End of July

An odd record of a Philippine Woodpecker on the farms today. They normally are in on near the forested areas on the mountain, but do occasionally stray. A few Lowland White-eye in the tree at the same time, so 2 Phil endemics together which was nice. Wood Sandpiper numbers are building up, and Barn Swallows are increasing too. Oddly all the Cattle Egrets seem to have disappeared, but there are several aggregations of Little Egrets, including juveniles.

Philippine Woodpecker

Lowland White-eye

White-browed Crake

Lesser Coucal Juvenile

Fan-tailed Cisticola

Wood Sandpiper

Late July

The rains have really kicked in now, with Typhoon Baboy coming through on the 14th, and lots more rain since. The paddies are filling up, and the new rice is growing well, hence plenty of greenery, and not much open water or mud. Despite this the first Wood Sands came through this week. Other irregular visitors were Lowland White-eye in the trees near the Open University building, White-bellied Munia on the Upland Farm, and 4 Java Sparrows behind the main buildings. An oddity was a leucistic bird, in company with 2 Striated Swallows and presumed to be a juvenile of that species. All the usual Rallids much in evidence (Barred Rail, Buff-banded Rail, White-browed Crake, White-breasted Waterhen, Common Moorhen) plus a possible Ruddy-breasted Crake on the Upland Farm on 27th (brief flight views only).

Yellow Bittern

Yellow Bittern

White-bellied Munia

White-bellied Munia

Paddyfield Pipit

Long-tailed Shrike

Striated Swallow

Leucistic, juvenile Striated Swallow?

Brown Shrikes

A series of photos of various lucionensis Brown Shrikes taken at IRRI and adjacent areas over the last couple of years. As you can see some of the birds have almost white heads, they can really stand out in a field of brown rice stubble.

An interesting feature is the near absence of the white eye-brow on some birds (and not always caused by the lack of contrast with a pale head, see the third photo).

Black Drongo at IRRI

On 15 November 2009 I was surprised to see two Black Drongos in the fields at IRRI. A very common sight in Laos and Thailand in the paddies, but they don't occur here normally at all. The first record from the Philippines is from about 5 years ago, and they have been reported annually since then. At least one of the birds was still present yesterday, less than 100m from where I first saw it back in November.

Last seen in late March 2010.

Indigo-banded Kingfisher

A cracking male Indigo-banded Kingfisher taken from Padua bridge in UPLB. There are three bridges on the campus, Padua is the first one you meet as you come up the hill from Los Banos proper. It's the standard site for this Kingfisher, but they aren't always there. There's quite a lot of disturbance there, with lots of students about, and some people using the stream for washing. (Of the other two bridges, only the smaller one ever has the Kingfisher, and then infrequently. Having said that, I saw one there yesterday). The other main site for this bird is the Botanical Gardens, further up the hill towards the reserve.