The Wet, Wild West Visayas

 

After an eventful few days in Samar, we flew to Cebu on the afternoon of February 10. The plan was to spend a morning birding in Cebu looking for the extant endemics before Doug and Andrew headed to Panay and I returned to Bicol for a few days. I'd been to Cebu twice already, and gone birding both times; first in the Nug-As forest of southern Cebu with Nikki, and next in the Tabunan Forest nearby Cebu City. However, it had been a while and I had never managed good photos of the Cebu endemics so I was looking forward to returning.

Cebu City is the second-largest city in the Philippines, and really the only other proper big city in the country besides Manila. It's actually quite a nice city, with great food, interesting culture, an unusually good airport, and a fascinating cultural heritage. Playing host to a major, prosperous city has been great for the economy of Cebu island, and for Cebuanos in general but it hasn't been so good for Cebu's ecosystem; almost 100% of its original forest cover is now gone, and the wildlife that inhabited this forest is now either extinct or perilously close to it. That's a shame, as Cebu is biogeographically fascinating, located in between the East Visayas and West Visayas regions and with a strange mix of species from both of them, as well as its own endemics. 

Of the five known endemic species, Cebu Brown Dove is almost certainly extinct, while Cebu Flowerpecker hasn't been reliably sighted since 2005, after being rediscovered in the 1990s. Its endemic subspecies of Philippine Leafbird, Philippine Hanging Parrot, White-bellied Woodpecker, and Bar-bellied Cuckooshrike are also now extinct, and I suspect it also had its own species of endemic hornbill and bleeding-heart centuries ago when it still had enough primary forest to support them. There are now two fully-recognized endemics on the island: Cebu Boobook, and Black Shama. A third, Cebu Streak-breasted Bulbul, is currently lumped with the bulbuls on Tablas and Siquijor, but will likely be split as its own species at some point. These days, the only place where all three can be reliably seen is the Tabunan Forest above Cebu City, where the local bird guide Oking is making valiant efforts to preserve the tiny remaining fragment of forest and the birds within it. 

It had been an extremely long day by the time we arrive in Cebu City, but it wasn't over, as we still had to pick up a rental car and drive up to Tabunan, where we were staying in Oking's house. We received the rental car at the airport and then stopped in Cebu City for some famous Cebu lechon, as I would be remiss if I allowed Doug and Andrew to visit the island without having some. Bellies full of dead pig, we started the drive up to Tabunan. I had decided to rent a Toyota Vios, the cheapest rental option available, as we only needed it for a single day. This, it turned out, was a mistake, as the rental car company provided us with possibly the lamest Vios known to man. Google Maps took us through winding back roads on the way up to Tabunan, and I repeatedly found myself flooring the gas pedal in first gear just to inch uphill at a snail's pace. At one point the car's little motor simply gave up and refused to go uphill any further, forcing Doug and Andrew to get out and push. 

After an hour of twisty roads and repeated cursing at the terrible car, we ended up at Oking's house, where he very generously provided us with a couple of mattresses and a spare room to sleep in. Oking has been guiding birders for almost 30 years now, beginning when Cebu Flowerpecker was rediscovered near his home in Tabunan. The ancient logbook he keeps in his house is an amazing historical document, containing a who's who of world birding and Philippines birding, all putting messages and reporting their sightings. It was fascinating and also tragic, paging through and seeing the regular sightings of Cebu Flowerpecker in the 1990s grow more and more sparse into the 2000s, with the last (dubious) sighting recorded in 2005. You can gradually see birders' hopes dim in the intervening decades, much as Oking still occasionally reports hearing the bird in the area. I'm not convinced the flowerpecker is totally gone, and a small population might still remain in the more-extensive Nug-as Forest in southern Cebu, but if there really are any birds left I don't think they're long for this world given the total lack of any enforcement of environmental regulations.

Still, there are other endemics left on the island, and the next morning we woke up well before dawn to head out towards the forest to look for Cebu Boobook (or Ceboobook, as we began to refer to it). Oking warned us that boots would be needed for the walk, but unfortunately we had no boots, just hiking shoes. He wasn't wrong, as the trail toward Tabunan Forest was essentially a cow trail with knee-deep muck in many places that required very careful treading to avoid.

Eventually we got to a tiny little patch of trees, and almost immediately starting hearing the grumbling calls of Ceboobooks from within. We tried a brief blast of playback, and almost immediately a Cebu Boobook exploded out of the trees, perching right in front of us an displaying! It was far better looks than I'd had previously, and a hell of a way to start our our Cebu birding.

Cebu Boobook

We continued on the path through farmland and cow pastures, an area that was surely all forest even just a couple decades ago. It was just starting to get light by the time we got to the forest edge, which was a good thing since here was where the path became truly difficult. Instead of a muddy pasture, it became a steep clamber over jagged limestone rocks, surely the reason the forest remains there even where it's been cut down everywhere else. The muck was still there, meaning that we had the choice between sharp rocks or deep mud, with nothing to hold onto but vines- at least when the vines weren't covered in thorns, which was rare. I'm not sure how bird tours bring their more geriatric clients through here, as it was a challenge even for us reasonably fit 20-30-somethings. 

