Palawan Up High

 

After working hard across Mindanao for almost two weeks, the last stop of our month-long Philippines odyssey was Palawan, which is always dependable for good birds and good birding. Compared to the rest of the country, Palawan is very... different in many bird-relevant ways. It was never really connected to the main part of the Philippines and thus has a very different selection of birds; a couple dozen endemics, a few birds shared with Luzon or the Visayas, and a good number of birds that are otherwise only found on Borneo and mainland Southeast Asia. It's also much more sparsely populated, and has more intact forest and generally higher bird densities than what we'd been used to so far. 

I'd already been to Palawan multiple times, most recently in October of last year when I managed to see all the Palawan endemics with the exception of Palawan Striped Babbler. That babbler is key: it's Palawan's only high-elevation endemic bird (that we know of at least), and it's one that very few birders have seen as it requires a lengthy, multi-day hike up a mountain to find it. I hadn't had the chance to do that yet, but what better opportunity than a long birding trip with a couple of fit birders and enthusiastic hikers? I decided to add a 3-day hike up Mount Victoria, the second-highest mountain in Palawan, where we would have a chance to see Palawan Striped Babbler, along with some of Palawan's other high-altitude endemic subspecies and some other challenging birds like Palawan Peacock Pheasant.

We left Davao the morning of March 1, and flew to Puerto Princesa in Palawan by way of Cebu. We weren't scheduled to depart for Mount Victoria until the following day, so instead we took the opportunity to have a rare rest day, spent relaxing by the pool and drinking margaritas. Not a bad way to start our time in Palawan! Not so coincidentally, I booked the hotel near a known cockatoo roost, and sure enough right after sunset a big flock of Philippine Cockatoos flew in and perched in the palm trees in front of the resort. It was a great way to tick a critically endangered endemic bird, and we celebrated with another margarita.

Philippine Cockatoos

The next morning, we checked out of our nice resort and boarded a van heading to the town of Narra, several hours south of Puerto Princesa. Part of the reason few people see the Palawan Striped Babbler is that, like most mountains in the Philippines, one does not simply walk into Mount Victoria. Instead, there's lots of red tape to go through: obtaining permits from the DENR, arranging a guide and a porter, finding transport to the trailhead, and things of that nature. That all makes sense, as it's a difficult hike and it's good to go through the proper channels to minimize physical risk and environmental damage. Still, it also lengthens the time needed to actually start climbing the damn mountain.

We spent a while at the local government office in Narra filling out the necessary paperwork and re-packing our bags, then got back in the van to head to the trailhead. At the trailhead we met our guides, a couple of young guys who knew nothing about birds but were extremely good hikers- particularly impressive because they chain smoked their way up and down the whole mountain. 

The Mount Victoria trailhead. The clouds in the distance are some nice foreshadowing...

The trail up Mount Victoria stars quite easily, with a flat walk through an open field, where Plaintive Cuckoo, Greater Coucal, and Lesser Coucal were all calling. Things got more interesting, however, when we arrived at the river we would be following the rest of the day. And by "following", I mean weaving from one side of the river to the other in a series of increasingly deep and difficult wet river crossings- 16 in total! It was mostly flat going but still rather tiring thanks to the endless navigating over slippery rocks. The forest got progressively better as we went further up, but the birding was surprisingly bad, with the birds few and far between: many Lovely Sunbirds calling from next to the river, a single calling Blue Paradise Flycatcher, and a quick glimpse of Spot-throated Flameback, but very little else. More interesting were the other animals, with many pitcher plants along the trail and Palawan Rock Frogs dotting the rocks up the river.

The river that also doubled our trail

One of over a dozen river crossings

Nepenthes philippinensis, a Palawan-endemic pitcher plant

Palawan Rock Frog

After hours of interminable river crossings, the trail went from very flat to very steep as we started ascending Mount Victoria proper. By this time, the grey clouds that had been amassing ominously on the horizon finally broke and unleashed a nice downpour on us, helpfully making the trail slippery as well as steep. Thankfully it was only a little bit until we arrived at our campsite, a flat area next to a rushing tributary of the main river. We set up our tents in the rain, and had a very tasty meal under the tarp courtesy of our multitalented mountain guides. 

We woke with the sunrise the next morning, and had a slow start to the morning eating breakfast and packing our stuff for the long hike ahead. Birding started with a bang, with a pair of Falcated Wren-Babblers singing next to the campsite! I was able to tempt them in with a bit of playback, and although I only got record shots it was still my first time getting a photo of this species. It was only when we'd already packed the tents that our guides informed us that we would be coming back to the campsite again that night. That was a bit annoying as we'd spent quite some time fixing our things for a difficult uphill hike, time we could have spent seeing birds on the hike up, but there was nothing to do at that point but re-rearrange our bags and start the hike up.

Falcated Wren-Babbler

I'd read accounts online how difficult the second part of the hike up Victoria was and, well, they weren't joking. While our first day had been mostly flat and along a riverbed, the second day we were essentially walking straight up the mountain. It was tough going, though we were happy not to have our heavy packs for this segment. There were good birds around for the first part of the climb, but birding was frustrating with a closed canopy and limited visibility along the narrow trail. A brown bird flew by and soon started singing, revealing itself to be a Melodious Babbler, and we heard a Red-headed Flameback calling just off the path that refused to actually show itself. Most frustrating was a Palawan Peacock Pheasant that I flushed off the trail while Doug and Andrew were a bit behind me- one of the most-wanted birds of the trip, and my first time seeing a 100% wild one, but somewhat ruined by the fact that it flushed and never returned for Doug and Andrew- I felt terrible. 

