Luzon, Luzon, Davao, Luzon...
Following my adventure in Sultan Kudarat , I barely had a day of rest before starting on another week-long staff training, followed by a full month outside of Mindanao in various islands (and countries!). My IPA project, after all, has a sample area in the Bicol Region as well as Mindanao, though it's unfortunately a small sample. It was, however, enough of a sample for me to get sent to Naga City to train some new staff on our new survey. Before jetting down to Naga, however, I had a weekend in Manila to spend birding in some of my favorite spots. My first day there, I spent a nice morning at La Mesa Ecopark, one of the few remaining green spaces in Manila and a surprisingly good birding spot considering how close it is to the urban jungle that is the National Capital Region. The main targets at La Mesa are Hooded and Philippine Pittas (which I didn't see, though I didn't try particularly hard), and Ashy Thrush, a thrush endemic to Luzon that's nearly impossible to ...