16th November - Makiling

After heavy rain all night I was expecting today to be washed out, but the rain had stopped by 6:30 and the sun was up. I set off up the trail at about 6:45. It was a quiet start, with few birds moving or calling. About 7:30 I met a noisy, active group of Luzon Hornbill. A bit further up the track I caught sight of a small brown bird in the undergrowth. Moving fast from perch to perch, and even hovering at times, I was amazed to see a strong pale supercilium, uniform brown upperparts, no wing bar and deep cinnamon under-tails coverts - my first Radde's Warbler in The Philippines! Kennedy et al only mentions one previous record (21/02/97 in N. Luzon), but there may have been more since. No chance of a photograph unfortunately. A little further on the forest clears a little allowing views of the sky. A pair of Brahminy Kites were circling, as was a Chinese Goshawk. Also visible were two White-rumped Swifts and a Glossy Swiftlet. I carried on up the track moving slowly, at about 8:30 I met the first bird party of the day, and it was a corker. Red-crested and Scale-feathered Malkoha, Balicassiao, Coppersmith, Philippine Woodpecker, Ashy Minivet, Sulphur-billed Nuthatch, Elegant Tit, Arctic Warbler, Yellow-bellied Whistler, Lovely Sunbird, Purple-throated Sunbird, Black-naped Monarch, Stripe-headed Rhabdornis, Philippine and Yellow-wattled Bulbuls.

Back down the hill I stopped at the fig tree again. Still plenty of activity here, with Colasisi, Guiabero, Coppersmith, Philippine and Yellow-wattled Bulbuls, Brown-headed Thrush. No sign of the Blue-and-White Flycatcher from the weekend however.

Scale-feathered Malkoha. A typical ventral view of one of the most spectacular birds in The Philippines

female Luzon Hornbill looking gorgeous!

Balicassiao A fairly boring forest Drongo, but it is an endemic.

A mad horned spider that is everywhere in the forest at Makiling

Giant Wood Spider