The Proper Height
In the Philippines, endemic birds can roughly be separated into two sets: those found in the lowlands (generally sea level up to about 1,000 meters), and those found in the mountains (elevations above 1,000 meters). There are some species that are just fine at any altitude, such as the Philippine Bulbul, or others that have even more restricted ranges, including those that are only found above 1,500 meters above sea level (or sometimes even higher!). In Mindanao, those birds are Apo Sunbird, White-cheeked Bulfinch, Apo Myna, and Mindanao Serin, all of which are endemic birds. As of the middle of this year, I'd never been at the proper altitude to see any of those birds, meaning that there were some gaping holes in my Mindanao list. Thankfully, in May of this year I finally had the chance to get to the proper spot to (hopefully) fill those holes. Along with Brendan Sloan, who'd accompanied me on my trips to SNA and Lake Holon , I decided to do a weekend trip ...