Birds started to increase a bit as we moved further upward, first with a few Citrine Canary-Flycatchers next to a little stream, and then later with a few Velvet-fronted Nuthatches, a rather scarce species in Palawan. This was my first time seeing them properly in Palawan (I've seen them elsewhere in Southeast Asia many times), and we were amazed at how huge they were- at least half again as big as Sulphur-billed Nuthatches, and much bigger than the other subspecies I'd seen elsewhere. I wonder if this is the case for all the nuthatches on Palawan, or if there's an undescribed montane form...

Citrine Canary Flycatcher

An absolutely enormous Velvet-fronted Nuthatch

I hung back a bit to try and get better pics of the nuthatches, but a few minutes later I heard Doug and Andrew shouting "Striped Babbler! Striped Babbler!". I sprinted up the mountain as fast as I could go on the steep terrain, and arrived huffing and puffing to where they were a few hundred meters up. They had just heard it, and sToon we heard the grating calls of a Palawan Striped Babbler once again, and managed to track down one bird hopping around a tree just above us! This was my good look at a striped babbler, and this was another bird that turned out to be way larger than I expected- the size of a very fat bulbul, much bigger than most other babblers in the Philippines. We enjoyed extended looks at a couple of babblers as they made their way through the trees, and I even got a recording of their song, which I don't think has ever been recorded before. It was easily one of the best birds of the trip, and one of my favorite lifers of 2023.

Palawan Striped Babbler!

The trail mercifully flattened out right where we saw the striped babblers, and we started a more leisurely walk through the forest hoping to see some other mountain birds. There was a larger mixed flock along with the babblers, including Mangrove Whistlers, Pin-striped Tit-Babblers, and a very confiding pair of Palawan Blue Flycatchers, while a bit further up we had great looks at a Spot-throated Flameback. Mangrove Whistlers in the rest of Southeast Asia are, true to their name, mostly found in mangroves and coastal forests, but in Palawan they were the most common bird up on the mountain, and found nowhere near mangroves! Another good reason for them to be split I suppose.

Female Palawan Blue Flycatcher

Male Palawan Blue Flycatcher

Spot-throated Flameback

Common Archduke (Lexias pardalis)

We stopped for lunch in a nice flat clearing, then continued up the mountain, trying to get as high as we could before we had to turn around. We ran into several Negros Leaf Warbler of the rarely-seen peterseni subspecies, and a small flock of Warbling White-eyes, another very uncommon montane bird. The real targets, however, were some of the other Palawan-endemic mountain subspecies like Yellow-breasted Warbler, White-browed Shortwing, and Bundok Flycatcher, all of which are very poorly known and have few if any pictures or recordings. We got as far as the second campsite, which was at 1400masl and would be a very nice place to camp given it's in the middle of good mountain forest and even somehow has cell signal. There was a surprisingly-high Pygmy Flowerpecker up there, but sadly no warblers, shortwings, or flycatchers. 

Negros Leaf Warbler, of the Palawan-endemic nielsoni subspecies

Female Pygmy Flowerpecker at a surprisingly high elevation

Some kind of orchid seen on the way up

Our lunch clearing

Hiking through some weird eucalyptus forest

It was mid-afternoon by the time we got to the second campsite, so sadly we had to head down from there. If we'd had a little more advance warning about the plan for the day we could have started earlier and tried to summit to look for the famous Attenborough's Pitcher Plant, but unfortunately that was not to be. Thankfully, there was good birding on the way down to cheer us up; we soon ran into another mixed flock that contained more Palawan Striped Babblers, Mangrove Whistlers, and even better Yellow-breasted Warblers! That had been my second-biggest target of the trip, as they are found nowhere else in the Philippines, and are surprisingly good-looking for a phylloscopus warbler to boot. Photography was a challenge as the light was bad and the birds were constantly moving, but we were still able to get a few pictures- some of the only pictures ever taken of this subspecies. 

Palawan Striped Babbler again

Yellow-breasted Warbler!

Diversibipalium catenatum, a cool endemic hammer-headed planarian

Some kind of flowering Medinilla

The next day we ate our breakfast and then started the long hike back to the trailhead, not relishing yet another go at the countless river crossing. Thankfully it was a sunny and dry day, and we were even able to take an extremely refreshing dip in the river on the way down. There weren't too many birds, although we did manage to get Doug and Andrew's lifers Palawan Tit, Palawan Bulbul, and Ashy-fronted Bulbul on the way down. At the trailhead we had to wait another hour or so for the van, so we found a little sari-sari store and had a much-needed cold Coke.

A very nice little swimming hole on the river

Looking back up at Mount Victoria from the river

Victory picture after a successful hike

Malay Cruiser (Vindula dejone)

Rhinocypha humeralis

Red Sprite

The van finally arrived, and we bid farewell to our guides then headed to Narra to grab our stuff then north to Puerto Princesa for dinner and bedtime. The next day was our only remaining full day in Palawan, after which Andrew was flying back to the US and I was flying back to Sorsogon. I initially wrote that up as part of this blog post but ended up with so many pictures that I'll need to split it to one more post.