ComVal Cleanup

 

When I was putting together an itinerary for Andrew and Doug's trip to the Philippines, a big part of it was gritting my teeth and cutting out lots of sites that I would have liked to visit that would have gotten us some very cool birds. A month might seem like a long trip, but in the Philippines that's barely scratching the surface of what the country has to offer, particularly in terms of restricted-range species that require special trips to see. One of the hardest sites to take off the table was Mount Tagubud in the province of Davao de Oro (formerly known as Compostela Valley or ComVal). It's a really excellent birding spot and the only place to see some species like Lina's Sunbird and Mindanao Brown Dove, as well as the best spot for others like Bagobo Babbler, Red-eared Parrotfinch, and Bukidnon Woodcock. But alas, sacrifices had to be made in order to maximize the overall trip list and, especially, our chances of seeing Philippine Eagles. 

Plans changed, however, when we ended up seeing Philippine Eagle on our first day of looking for it at Cinchona. Practically as soon as we spotted it, gears started to churn in my head as I tried to figure out how we could use the extra day in our itinerary to head to Mount Tagubud. It required a lot of last-minute arrangements like frantically calling our car rental company to add another day and reserving hotels, but eventually I managed to make all of the necessary changes and we were soon on a long, slow bus ride to Davao City, where we had surprisingly good craft beer and Southern cuisine for dinner and then a good night's sleep in our first real bed for a week. 

We left Davao to head toward Mount Tagubud early in the morning of February 21. Joining us was my friend Jonas, who I had birded with back in 2016 when I was a brand new birder, and happened to be back in Davao when we were there. Our first stop of the morning was not at Mount Tagubud, but at the Panabo Coast Road just northeast of Davao, a famous shorebirding spot and one of the only known wintering spots for Chinese Crested Tern, one of the rarest birds in the world. Ever since Pete Simpson had discovered them there in 2018 it has become a must-do stop for any self-respecting birder who happens to be passing through the area at the right time of year. The terns had been a bit finnicky this year, with a number of people dipping in recent days, but we were hopeful we could add another Critically Endangered bird to our trip list.

We arrived to our first stop along the road around 7AM, only to find the terns absent from their usual poles, with only Common Terns and Whiskered Terns visible (along with a very friendly puppy). We decided to work our way eastward along the road, looking for shorebirds as well as terns. The former were around in huge numbers, reminding us why it's one of the best-known shorebirding spots in Mindanao; huge flocks of endangered Great Knots, along with Black-tailed Godwits, Grey Plovers, Pacific Golden Plovers, Long-toed Stints, and a dozen or so other species of waders, mostly only visible through our scopes. A nice lifer for Doug and Andrew was a couple of Far Eastern Curlews eating crabs on the mudflat of our easternmost stop, another endangered bird for the day. A surprise bonus was a beautiful male Little Bronze Cuckoo that popped up while we were scoping for shorebirds, a fairly widespread bird that can be difficult to find throughout its range. While there were no Chinese Crested Terns to be found, there were lots of Gull-billed Terns and Little Terns, which can be difficult at times.

Gull-billed, Little, and Whiskered Terns

Red-necked Stints behind Black-winged Stilts

Great Knots, Black-tailed Godwits, Grey Plovers, and Pacific Golden Plovers

Far Eastern Curlew (it looked nicer through the scope)

Little Bronze Cuckoo

We decided to head back to our first stop, which was supposedly the most reliable spot for the terns. Sure enough, as soon as I got out of the car and pointed my binoculars at the fish cages in the distance there were two large, light-colored terns perched there. I rushed to get closer and get the scope on them, and eventually one turned its head and revealed a light orange bill with a black tip- Chinese Crested Terns! Two of them at that! We spent a half hour or so looking at them through the scope, and eventually a third one flew in and joined them, putting the count at three- the high count for the year. For a little bit of perspective about how good that is, this species was considered extinct for decades, until a tiny breeding population was found on some small islands off Taiwan. A few other breeding areas have since been discovered, but the total population is still estimated to be about 50 individuals- meaning that we were looking at 6% of the worldwide population of Chinese Crested Terns!

