UPLB - 20 - 21 April

Due to the excessive heat I've done most of my birding this weekend at night. The first bird heard on both nights, from my house, has been a Philippine Eagle-Owl. It appears to be in the gully running between the IRRI staff housing complex at the SEARCA housing area. This thin tongue of forest has produced Red-bellied Pitta before, with Indigo-banded Kingfisher on the stream at the bottom of the gully, but I wasn't expecting an Eagle-Owl!

A good area for owls seems to be Baker Field in the middle of the campus. There are plenty of trees, but they are generally not too tall, and are easy to walk around. On Sunday morning I had a pair of Philippine Scops Owls here, responding quickly to playback here, and there were several Luzon Hawk-Owls calling. I got views of the Luzon Hawk-Owls on the road up the hill towards the Botanical Gardens, but they didn't hang around for pictures.

Philippine Nightjars were also very actively calling, though I didn't manage to see any.

One of a pair of very responsive Philippine Scops Owls at Baker Field. This one seems to have caught a large rat.