Pajareo sin fronteras

My last day in Senator Ninoy Aquino started out terribly. I woke up at 7AM, having somehow slept through my phone alarm. It was long past sunrise, and I had no chance of being in my birding spot during peak hours. Dante the motorbike driver was long gone as well, as I had not been awake at the scheduled pick-up time. I sent him a text nonetheless to see if he was still available, but began contemplating just leaving SNA early without another day of birding.  Thankfully all was not lost, however, as Dante roared up to my hotel half an hour later, having received my text and having nothing better to do that day except ferry a strange foreigner around to unknown places. On the motorbike ride into Barangay Kuden, I was never more thankful that he drives twice the speed that any sane person should go on the twisty dirt back roads. We picked up my Barangay-appointed guide, a Manobo man who was the sitio leader in the area, and continued on to the forest.  The forest road ...

After a very successful  first full day  in Senator Ninoy Aquino, it was another early, early morning to get to Barangay Kuden for some owling. Alas, while we had Philippine Frogmouth and Mindanao Hawk-owl calling once more, we didn't add anything new to the night bird list. We were starting the morning in the place where we'd seen White-fronted Tit the day before, hoping for another view. According to Irene, the tits in Luzon don't usually call until later in the morning, so we decided to hang out in the same spot until then. Joining also was Errol, a friend of Yepyep's and another birder from Tacurong who's stationed as a nurse in SNA. Pre-dawn Mindanao Hornbill There was a fair amount of activity before dawn, with Southern Rufous Hornbills and Mindanao Hornbills  flying past us, and some doves like Yellow-breasted Fruit Dove and Amethyst Brown Dove calling from the midst of the woods. Most interesting was a calling dove that we couldn't identify-...

The forests of Senator Ninoy Aquino, Sultan Kudarat are a place I can never really get tired of. After the discovery of some excellent birds on my  first visit , I returned a  second  and  third  time, adding more and more impressive birds to the site list every time. Every time, I left wanting to come back for more; it's an area of good-quality forest as big as PICOP, Pasonanca, or any of the other more-famous birding spots in Mindanao, and there's so much to explore. Even beyond the good birds (and potential of so many more), the area is fascinating geographically and culturally, and I always want to learn more about the non-bird parts of it whenever I'm there. Any time there's discovery of an accessible place where Mindanao Wattled Broadbill can be seen there's bound to be some interest from others as well, and indeed there were a number of birders and bird photographers who visited there once word got out. Surprisingly not among them was Pete of  B...