Fishpond Biodiversity

I was scheduled to leave the Philippines (at least for a couple of years) in mid-August, so by the time the first week of August rolled around I had plans to head to some of my usual birding spots for one last visit. Summer isn't a very good time of year to visit the salt pans in General Santos City, since most of the migrant shorebirds and other things won't be around, but it's still got a fun marsh area to visit, and the possibility of seeing some rare Australasian summer vagrants like Sacred Kingfisher- or something even more interesting, I suppose (spoiler alert: I didn't). 

I took the bus to GenSan on the evening of August 4th, then spent the morning of August 5 in Barangay Buayan, at the moment probably the best spot for shorebirds and marsh birds in Mindanao. My first stop was the mudflats that the DENR is doing its best to destroy by putting in a mangrove plantation. Some good things can turn up there during the winter, but this was the late summer so the only shorebirds were a small flock of Lesser Sand Plovers and a distant Whimbrel, as well as a few endangered Chinese Egret which are always good to see. The only things I could get photos of were a butterfly and a very good dog. 

Gram Blue (Euchrysops cnejus)

Helping with chores, just like a proper dog.

The shoreline was mostly a bust, so I made my way over to the fishpond area, passing by the former GenSan airport on my way. There again wasn't much interesting, except for a Bright-capped Cisticola sitting on a wire (the first time I've ever seen a cisticola on a phone wire) and a couple of Golden-bellied Gerygones in the bushes near the entrance to the fishponds. Annoyingly, I didn't check my camera settings very well at all, and the entire morning was shot on ISO 800, making the photo quality a little lower than it would have been otherwise (or at least that's my excuse).

Bright-capped Cisticola in a very un-cisticola-like position.

Golden-bellied Gerygone

The fishpond area itself is one of my favorite birding places, just because the birds are everywhere. It's not usually particularly good birds- mostly egrets and herons of various kinds, brown-colored marsh birds, and some crakes and rails you barely ever see, but there's a whole lot of them, and I can often get good pictures. And besides the birds, there's lots of other insects and reptiles that can be seen if one cares to look for them- a good reminder of how much nature can flourish even in man-made environments. 

In the first part of the fishponds that biodiversity consisted of lots of flybys from Black-crowned Night Herons, the mystery swamphens of western Mindanao (probably Black-backed Swamphens but the spoilsport experts tell me they can really only be IDed with DNA since they're outside of their normal range), and some attractive butterflies, dragonflies, and damselflies. Easily the most interesting bird of the morning was a Black Bittern that flew over me briefly, the first time I've seen one in GenSan- or anywhere in Mindanao.

The mystery GenSan swamphen

Black-crowned Night Herons

Tiny Grass Blue (Zizula hylax)

Male Common Bluetail (Ischnura senegalensis), a very impressive dragonfly

Female Common Bluetail

Chalky Percher (Diplacodes trivialis)

Further inside the fishpond area is where the ducks are more likely to be found- and indeed there were some Wandering Whistling Ducks and Philippine Ducks flying overhead, flushed as they constantly are by some noise in the underbrush. I suppose it pays to be flighty when the local residents have a habit of trapping and eating you- the duck numbers have decreased from hundreds to dozens in the year or so since I started visiting- though I can't imagine being a giant fat bird flying just over the heads of people with airguns is a great survival strategy either. Either way, it was great views of Philippine Ducks, still far and away my favorite duck.

Philippine Ducks

Wandering Whistling Duck

I was also distracted from duck viewing by some great looks at a Yellow Bittern and a Zitting Cisticola (the latter of which is easily in my top 5 bird names), as well as some more wonderful lepidoptera and odonata. 

Yellow Bittern

Zitting Cisticola

Grey Pansy, an absolutely fantastic buckeye

Female Indonesian Red-winged Dragonfly (Neurothemis terminata)

Another Tiny Grass Blue

I think a male Neurothemis terminata

The salt pans are usually where the interesting shorebirds congregate, and there were indeed a few despite it being summer. The White-headed Stilts and Common Greenshank most likely oversummer, while there were some decent migrants, the best of which were a pair of Broad-billed Sandpipers and a lone Sanderling (uncommon in the Philippines). Also present were a few Common Redshanks and a flock of Red-necked Stints. As I walked around the edge of the salt pans, a pair of White-headed Stilts started circling agitatedly over my head, I assume because I was getting near to a nest of theirs. I never did see any nest or young stilts, but I did get some very good flight pictures...

Little Ringed Plover

Broad-billed Sandpipers in with a Curlew Sandpiper

White-headed Stilts trying to chase me away from a nest

Eventually most of the shorebirds flushed after a Brahminy Kite flew overhead, and I took that as the sign to move on and return to Davao. Despite the lack of real rarities it was a successful day, and a reminder of how much can be seen in a good spot even during the low season.

Redshanks, Stints, a Grey Plover, and Curlew Sandpipers