Negotiating the trail at Tabunan- this bit has railings but no rungs, as apparently they were all stolen

The birds starting to sing as the sun rose, and Cebu's few remaining forest birds started making their presence known: Mangrove Blue Flycatchers, White-vented Whistlers, Elegant Tits, and finally the ethereal trilling song of Black Shamas, common within their last vestiges of habitat. We had a shama perched right in front of us, but it was dark enough we had to keep moving and try for it later. Above us there was a fruiting tree with many bulbuls, mostly Philippine Bulbuls but with a few larger Cebu Streak-breasted Bulbuls (CeBulbuls, one might say) darting through, never perching long enough for ID-able views. 

Streak-breasted Bulbuls have a strange distribution in the Philippines, being only on the islands of Tablas, Cebu, and Siquijor. They're likely the remnants of an earlier wave of bulbuls that colonized the Philippines, only to be displaced by Philippine Bulbuls in most of the archipelago. Tablas and Siquijor still have no Philippine Bulbuls, and Streak-breasted is quite easy there, being found in anywhere with even a little bit of tree cover and dense undergrowth. Cebu, meanwhile, has recently been colonized by Philippine Bulbuls, which are slowly but steadily displacing Streak-breasted Bulbuls until only this tiny population remains. These days they're the most difficult extant Cebu endemic, with most birders being restricted to heard-only records or quick glimpses at best.

Instead we continued clambering upwards until we got to the platform that, once upon a time, was where Cebu Flowerpecker was once seen and is now the best spot for the bulbuls. Bulbuls did indeed fly through repeatedly, mostly Philippine Bulbuls but with a few Streak-breasted Bulbuls as well. Finally, we managed to get a good look at a perched bird before it disappeared into thick foliage, and I was even able to get a picture of it! I've only been able to find two other pictures online, from a single sighting back in 2014, so photographing it was a rare feat indeed. We were also able to get good looks at the endemic subspecies of Coppersmith Barbet, with its all-red face. There are some very optimistic rumblings about it being split, though it shares the red face with the barbets on Negros and Panay and, very strangely, Java.

Cebu Streak-breasted Bulbul! As far as I can tell two of the only four pictures of it online

Satisfied with our fleeting but unusually good looks at Streak-breasted Bulbul, we descended from the platform to look for Black Shama and other birds. The former proved to be easy: we soon had a gorgeous Black Shama singing and perching directly in front of us at eye level, allowing for pics and great views. We had less luck with other birds, getting only quick looks at White-vented Whistler and none at all of the singing Mangrove Blue Flycatchers. We also tried for Philippine Pitta which is known from that sight, but there were no signs of any pittas anywhere. Having successfully seen the CeBoobook, the CeBulbul, and the uh, CeBlack Shama, we started making our way out. On the way back out, we had good looks at Tawny Grassbird, which was a new bird for Doug and Andrew.

Black Shama

Tawny Grassbird

Suffused Snow Flat (Tagiades gana)

The edge of the Tabunan Forest

Oking made us breakfast back at his place, and we bade him farewell- although he was nice enough to give Doug and Andrew a ride up the steepest part of the road, as I wasn't sure I could make it in our incredibly underwhelming rental car. Cebu might be a depressing place to bird in but Oking is really fantastic, being a great guide but also fun to talk to and much more hospitable than we had any right to expect. 

We headed back down to Cebu City, where I dropped Doug and Andrew off at the ferry terminal for their ride to Bohol, while I headed to the airport. After almost a month of travel, I desperately needed a bit of time at home to rest, do laundry, catch up on work, and remind Nikki what I look and sound like. It's also generally considered bad form to leave one's wife go off gallivanting with friends on Valentine's day... 

The sign that you're back in Bicol- Mount Mayon from the Daraga airport

I spent a wonderful few days back in Sorsogon, while Doug and Andrew headed to Bohol and then to San Remigio in southern Panay. They also had a great time, catching up with some of the East Visayas and Greater Mindanao birds they'd missed in Samar, then getting some of the best West Visayas endemics like Yellow-faced Flameback and Magnificent Sunbird in Panay. 

My Philippines adventure wasn't over, however, as on February 15 I flew off once again to rejoin them, this time on the unfortunately-named island of Negros. While San Remigio is great for cleaning up most of the West Visayas endemics, Bacolod City in western Negros is the place to be for some others, particularly Flame-templed Babbler, White-throated Jungle Flycatcher, and Southern Indigo-banded Kingfisher, all of which can be found at Gawahon Ecopark just outside the city. I hadn't been to Negros in years, since my successful pitta twitch in 2018, and I'd never been to Gawahon so I was excited for the chance to see a new place and see some new birds. I was especially excited for Flame-templed Babbler, which I hadn't seen in a long time and is easily one of the best Philippine endemic birds. 

Before our trip I had gotten in touch with Bam and Olympus, Bacolod-based birders who I connected with on Facebook and who we met briefly in Infanta. It turned out they were free to bird with us on our one morning in Bacolod, and in fact went way above and beyond, picking us up and driving us, showing us their favorite food places, and helping us with various errands we needed to accomplish. It was some of the most fun we had while birding, and it definitely makes me look forward to being back in Bacolod at some point. 

