Pajareo sin fronteras

I was scheduled to leave the Philippines (at least for a couple of years) in mid-August, so by the time the first week of August rolled around I had plans to head to some of my usual birding spots for one last visit. Summer isn't a very good time of year to visit the salt pans in General Santos City, since most of the migrant shorebirds and other things won't be around, but it's still got a fun marsh area to visit, and the possibility of seeing some rare Australasian summer vagrants like Sacred Kingfisher- or something even more interesting, I suppose (spoiler alert: I didn't).  I took the bus to GenSan on the evening of August 4th, then spent the morning of August 5 in Barangay Buayan, at the moment probably the best spot for shorebirds and marsh birds in Mindanao. My first stop was the mudflats that the DENR is doing its best to destroy by putting in a mangrove plantation. Some good things can turn up there during the winter, but this was the late summer so the o...

I've  said before  that Region XII (SOCCSKSARGEN or SOX) is the best region for birding in the Philippines, but it's not just for rare and localized endemic birds. It's also a fantastic spot for seeing waterbirds, both resident and migratory, some of which can be quite rare even if they're not as spectacular-looking as Mindanao Lorikeets or Wattled Broadbills. My favorite spot for waterbirds in Mindanao is Barangay Buayan in General Santos City, where there's a nice area of marsh and fishponds, a salt pan, and a good-quality mudflat all located right next to each other. It's gathered quite a selection of extremely rare birds, including Nordmann's Greenshank, Australian Pelican, and Sacred Kingfisher (all of which I dipped on, but let's not dwell on that), but it's also a good place for seeing resident birds that are otherwise uncommon in the Philippines, such as Horsfield's Bush Lark, Ruddy-breasted Crake, or Greater Painted-snipe. I try and g...

Ever since my first visit to the forests of the municipality of Senator Ninoy Aquino, Sultan Kudarat, I’ve been itching to go back. Located in south-central Mindanao, SNA still holds surprisingly large expanses of pristine forest clinging to the limestone mountains. Even better, Barangay Kuden is below 1000 meters above sea level, meaning that it still holds primary lowland forest, the rarest of environments in Mindanao, where natural areas are disappearing at a breathtaking pace thanks to logging and mining, both legal and illegal.                 Thankfully, I had a free weekend in late April, so I got in touch with my contacts in the municipal government of SNA, who were happy to help out and learn more about birdwatching as a potential tourist activity there. Also joining was Emelie Jamorabon, the tourism operations officer of Tacurong City, who’s done wonderful things to promote birdwatching in Re...