Naturalisting at SNA
Following Mount Tagubud and Mount Apo , the third and final stretch of my Mindanao bird-a-thon with Larry and Pete was to my two favorite birding sites on the island: SNA and Lake Holon. I had just been to both of those the previous month and had a great time, so I was looking forward to returning. Unfortunately, neither of them were quite as good as they had been my last visit, mostly due to weather reasons, but there were still some amazing birds. From Kidapawan, where we had spent a morning up on the slopes of Mount Apo, we drove west out of North Cotabato province toward Sultan Kudarat, passing through a little bit of the province of Maguindanao along the way. While most of Mindanao is perfectly safe, this was one bit where we were sure to pass straight through without stopping. It's a bit of a shame, as this was quite near to the famous Liguasan Marsh, which is the last refuge in the Philippines for birds such as Comb-crested Jacanas and Oriental Darters- unfortunately along