A very enjoyable week in a beautiful part of Ireland. The countryside is very rocky, with bracken-choked gullies, grassy slopes dotted with sheep, and rocky crags. Ideal
Wheatear habitat! Lots of them about, as well as scattered pockets of
Ravens, Chough, Rock Pipits etc. Offshore
Manx Shearwaters abounded, as well as
Gannet, Fulmar and all the usual
Auks and
Cormorants. I spent a frustrating couple of days looking for
Dipper, which were unaccountably hard to locate, though I did succeed in the end.
Gulls were plentiful, but mostly Herring Gull and Great Black-backed, with a few Common Gull on the northern side of Dingle Peninsula.
Wheatear. Very common in the hilly areas
Raven. Very impressive...
Mistle Thrush
Pied Wagtail
Dipper. Surprisingly hard to find, considering their status in Ireland...
Willow Warbler
Herring Gull - adult
Chough
Meadow Pipit
Sand Martin
Common Gull
Hi Paul, I'm a keen bird photographer from Singapore and am considering a visit to Manila around mid Sept - and I may be able to spend a couple of days at Mt Makiling if the timing is good for birds. I had visited Mt Makiling late last year but on my own - mainly in the Makiling Botanical Gardens but unfortunately did not see many birds.. and the few birds I saw were very skittish and so did not get any good pics.. :(
ReplyDeleteI was wondering when will be a good time to visit as well as any good bird guides you can recommend ? The topmost target species (for decent photographs and not just far bird sightings) for me are as follows. Thanks in advance for your help/advice. Micky
Indigo-banded Kingfisher
Spotted-Wood Kingfisher
Red-crested Malkoha
Scale-feathered Malkoha
Philippine Falconet
Philippine Hawk-Owl
Philippine Scops Owl
Guaiabero
Balicassiao
Stripe-headed Rhabdornis
Philippine Pygmy Woodpecker
Philppine Hawk-Cuckoo
Philippine Bulbul
Red-keeled Flowerpecker
Barred Rail
Plain Bush-hen
Micky,
ReplyDeleteSeptember can be good, but Makiling can also be a tricky place to bird. It's fairly low density, and as you've found the birds can be hard to see, and even harder to photograph. Having said that most birds on your list are gettable here. The best guide would be Nicky Icarangal, I'll post his contact details later today when I get home.
Nicky can be contacted at birdingphilippines@gmail.com
ReplyDeleteHi Paul, many thanks for your advice and help - I'll contact Nicky and check his services out. Thanks again for Nicky's contact. :)
ReplyDelete