Makiling Botanical Gardens - 14th Dec

A nice afternoon spent at the Botanical Gardens and on the IRRI farms in the company of visiting birder Lawrence. We started at the Botanical Gardens, the Forest Wagtail of last week seems to have gone, but the male Indigo-banded Kingfisher was on post, sitting in the gloom upstream of the weir. At the bridge itself a couple of Flycatchers were diverting At first I thought I was looking at the Ashy-breasted seen a couple of weeks ago, but the prominent eye-ring and dark tip to the bill signaled this was in fact an Asian Brown Flycatcher. A Grey-streaked Flycatcher appeared nearby for a direct comparison.

There was not much else on view so we moved on to the fields at IRRI. The Peregrine was still on station on the pylons, and a pair of Buff-banded Rails were escorting three tiny bundles of black fluff that were their chicks. The upland farm had large numbers of Yellow Wagtails, as well as a solitary Purple Heron. A brown shape diving into the long grass hear the top of the farm was very intriguing. The prime candidates have to be either a large plain locustella warbler, or a Siberian Rubythroat. I shall have to go back...

The prominent white eye-ring on this Asian Brown Flycatcher is the easiest way of separating it from Ashy-breasted Flycatcher...