The Great North Road (Part 2)

 

After our long drive north from Manila all the way to the northern tip of Luzon, Nikki and I still had a few days left in Ilocos Norte before we had to head back down south to Manila, and then home. We booked a few nights in a hotel right in the city proper, which was a much more sensible decision than our earlier stay in Fort Ilocandia, as, uh, interesting as that spot was. 

December 9 was my birthday, so I decided to take a day of leave and head back up to the Solsona-Apayao road where we had been the previous week. Nikki had to work that day (and wasn't a huge fan of the dodgy roads anyway), so I went up on my own, hoping I wouldn't be buried in a landslide on the way up- not my ideal way of spending my birthday. In the days leading up to it I had grand plans to leave at 2AM to get there in time to look for Luzon Scops-owl, Bukidnon Woodcock, and maybe a wayward Luzon Rail or two, but in the end I was so tuckered out from the previous day's birding in Kalbario-Patapat Natural Park that I didn't leave until 4AM. I made the long drive eastwards, signed the necessary liability waiver in Solsona town, and began driving up the road.

Moonrise over Solsona

The plan for the morning was to drive as far eastwards as I could along the road and try to bird in the cloud forests of the Apayao side of the pass. I did stop in the same patch of forest I'd birded in the previous time when I heard a mixed flock of birds, but it was the usual Warbling White-eyes, Chestnut-faced Babblers, and Negros Leaf-warblers so I didn't stop for too long. 

Chestnut-faced Babbler

Continuing on along the road, I carefully edged my way along undercut sections of road and drove upwards past the signpost marking the boundary of the ancestral domain of the local indigenous peoples. I had high hopes of making it to the highest point in the road, the Mount Kilang Pass, and then onwards to the Apayao side and the tantalizingly-labeled "Blazing Mountain of the Gods". Alas, as I rounded a corner just past the farthest point I had walked on the previous visit, I found the road blocked by a recent-looking landslide. While there was a narrow path cut through it that I probably would have been able to navigate in the Innova, I decided it wasn't worth risking a flat tire (or worse, another landslide) when I was completely alone up on the mountain. There was nothing for it but to call it a day and turn around. 

The road that was blocked by a landslide

Just kidding, of course I wasn't going to give up that easily. I pulled on my hiking shoes, pulled over the car, and starting walking instead. Immediately past the landslide area the road went through a nice bit of stunted forest, with some more decent birds like Elegant Tits, a Brown-headed Thrush, Turquoise Flycatcher, Negros Leaf Warbler, and my first Luzon Sunbird of the year. The road was full of Olive-backed Pipits and Grey Wagtails, both migrants to the Philippines. I came across a small hanging nest right next to the road, and soon after was accosted by a scolding Mountain Tailorbird, presumably the owner of the nest. The Mountain Tailorbirds in Luzon look and sound pretty much like Mountain Tailorbirds everywhere else in Asia from Borneo to the Himalayas, which is why it's noteworthy that the ones in Mindanao evolved to be a completely different species, Rufous-headed Tailorbird. This particular individual was almost impossible to photograph, but still a photo-lifer for me in the Philippines. 

Olive-backed Pipit

The best picture I could get of a Mountain Tailorbird

Presumably the nest of the Mountain Tailorbird

Medinilla pendula

The landscape of the Ilocos side of the Mount Kilang Pass

As the road went upward, the weather got steadily foggier and windier, and my expectations for the day's birding got steadily lower. As I approached the Kilang Pass and the border with Apayao, I realized that I was basically walking toward a wall of clouds. And indeed, practically instantaneously, as soon as I rounded a corner and came out of the shadow of the mountains, I was enveloped in fog and blowing winds. The biome also changed almost instantly, from dry pine forest on the west side to a lush cloud forest full of stunted trees draped in mosses, orchids, and other epiphytes. It almost felt like crossing a portal into another world, the change was so sudden.

