) |
Eventually, however, I saw a pair of Writhed Hornbills, the rarest of the hornbills in Mindanao, perched in a distant tree. We realized that there was a fruiting fig tree next to the road, and soon the air was full of hornbills as a flock Southern Rufous Hornbills and Writhed Hornbills flew into the tree en masse, then moved on to the next tree. It was the most hornbills I'd seen in one place, and certainly the sign of a healthy ecosystem. Really, one can never see too many hornbills after all.
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| Male and female Writhed Hornbills |
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| Adult Southern Rufous Hornbill |
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| Juvenile Rufous Hornbill- very different-looking from an adult! |
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| Male Writhed Hornbill |
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| Paper Kite (Idea leuconoe) |
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| Philippine Spine-tailed Swift |
By that time it was late afternoon, so we elected to keep going down the road in the direction of home. We went in a long loop, going through some beautiful areas of forest that we didn't have time to properly explore. The road was narrow and at times treacherous- at times we had to get out of the car to guide it underneath a low-hanging fallen tree or to clear the rocks of an unexpected avalanche. Thankfully, Pete is an absolute pro driving a 4x4 vehicle, so we made it the whole way without getting trapped in the unfamiliar jungle.
Not all the stops were to clear the road- once it was because of an unusually tame pair of Amethyst Brown Doves on a cliffbank next to the road- perhaps eating some clay to aid digestion, similar to the famous macaws in the Amazon. My pictures all turned out unexpectedly poorly since the vibration of the car engine made them a bit blurry, but it was certainly the best view I've ever had of this normally elusive species.
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| Amethyst Brown Dove |
The road went alternately through proper forest and areas that had been cleared for kaingin- slash-and-burn agriculture. The political economy of forest areas is a complicated one, not least when the livelihoods of ancestral peoples living there are ecologically destructive. The Manobo have been practicing kaingin in Mindanao for centuries, if not millennia, and obviously it's sustainable with a high land-to-labor ratio like there was up until the last 50 years or so. A mining or logging company will clear more forest in a matter of months than a Manobo family will clear in generations, so blaming indigenous peoples practicing traditional agricultural for the deforestation of Mindanao is more than a little disingenuous.
Some people, who I can only assume are the same ones who were rooting for Thanos in The Avengers, would be more than happy to simply clear all the people living in forest areas out and allow only Western nature enthusiasts to enter, but from a rights-based approach it's not so simple. At the same time, kaingin in the present day, with the present population and finite land area is... not sustainable, which perhaps isn't something that a lot of rights-based NGOs on the left are honest with themselves about either. Thinking about the whole conundrum of equitable forest management is half the reason I forced myself to return to the US for graduate school this year.
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| A Manobo family in the forest. |
Back at the inn, it was time for a hearty dinner and a beer to celebrate the mega bird sightings of the day. I had just enough time before the lack of sleep kicked in to look for some more moths, which was another success, particularly seeing a male and female Cricula mindanensis, an endemic silk moth. As far as I can tell, mine are the only pictures online of that moth in the wild.
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| Zeuzera sp. |
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| Barsine sp. |
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| Arctides sp. |
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| Cricula mindanensis |
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| The other sex of Cricula mindanensis- not yet sure which is which. |
Thus ended our first and full day in SNA- and what a doozy of a day. We returned to the birding site for another very, very productive day the next day, but I'll leave that for the next blog post.
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