Unfinished Business in Infanta

 

After my week in Panay, I flew to Manila, where I met back up with Nikki who had had to spend the week working from her usual office. Instead of heading straight back to Sorsogon, we decided to spend a morning birding at the Infanta road. Infanta is almost certainly the best birding day trip one can do out of Manila, and one of the best birding spots anywhere in the country, for its combination of very good birds and easy accessibility, with most birding done right along the road. It's a tantalizing and frustrating destination, however: while the quality of the birds is excellent, they can be fickle and it's very tough to do a clean-up of all the good ones in just one visit, or even many, which just keeps birders coming back. 

I myself had been there something like six or seven times previously, but although I'd had good encounters with most of the difficult birds like Cream-breasted Fruit Dove, Whiskered Pitta, Philippine Hawk-eagle, Luzon Scops-owl and Bicol Ground-warbler, I was still missing what was (to me) the top prize: Flame-breasted Fruit Dove, a rare and elusive Luzon endemic generally found only in high-elevation but making it down surprisingly low at Infanta. Despite its brilliant colors it manages to be incredibly difficult to see, preferring to stick in the deepest parts of the tropical foliage. I've heard it almost every time I've gone to Infanta, and came agonizingly close to seeing it several times on my previous visit, but up to this point I had never managed to actually get a look, let alone a picture. Also annoyingly missing for me was Grand Rhabdornis, a much-less-spectacular Luzon endemic that sometimes joins mixed flocks on the eastern part of the road.

Freshly back from Panay himself, Cheta offered to join us for a Saturday morning Infanta trip, along with fellow birder Angel. To Nikki's great chagrin, we left our hotel at 2AM and began the long drive out to Infanta so we could arrive before sunrise and try for nocturnal wildlife such as owls or cloud rats. We arrived at 5 in the morning, and spent a half or so walking along the road in the dark, but without too much luck- we heard two Luzon Scops-owls and several Philippine Frogmouths, but never saw them. I spotted what might have been a cloud rat through my thermal scope, but by the time I got my flashlight on it it was gone. 

As the sun rose, there were a few small mixed flocks moving through, with the usual birds like Lemon-throated Leaf-warbler, Blue-headed Fantail, Sulphur-billed Nuthatch, and Grey-backed Tailorbird. We heard Flame-breasted Fruit Dove and Yellow-breasted Fruit Dove calling in the distance, but much too far to even try to get a look at. We got good looks at a Citrine Canary-flycatcher, and it was apparently post-nesting season for Elegant Tits, as there were several young birds begging for food. 

Needy young Elegant Tit

Citrine Canary-flycatchers look very weird head-on

Citrine Canary-flycatcher

Though the birds were good, the real target was the fruit dove, so we went to another area of road a kilometer or so away where Cheta had heard they were being seen fairly regular. At first there were no doves to be heard; we ran into more mixed flocks with the usual birds, and even saw a Green-backed Whistler, a Luzon endemic usually found at higher elevations but occasionally making it down lower at Infanta. I spotted a Spotted Wood-kingfisher with my thermal scope, always a nice bird to get a good look at. As we looked for the fruit dove, Angel spotted a female Philippine Trogon sitting quietly next to the road, practically in front of our faces! Trogons tend to be quite skittish, but this one was weirdly unbothered by our presence, hanging out and eating bugs while we snapped pictures. 

Female Philippine Trogon

Finally, it happened: as we were looking at the trogon, we heard the single-note call of a Flame-breasted Fruit Dove right next to the road! We rushed into the forest, and spent the next 15 minutes craning our necks and peering into the foliage. I found it first using my thermal scope, and was able to squeeze off a few pictures, but it flew off before I could get Nikki and Angel on it. Eventually Nikki spotted it again, and everyone got good looks. It was a huge relief to finally tick what was getting to the top of my list of nemesis birds, and to get decent pictures too. Certainly one of my top 10 birds of this year, and we were all thrilled to see it so well.

In the same little valley, we could also hear the calls of Bicol Ground Warbler. Or, rather, everyone else could here them: for me, I was forced to confirm a worrying suspicion I'd had for a while: I'm losing my hearing. I've always had not-great hearing, but over the past couple of years my high-frequency hearing has declined to the point where there are several species of bird I just can't hear anymore. So far it's restricted to only the highest-frequency calls, like those of ground warblers or stubtails, but I fear it will be progressive to the point warblers or other small birds will become inaudible as well. It's tragic considering how much I enjoy looking for little skulking ground birds, and especially so given that Bicol Ground Warbler is near-endemic to the region where I live and I had previously hoped to spend my time trying to get pictures or better observations. I have no idea why I'm losing my hearing this early- I don't go to concerts, work in loud surroundings, or even listen to loud music, so I assume it's an unfortunate draw in the genetic lottery. I can only hope that the technology to reverse hearing loss continues to improve so that there will be some remedy available to me before I go completely deaf. 

Sad realizations aside, the rest of the day was still excellent birding. We resolved to look for Grand Rhabdornis, which I still needed as a lifer, and Northern Rufous Hornbill, which Angel still needed as a lifer. Down by the famous "Rizal bust" area, another spot where birds always seem to congregate for some reason, we heard a flock of raucous Northern Rufous Hornbills, which sadly stayed out of view. There was also a nice mixed flock along the road with a Black-crowned Babbler, one of the toughest Infanta birds. Unfortunately I didn't manage to get any decent pictures during this stop.

The furthest end of the Infanta road most birders visit is the "Chapel" area (named after a very, very small church by the side of the road). Next to the chapel is a little trail leading down into a forested valley, apparently the last bit of good habitat before the road descends toward the coast and Infanta town proper. Grand Rhabdornis apparently comes through that area regularly, so we gave it a try. There were no rhabdorni around, but we happened upon a huge mixed flock, which gave us great looks (and photo ops) of Yellow-bellied Whistlers, Blue-headed Fantails, Black-crowned Babblers, Elegant Tits, Lemon-throated Leaf-warblers, and a very cute Olive-backed Flowerpecker.

Blue-headed Fantail

Yellow-bellied Whistler

Lemon-throated Leaf Warbler

Olive-backed Flowerpecker

It was late morning by this point, but we decided to walk up the road a little bit to look for the hornbills, which had been calling off and on but remained out of sight. I managed a quick glimpse of a couple of Northern Rufous Hornbills, but I was the only one who saw them as the others were further up the road. Cheta and I decided to explore a small path into a gully he said was good for mixed flocks, and sure enough as we descended a set of muddy stairs, we happened on the tail end of a small flock. In fact, the first bird I got my bins on was a Grand Rhabdornis! It was more distinct from the much commoner Stripe-headed Rhabdornis than I'd expected- bigger with a brownish cap and a huge bill. Annoyingly enough it disappeared as soon as I looked away to try and get Cheta on it, so I didn't get a picture, but it was still a very welcome lifer. 

There wasn't much else around at that time of day and Nikki and I were flying out very early the next morning, so we started the long drive back to Manila, stopping for lunch at one of the usual spots. It was certainly one of my best-ever trips to Infanta, and it leaves me wanting to return even though I've now seen just about every target bird that's to be seen there. It's such a relatively easy trip from Manila I do suspect I'll be back...