That wall of clouds marks the Ilocos-Apayao border

I crested the top of the pass and crossed the border into Apayao, passing a small military outpost, and found that the road leveled out then began to go downhill. Immediately after the border it was misty and low-visibility and I entertained myself taking pictures of the many orchids and other interesting plants along the road, as there wasn't much bird-wise besides Philippine Bulbuls and the distant song of Mountain Tailorbirds. One flowering bush I photographed turned to never have been photographed in the wild before! That's the beauty of being in an incredibly biodiverse but under-naturalisted place like the Philippines: even a total schmuck like me can stumble into some really cool discoveries.

Dendrobium stella-silvae

Vaccinium platyphyllum- first-ever in situ photo!

Dendrochilum sp., probably

Dendrochilum arachnites, probably

Unfortunately, though the mist and fog were surreal and mystical, they weren't exactly conducive to birding. Things got even worse as I continued downhill and rounded a corner only to find myself smacked in the face by driving winds that instantly soaked me in condensation. It was only marginally more pleasant than walking through torrential rains, and possibly with less visibility. There was no cell service by this point so I wasn't entirely sure where I was, though my phone was getting almost too wet to use anyway. Giving up and turning around would have been the prudent choice, but I am nothing if not susceptible to the sunk cost fallacy so I trudged onward, hoping that with each corner I rounded that the weather would improve, and being disappointed every time.

The scenery along the road for a solid hour or so

Just as I was about to actually give up, I crossed paths with a local guy who was trudging his way uphill, just as soaked and miserable as I was. With foolish optimism I asked him if the weather was just like this the whole way down the road. The answer was "oo, ganito lang, pero diyan sa baba may araw na" ("It's like this, but further down the sun is out"). That was just enough to keep me from giving up, so onward I went, reconsidering my life choices with every step.

Fortunately for me, and probably unfortunately for my decision-making in the long run, the decision paid off: the further down I went, the more breaks in the rain there were, and eventually the fog thinned out until I could start to see into the valley below the road. As the the weather improved the birds also became more numerous, though they were still mostly heard only: Luzon Hornbills and Citrine Canary Flycatcher heard somewhere below me, a brief look at an Island Thrush above me, and then even better excellent views of an absolutely gorgeous male Luzon Sunbird that flew up to a bush right next to the road to check me out.

Luzon Sunbird, endemic to the mountains of the northern Philippines

I descended further, and the fog continued to lift though visibility was still limited. This was where the "Blazing Mountain of the Gods" was according to Google Maps, although the fog was so thick I could see no mountains, blazing or not. As I passed below a sheer cliff hanging over the road, I heard an unfamiliar birdcall above me. It was clearly a flock of birds but the call was completely unfamiliar to me, which at this point in the Philippines usually means something good. I had a suspicion as to what it was, and that was confirmed when they suddenly took flight- Luzon Racket-tails! This had been one of my most-wanted endemics for a long time, and to get a great view of them swooping through the fog right above me was incredibly rewarding. I had been secretly hoping for a birthday lifer, and to have it be a Philippine endemic in a totally new site was all I could have hoped for. The fog made photography difficult but these were still among the better pictures taken of this bird, which based on the Macauley Library data shares with Bigfoot the tendency to only pose for blurry pictures at a great distance.

Luzon Racket-tails!

The misty Apayao landscape

The birding continued to improve: around the corner I heard the call of a Whiskered Pitta down in the valley below me, not close enough to try to chase but still a new year bird for me. Even better, a Flame-breasted Fruit Dove started calling a little bit further down the road. I hurried downwards to look for it, and after some frantic squinting through the mist I saw it: a gorgeous male perched out on an open branch right next to the road, hooting away!

Flame-breasted Fruit Dove! 

I snapped some pictures, although it was tough to get anything good with the fog rolling through, and then just spent some time on the side of the road enjoying the bird. Generally with birding it doesn't really feel like there's much of an interaction with what you're watching; either they're ignoring the birders, getting spooked by them, or maybe angry at them because of playback. This felt different though; the dove clearly knew I was there, but seemed to not really care that much, content to just sit on its perch and sing. They don't make birding experiences much better than this: all alone in a never-before-birded spot, walking through a misty cloud forest seeing rare endemic birds and spending time with one of the best doves in the world. Not a bad way to spend my birthday. 