3/50ths of the global population of Chinese Crested Tern in one picture

Eventually the terns took flight and landed on a slightly nearer perch, and as it was low tide we decided to wade out on the mud flat to get some slightly better pictures. We ended up with very muddy feet and some reasonable sunburns, but it was worth it to get great looks at one of the world's most threatened birds. We also saw a couple of Lesser Frigatebirds flying in the distance, another lifer for some of us and another surprise new bird for the trip. 

Chinese Crested Tern!

Lesser Frigatebird

Scoping for Chinese Crested Tern- I wasn't sure if it was worth it to bring my scope along with me for the trip but it helped us get some of our best birds, so I have no regrets. 

With the tern successfully ticked, we headed eastwards toward Mount Tagubud, stopping in Tagum City for lunch. We checked into our hotel in the town of Maragusan, then continued onward toward Tagubud. It was almost sunset by the time we got to the birding site, and the weather steadily got worse as we got closer- from sunny at lunch, to cloudy in the afternoon, to drizzle by the time we arrived at the birding spot in the mountains above Maragusan. Despite the bad weather and visibility, we still managed to see a Lina's Sunbird almost as soon as we stepped out of the car- the only Tagubud target that's essentially guaranteed. 

It soon became clear that the bad weather was because of a storm front advancing toward us, not an uncommon occurrence that high on the mountain. That was bad news for our optics, which were only just drying out from Kitanglad, but it did happen to drive a huge swiftlets through the mountain pass ahead of the front. We had over a hundred Philippine Swiftlets flying through, along with many Ridgetop Swiftlets and Purple Needletails. We scanned the flocks hoping for an odd one out, as this is one potential site for the mysterious Whitehead's Swiftlet. One particular swiftlet caught our attention- larger than the Philippine Swiftlets around it, and flying very slowly with stiff, shallow wingbeats. It seemed to have a large head and long tail. Unfortunately most of us had our camera gear in the car because of the rain, so only Andrew was able to get record shots. They're probably not enough to determine what it could be and all of us are stumped as to what it could be- a reminder of how difficult swiftlet ID can be!

Our mystery swiftlet- pics by Andrew

As night fell and the rain got harder, we debated calling it a night and heading back, but decided to stay and wait for night birds despite the bad weather. We sat around chatting and sheltering from the rain, bonding with stories of birding in Norway, the US, and the Philippines. Eventually I told everyone to keep it down as it was about time for woodcocks to come out. It was uncannily good timing- less than 5 seconds after I said it, we heard the twittering call of a Bukidnon Woodcock as it started roding right overhead! We fumbled for the flashlight and missed a good look at it, but it was nice enough to pass over once again, giving us great views even though we missed good pictures. 

Happy after seeing a few of our biggest targets, we headed back town to Maragusan where we had dinner and victory beers at the local barbecue spot, then turned in for an early bedtime. The next morning we were at the same spot before sunrise, hoping for more night birds. Thankfully the weather had greatly improved, and we soon heard the tooting of several Mindanao Scops Owls near the car. We searched for them valiantly, but only had a quick look at a single one high in a tree before a passing vehicle flushed it, leaving me once again without pictures of this particular species. Just before sunrise, the Bukidnon Woodcock started roding over us once again, following the exact same route as the previous night. Woodcocks are wonderfully silly birds, particularly this one that can usually be seen during his 6:00 morning and evening zoomies. This time I was even able to manage a record shot, although it's uh, very much just a record shot.