Bam picked me up at the airport the afternoon of the 15th, and we headed to the port where Doug and Andrew would be arriving from Iloilo. They got in in the early evening, having made it onto the ferry by the skin of their teeth, and Bam took us to the best inasal chicken place in Bacolod. One of the best things about Bacolod (and the West Visayas in general) is the food, with Ilonggo food being arguably some of the best in the Philippines, so having a local to show us the best spots was a massive bonus. After stopping at the emergency room to get Doug's thumb patched up from a nasty infection, we headed to our hotel for a few hours of sleep,

The next day we departed our hotel before sunrise and made the 45-minute drive up to Gawahon in Olympus' truck. It was supposedly the dry season in Negros, but it was drizzling on the way up to park. By the time we got to the park entrance it was properly raining, and this continued for the rest of the morning. In fact, in the 5 hours we spent birding at Gawahon, it never stopped raining for more than 10 minutes. It was still a lot of fun thanks to good birds and good company, but physically it was one of the more unpleasant birding experiences of the trip. 

We met Ricky, the guide for Gawahon, at the gate to the park and proceeded to the start of the trail. To our surprise, the trail went down some concrete steps and then directly through a rushing river, which meant wading across part of the stream. Thankfully we were all wearing flip-flops, so it wasn't too big of a deal. The trail itself was beautiful, running up a scenic forested river valley on the slopes of the dormant volcano Mount Silay, although we weren't able to appreciate it as much as we could have thanks to the pouring rain. Ricky led us up the trail to the spot where he usually sees Negros Jungle Flycatcher. We spent a solid 45 minutes looking for the jungle flycatcher, but saw no sign of it, but for quick movement in the bushes that may have been a flycatcher or could have been something else entirely. We also checked the river valley carefully for Southern Indigo-banded Kingfisher, but came up short on that one as well. On the other hand, we did get a small mixed flock of birds coming through, mostly consisting of Balicassiaos but also containing a single White-winged Cuckooshrike, a very rare bird for the area and one Doug and Andrew still needed. 

The trail river crossing

A little damp and a little disappointed at dipping two of our targets, we went back down the trail to try another area that was better for mixed flocks. Flame-templed Babbler is the real star bird of Gawahon, and this is one of the most reliable spots for them. "Reliable" does not mean "easy", however... The babblers are mostly mixed flock birds, and while mixed flocks are pretty common only a small subset of them include babblers. Ricky led us on a trail going through the center of the forest, which he said was the most reliable spot for the babblers. We spent a couple hours walking through the forest getting drenched by the rain, and while we ran into many mixed flocks, they only had the usual birds like Visayan Fantails, Visayan Bulbuls, Citrine Canary Flycatchers, Elegant Tits, Sulphur-billed Nuthatches, and White-vented Whistlers. To make matters worse, it seemed like every time we came upon a mixed flock it would start to rain harder, leaving us with poor visibility and fogged-up optics.

Visayan Bulbul

Elegant Tit

Visayan Balicassiao

Visayan Fantail

Lemon-throated Leaf Warbler stalking and devouring a moth of some sort

Citrine Canary Flycatcher

White-vented Whistler

Pyrops zephyrius, a very cool endemic lanternfly

Limnonectes visayanus, an endemic frog that wasn't particularly lively (possibly dead)

Polyrhacis magnifica, a very impressive spiny ant

Begonia negrosensis, a beautiful endemic begonia

A colorful snail (Leptopoma sp.)

We made a fairly treacherous river crossing and then looped back around, coming down the river trail we'd been on early. Next to the river we came upon a larger-than-usual mixed flock, and as we tried to get our bins on every bird coming through, Ricky shouted "Babbler!" We all rushed to get on it, but saw nothing but the usual birds. After 10 minutes or so of frantic searching, I got on a Flame-templed Babbler but it flew into a bunch of thick leaves and disappeared. Finally, we spotted it again as it devoured a cricket, and all of us got on it as it sat on the same perch for a couple of minutes. It was a huge relief, and also amazing to see the bird again as it's surely one of my favorite birds anywhere- a strange little bird that looks like someone took an outline of a generic passerine and let a child doodle on it with markers. 

Flame-templed Babbler!

With the babbler in the bag and the rain still pouring down, we were more than happy to call it a morning and head down to the city. Olympus and Bam took us to their favorite seafood restaurant, where we had yet more excellent Ilonggo food- well deserved after a wet, challenging morning of birding. The restaurant was right on the coast near a decent mudflat, so I was even able to get my scope out and get Doug and Andrew some Palearctic shorebirds like Kentish Plovers, Eurasian Curlews, and Black-tailed Godwits. 

Successful birders!

After lunch Bam and Olympus dropped us off at a cheap hotel where we got a couple hours of sleep before heading to the airport and on towards Mindanao. Our time in Negros wasn't exactly dry, but it was a lot of fun despite the awful weather, thanks to the great birds and the great company. And I expect I'll be back to look for the jungle flycatcher and kingfisher sooner rather than later...