I would have liked to keep walking down the road to see what was there, but I had already walked more than 6 kilometers away from the car, and had to walk all the way back up and drive all the way back to Laoag. I began the long climb up, enjoying the birds, plants, and other wildlife including a bright red land crab I found walking along the road- certainly some kind of cool endemic. My plan had been to walk straight to the car, but of course the birding was too nice for me to go straight there: an extremely tame group of Island Thrushes by the side of the road, singing Tawny Grassbirds, Bar-bellied Cuckooshrikes, and a nice bit of activity in one of the forest patches with Turquoise Flycatchers, Philippine Bush Warblers, and a couple of Green-backed Whistlers. The plant life was also fascinating, and although I know absolutely nothing about plants I still took lots of pictures to ID later. The landscape was, of course, gorgeous to boot.

Island Thrush

Tawny Grassbird

Green-backed Whistler

Brahminy Kite in the mist

Tropical Fritillary

Liparis compressa, yet another cool endemic orchid

Pogostemon velatus, an endemic relative of patchouli

The landscapes of the Kilang Pass

I stopped a couple times on the way down, once for a very cooperative Olive-backed Pipit and once for a small mixed flock with Elegant Tits, Black-naped Monarchs, Purple-throated Sunbirds, and Blue-headed Fantails, but mostly headed straight back to Laoag where Nikki and I had a late lunch and I had a much-awaited nap. It had been a fabulous birthday and easily one of my best birding days of the year (with lots of competition!)

Olive-backed Pipit

Elegant Tit

Female Black-naped Monarch

Some kind of impressive assassin bug (Sycanus sp. I think)

December 10 was our last full morning in Ilocos Norte before heading back south, so I decided to spend the last morning along the Padsan River. Basically no-one eBirds in the Philippines, but based on year-old records from other birders it appeared that it was a reliable spot for two major targets of mine, Grey-throated Martin and Red-throated Pipit, the former an uncommon resident of northern Luzon and the former a rare migrant. It had also been home to vagrant Temminck's Stints for several years in a row. Richard had shown me his preferred access spot for the river when I birded with him earlier in the week, so I left our hotel early in the morning and got to the river at sunrise.

Sunrise along the Padsan River

I spent a couple hours birding along the Padsan River, and was disappointed to find precisely zero Grey-throated Martins or Red-throated Pipits. The martins apparently used to nest in the riverbank, but either weren't nesting there anymore or just weren't around that time year. On the other hand, parts of the riverbank appear to have been recently cemented, so it could be that the nesting area was destroyed in the past year, which would be sad.

Despite the lack of lifers or rarities, it was still a thoroughly enjoyable morning of birding. The usual marshland birds were active and vocal, including Paddyfield Pipits, Scaly-breasted and Chestnut Munias, Striated Grassbirds, Long-tailed Shrikes, Blue-tailed Bee-eaters, and Pied Bushchats, as well as migrant Oriental Reed Warblers and Yellow Buntings. I had surprisingly good looks at a couple of Buff-banded Rails and, even better, a gorgeous male Siberian Rubythroat, a bird I had never seen well before. It was also unusually easy to walk around and explore for a riverside area in the Philippines, with a minimum of dodgy mud and trash and the only distractions being occasional groups of kids running around and playing in the mud as children seem to enjoy doing.

Paddyfield Pipit

Buff-banded Rail

Yellow Bunting

Striated Grassbird

Pied Bushchat

Siberian Rubythroat

Long-tailed Shrike

Barn Swallow

Blue-tailed Bee-eater

Next I stopped by the rice fields northeast of Laoag, another well-known birding location that also occasionally played host to Red-throated Pipits. Alas, I once again came up pipitless, though I did have a consolation rarity in the form of a Pied Avocet, a species I'd only seen once before in the Philippines. The rice paddies were full of birdlife though, and I'm sure I would have had some nice records if I'd had more time to do some proper exploring. Unfortunately, a half hour or so of birding was about all I had time for, as I had to return to our hotel so we could check out and start driving south.

Pied Avocet

Yet another Long-tailed Shrike

The barangay Lagui-Sail rice fields

Late morning we checked out of our hotel and started the long drive south, going through the town of Batac to try some of their famous empanadas along the way. It was, as always, lengthy and frustrating; the difference between road trips in the US and the Philippines is that in the Philippines there's (almost) no expressway and the roads are choked with tricycles and slow-moving trucks, meaning that you have to constantly be on your guard and ready to brake at any moment. I dream of the day when one day I can just take a train to the cities I want to get to and then find transportation from there, but for now overland transportation remains kind of a nightmare.