My award-worthy shot of a Bukidnon Woodcock

Sunrise on Tagubud

As the sun started to rise, the birds started singing and becoming more visible. An Island Thrush started feeding on a worm along the road, and a beautiful male Lina's Sunbird popped up nearby. Lina's Sunbird is endemic to a tiny range of just a few mountains in southeastern Mindanao, so it's great that they're as common as they are within the right habitat. Mixed flocks started to come through, with the usual Black-and-cinnamon Fantails, Turquoise Flycatchers, Mindanao White-eyes, and Warbling White-eyes. To our surprise, Jonas spotted a group of White-cheeked Bullfinches feeding in a fruiting tree- a new species for the site! This must be an irruptive year for them as they've been around in much greater numbers than usual throughout Mindanao.

Island Thrush

Lina's Sunbird

Turquoise Flycatcher

White-cheeked Bullfinches!

Warbling White-eye

Some kind of cool flower

The morning had started nice and sunny, but a fog bank started to roll in, and we were suddenly encased in mist. That was a bit annoying, as the birding started to get good right about then, with a huge mixed flock coming through. It started with the usual Lina's Sunbirds, Mindanao White-eyes, and Rufous-headed Tailorbirds, but they were soon joined by a singing McGregor's Cuckooshrike, of the unique East Mindanao population (either an undescribed subspecies or possibly even a full species), a male Philippine Pygmy Woodpecker, lots of Cinnamon Ibons, a gorgeous male Flame-crowned Flowerpecker, and even more White-cheeked Bullfinches. The birds were great but it was a challenge getting good photos in the thick fog. More annoyingly, we heard the bouncing ball call of a Mindanao Brown Dove, but it was far below us in a valley.

Male Lina's Sunbird

Mindanao White-eye

Cinnamon Ibon

McGregor's Cuckooshrike

Flame-crowned Flowerpecker

Philippine Pygmy Woodpecker- the subspecies on Mindanao is much more colorful than the one on Luzon

White-cheeked Bullfinch

Fog rolling in from the valley

We walked by a little shaded gully that I thought might be a good spot for Bagobo Babbler. I placed my speaker in a bush and started playing the call, and sure enough a Bagobo Babbler came running in! It made two circles around my speaker, singing its high-pitched insect-like call, and then disappeared back into the undergrowth, never to be seen again. It was still an unusually good view of one of the most elusive and difficult-to-see Mindanao endemics. As we walked onward, the others heard the high-pitched call of a parrotfinch, another call that's now inaudible to me thanks to my progressive hearing loss. I played a tape, and a gorgeous male Red-eared Parrotfinch shot in and perched right in front of us! I messed up getting a decent picture (the third time I've missed a good picture of this species), but it was by far the best view I've had of it, and the others were thrilled as it was another very difficult target.

What was almost a very good picture of a Red-eared Parrotfinch

Red-eared Parrotfinch- Topaz did its best with this one, but it's still a sub-par picture of a very good-looking bird

The fog started to clear, and we walked back uphill to where we'd been at sunrise. We spotted a Philippine Falconet perched near the road, but there wasn't much else. We debated leaving now that we'd seen or heard all our targets, but decided to keep going a bit more in hopes of more birds. As we walked, we heard a strange dove call from the bushes beside us. It was clearly a brown dove, but it didn't match any of the usual calls from the three possible species. I had a hunch and played a call for what I hoped it was. Sure enough, as soon as I played the call a Mindanao Brown Dove exploded into view and perched about 10 feet in front of us! It stayed there as we rushed around trying to find an angle in the thick foliage for a picture. It was by far the best look I'd ever had at this species, and we got what are easily some of the best pictures ever taken. Mindanao Brown Dove has declined precipitously in recent years for unknown reasons, and these days is known from only two sites, with Tagubud being by far the most accessible one. 

Philippine Falconet

Mindanao Brown Dove!

Having seen absolutely all of our targets, we got back into the car and headed back to Davao (stopping back in Panabo along the way to pick up a lost field guide and see the Chinese Crested Terns again). It was an incredibly successful bit of our trip, and one that almost didn't happen.  There was no reason to expect it to have gone as well as it did, but it was a great way to make sure that the Mindanao successes continued. We dropped Jonas in Davao and continued on to Kidapawan City, where the final segment of our Mindanao trip was set to start the next day.