Holon Again

 

The final stop in Mindanao after SNA was Lake Holon, my other favorite birding spot on the island. We departed SNA mid-morning on August 27 to make the long drive to General Santos, where we were picking up Nikki at the airport. I'd told Nikki how many times I love birding in Lake Holon, so she finally gave in and agreed to join me on this visit, taking advantage of a long holiday weekend. Unfortunately, similar to SNA it was unusually quiet birding during our two days on Holon, but we nonetheless had some great birds in the journey.

Our first morning on the Simedo trail, we started bright and early so we could get the usual wave of sunrise bird activity. Things were a little bit muted, which was to be a trend for the weekend- perhaps because of the unusually sunny weather. I suspect birders will sympathize when I say I'm not a huge fan of cheery blue cloudless skies- give me overcast but not rainy any day. There were still some birds and other animals around- a Philippine Tree Squirrel next to the trail at sunrise, the usual Stripe-breasted Rhabdornises (rhabdorni?), and a few of the strange "Lake Holon" Negros Leaf-warblers. Pete spotted a Red-eared Parrotfinch in a ditch next to the trail but as usual I had only a fleeting glance at it before it flew off. A little further up the trail, I was able to tape in a Rusty-breasted Cuckoo, a bird I normally wouldn't give a second glance but was a lifer for Larry.

Philippine Tree Squirrel

Stripe-breasted Rhabdornis

Negros Leaf-warbler- this one relatively normal-looking

Rusty-breasted Cuckoo

Some kind of colorful crane fly

One of the many gorgeous, undescribed Metapocyrtus weevils in the Philippines

Some kind of impressive longhorn beetle on Larry's shoe

With the main trail a bit quiet we tried one of the offshoot trails, which often has decent birds. As usual, we had good looks at a pair of McGregor's Cuckooshrikes, but the resident Long-tailed Ground-warbler was unusually silent. There were lots of other birds, but they tended to stay high in the canopy or deep in the undergrowth: Black-and-cinnamon Fantails, Yellow-bellied Whistlers, Turquoise Flycatchers, Cinnamon Ibons, and Rufous-headed Tailorbirds. We did get decent looks at some very strange "T'boli" leaf-warblers doing their best to look like Mindanao Miniature Babblers (it's still unclear to me why there are no miniature babblers on this part of Holon, when they are fairly reliable on the main trail up the mountain just a few kilometers away). 

McGregor's Cuckooshrike

A very strange local Negros Leaf Warbler

Some kind of cool fungus beetle

Another impressive longhorn beetle

Some kind of wolf spider

Another beautiful little weevil

Yet another cool weevil- polka dots this time! (Pachyrhynchus sp.?)

Couple selfie along the trail

As things were pretty quiet, we headed back to our hotel late morning for lunch and a nap. That afternoon, we headed back up the mountain, stopping along the way for some raptor watching. There were a number of raptors taking advantage of the late afternoon thermals, including a few Oriental Honey-buzzards and a surprise pair of Philippine Honey-buzzards, unusually high for that species. There was a distant fly-by from a Pinsker's Hawk-eagle, but sadly still no Philippine Eagles. The habitat there is perfect for them, so either they prefer the other side of the mountain, or they've all been shot already- a good reminder that even though it's a gorgeous area for now it's in serious peril unless something is done.

The migratory race of Oriental Honey-buzzard

Some amazing primary forest left on the slopes of Mount Melibengoy

We arrived at "Lorikeet Valley" in the late afternoon, and hung around waiting for its namesake birds to come in and roost. They were a bit shyer this time than they had been last time, but we nonetheless eventually had great looks at Mindanao Lorikeets as they chased each other around on the epiphyte-laden trees. There was also a male Mindanao Hornbill still attending his nest, which upon scope views appeared to have a baby bird peeking out (we at first thought it looked more like an owl before the adult bird came in to feed it).

Mindanao Lorikeets

Male Mindanao Hornbill at his nest hole

We ordinarily would have headed home around then, but Larry still needed a few owls for his Philippines list, including Everett's Scops-owl and Giant Scops-owl, both of which are found on Mount Melibengoy (Mindanao Scops-owl, annoyingly enough, is not). We spent some time on the trail owling, but as usual it turned out to be pretty underwhelming- several heard-only Philippine Frogmouths and, at last, a young Everett's Scops-owl.

Everett's Scops-owl

At long last we returned to our hotel for dinner and a very sound night's sleep. Our last morning up on the mountain we stuck along our usual trail, which was somewhat more active than the previous day, but still rather difficult for bird photography. Around sunrise we had some nice mixed flocks moving through, including one with a young Black-and-cinnamon Fantail begging for food. There were also some relatively normal-looking Negros Leaf-warblers, very close-by but difficult-to-photograph Rufous-headed Tailorbirds, and a heard-only Long-tailed Ground Warbler. 

Baby Black-and-cinnamon Fantail

Negros Leaf Warbler

Some kind of tachinid fly

Teleopsis nitidiscutum, a cool stalk-eyed fly

Some kind of assassin bug

A little further up the trail, I had nice looks at a male T'boli Sunbird feeding on a banana flower, even though it was a little dark for good pictures. Nikki and I ran into a nice mixed flock where we thought we might have seen a Mindanao Miniature-babbler, but never got on the bird well enough to be sure. We did get good looks at a Short-tailed Starling, which is fairly uncommon at the site, and a few Sulphur-billed Nuthatches. Nikki and I continued further down the trail than we would usually go in search of good birds, but didn't get much except for a flyover Rufous-bellied Eagle and a Short-billed Brown Dove.

T'boli Sunbird

Sulphur-billed Nuthatch

Young Coppersmith Barbet

Immature Short-tailed Starling

Immature Rufous-bellied Eagle

Short-billed Brown Dove

Dendrobium rhombium, I think

Back down where Pete and Larry were sitting around twiddling their thumbs (Larry having no remaining targets and not having a camera to distract him), we had good looks at another male Tboli Sunbird and a flock of Cinnamon Ibons. Close to where Pete had parked we had a nice, close flyby from a Philippine Serpent-eagle.

T'boli Sunbird

Cinnamon Ibon

Philippine Serpent-eagle

All too soon, it was time to head down to General Santos, where I had to prepare for a work meeting and Pete and Larry had to continue onwards to other Mindanao destinations. It was the final stop of a whirlwind trip through Mindanao, where we managed to see 170 species, a whopping 98 of which were endemic to the Philippines. Three of those were lifers for me (although only the Mindanao Brown-dove felt like a really proper lifer), and I imagine several dozen were lifers for Larry- overall a great success! This wasn't to be the last of the birding adventure, as we ended up meeting with Pete and Larry just the next weekend on a different island, but that's a story for the next blog post.