We overnighted in Baguio City, one of my favorite cities in the Philippines. Baguio (which I've blogged about here and especially here) is the only proper mountain city in the Philippines, and is a popular destination for Manila tourists wanting to enjoy the pine trees and cold weather. Unfortunately it's become a little bit too popular of late with the construction of a new expressway that makes it an easy 4-hour drive from Manila, and it's now choked with traffic and air pollution, the inevitable destiny of any Philippine city that gets above a certain size. Still, it's full of interesting culture, landscapes and food. More importantly, it's also full of birds, specifically some endemic birds that are quite difficult to get anywhere else. 

We spent the night at a nice little family-run in in the city, and in the morning I left early to go look for one of my targets, Luzon Water Redstart. This was, believe it or not, one of the first birds I ever saw in the Philippines, having run into it on a trip to Sagada with no idea what it was- or that it was one of the more difficult and sought-after Philippine endemics (I blogged about that trip here, in case you're wondering what this blog was like before it became a birding blog). These days it's become a little bit easier to see thanks to the discovery of a few reliable spots, as they're apparently loyal to their favorite waterfalls. It was a 30-minute drive to get to the spot I'd had recommended to me, a little canyon in a suburb of Baguio. Once I got there, it only took a little bit of searching before I found a beautiful male Luzon Water Redstart, hoping around the rocks of a fast-flowing stream and wagging his tail as redstarts like to do. Definitely one of the best of the Luzon endemics, and one of my favorite of the trip.

Luzon Water Redstart

After getting my fill of the redstart I headed back to our hotel, where I had breakfast with Nikki and we checked out. Our final stop before returning to Manila was the famous Camp John Hay, formerly a US Army base and now a tourist attraction with horse riding, ziplines, and other family-friendly activities. Much more of interest to birders are the trails going through the pine forest, which has a surprisingly high bird density for the Philippines (although very low diversity). We saw a couple of Red Crossbills in the pine trees nearby where we parked our car, and soon after starting to walk along one of the trails heard the main target of the morning: Benguet Bush Warbler. One of the more difficult endemics, the bush warblers were practically unknown until about 20 years ago, when they were found to be quite common in some areas around Baguio, even as they're quite rare elsewhere. We heard many different birds calling, but only got one quick view and no pictures- the typical Benguet Bush Warbler experience. Still, it was a heard-only bird before this so I was happy to get the record. We did have a nice little mixed flock pass through, with Sulphur-bellied Nuthatches, Citrine Canary-Flycatchers, Arctic Warblers, Negros Leaf Warblers, Warbling White-eyes, and Green-backed Whistlers. I'm sure I could have managed more photos if we'd stayed longer, but we had to be on the road again.

Citrine Canary Flycatcher

From Baguio it was an uneventful 5-hour drive until we got back to Manila, where we immediately got caught in gridlock traffic as soon as we left the expressway, spending 45 minutes to travel the 4 blocks to our hotel. I dropped Nikki off so she could get to a basketball game, then went to get the rental car washed before returning it. I shouldn't have bothered, as the rental agency "found" a nearly-invisible scratch on the car that may or may not have even been there when I returned it, and charged me over $400 to repair it. Once again, a reminder to check the 1-star reviews before booking, because I later learned I was not the first person this happened to... lesson learned!

Despite the maddening ending, it was still an amazing trip, getting us through some spectacular landscape to see some of the best birds, including one new endemic, four lifers, and 13 new birds for my Philippines list- all of which are very difficult for me in the Philippines these days. It was enough to rocket me to the top of the 2022 year list for the Philippines- in fact, I ended with 435 species, the #1 spot for 2022 and the second-highest ever year list (the top spot belongs to Rob Hutchinson, because of course it does). Ilocos Norte is a really great birding spot- in fact it might rival Palawan for being the best province in all of the Philippines for birding, between the diverse mix of habitats and extremely high potential for rare migrants. I'm already looking forward to returning!