Siquijor - 20th December

A day on a lovely island just to the east of Negros. It has a little forest left, surrounding a mountain in the middle, and I headed here. One of the first birds was a Streak-breasted Bulbul (ssp. siquijorensis), my main target species. With the Cebu race now almost extinct, and the Tablas race split, this may be the only place in the world to find this not-as-boring-as-I-expected Bulbul. I continued onwards, and was rewarded with loads of Yellow-bellied Whistlers (ssp. siquijorensis) and two Orange-bellied Flowerpeckers (ssp. besti). Siquijor has a total of 5 endemic taxa, the three mentioned already, plus the probably extinct siquijorensis race of Colasisi, and the siquijorensis race of Everett's White-eye. Seeing 3 out of a possible maximum of 4 isn't bad for two hours birding! Other birds included Emerald Dove, Glossy Swiftlet and Pygmy Swiftlet.

I had lunch at a beach resort, and had lots of Asian Glossy Starlings and a female Philippine Magpie-Robin.

Yellow-bellied Whistler. ssp. siquijorensis 

Female Philippine Magpie-Robin 

Green Lizard on a coconut palm at Coco Grove.