Location: Ternate, Cavite
Date: Feb 22-23, 2003
by Kitty Arce
Arce compound, DENR Station & Pico de Loro trail

Birders: Mads Bajarias, Lu-Ann Fuentes, Mike Lu, Annette Tamino, Kitty Arce, Andrew Galano, Henson Hernandez (Mike's friend...hopefully a new birder :) )

WEATHER: Feb 22, 2003 - 4:30pm....sun was still out but was a little cloudy
Feb 23, 2003 - Skies were clear...cool when it was still early but at around 9am...it got hotter and hotter!

It was indeed a foodtrip and birdtrip experience!!!! :)

When we arrived in our family's compound in Bo.Sapang Ternate Cavite (4kms from Puerto Azul) it was already around 4:30pm. right after unloading our bags and stuff from the car we quickly went to where i sighted the Olive backed sunbirds...but they were not there, the WHITE-COLLARED KINGFISHER howerver was there to greet us. when we looked up, we saw raptors hovering on top of us....The first raptor we saw was a BRAHMINY KITE, then a differnt raptor showed up that turns out to be an OSPREY, based on it's wing shape.

Before it got dark we decided that to check out where our drop off would be for the early morning's birding/hike. We got to the DENR-PENRO Station at around 5:20pm and we inquired about the Pico de Loro trail and where we could find birds...since our only basis was James' birdlist the past week. We asked about the Tarictics and etc and he said they can be found along the road... we could stroll around the road and find many birds already. So immediately, we strolled the road while there were still light. And then suddenly Lu-Ann was jumping and screaming "Tarictic!" We all looked up and there we saw about 5 of them roosting on a dead tree. Lu-Ann and I could go home that instant as we were so happy seeing TARICTIC HORNBILLS in the wild. And then Andrew pointed out to another tree with 3 black birds with white stripes...We took a look and it was a flock of COLETO. The day wasn't over because we still saw several raptors but it was already dark to positively ID them.

Back at the house, Annette was supposed to give a lecture on biodiversity but she was not feeling well and so after dinner she headed off to bed. While the rest of us attempted to look for owls but we didn't have any luck on that....we heard them, however.

We all woke up at 4:30AM the next day...cooked breakfast (Mike had his first frying experience! hehe), ate and then off we went to the DENR station...we arrived at around 6:15am. Payed P8.00 each for the entrance to the Pico Trail and then we strolled along the road again before going to the trail. Annette was still not feeling well, she was feverish but we were quite sure she'd feel better after we start birding and did she fell better! :) Here goes:

At 6:29am we spotted immediately TARICTIC HORNBILLS, a couple of minutes later we spotted a beautiful WHITE-THROATED KINGFISHER on a wire. WE were suddenly distracted by more Tarictics! BRAHMINY KITES flew over head at 6:37am and then suddenly 2 PHILIPPINE COUCAL was seen hiding in the bushes. A minute later a strange large bird flew across the street and landed on another bush - it was a gorgeous SCALE-FEATHERED MALKOHA. At 6:55am 2 PHILIPPINE BULBULS were playing on bamboo leaves. When we looked up it was 7:03am...an ORIENTAL HONEY BUZZARD was now hovering on top of us! A LONG-TAILED SHRIKE was also spotted. And then at 7:09am on top of a tall tall tree were little birdies playing and they were ORANGE-BELLIED FLOWERPECKERS. Then we heard very very loud calls and saw two black birds making the calls and they turn out to be 2 GLOSSY STARLING. While some were trying to spot the Glossy Starling, Mike spoted something else the rare RUDDY KINGFISHER...2 of them!!!! On the way to the trail in front of the DENR station we spotted a COLETO, 2 BROWN SHRIKES at 8:12am and an OSPREY seen at 8:24am.

We were now on the trail to Pico de Loro. After more than 20 minutes walking Mads spotted a WHITE-BREASTED WOOD SWALLOW. It was getting hot hot hot!!!! Still no bird! As we went deeper in to the trail Annette and I were seated on rocks, the others were going down when suddenly a fairly huge bird came flying through the forest and then from behind us we heard a crashing sound, Annette and I saw male RED JUNGLEFOWL!!!!!!! It felt like it fell from the heavens and it was quite funny! :)

Back to the bird that went flying fast through the forest...we aren't sure but based on info from Kennedy, the details we saw and the ranger Andrew and Mads met, it might be a Reddish Cuckoo Dove...but we''re not sure so we won't include it on the official list. Some of us then spotted 2 OLIVE BACKED SUNBIRDS. We kept hearing this "hooooo hooooo" sound and of course Mads didn't give up on looking for it and it turned out to be the beautiful YELLOW-BREASTED FRUIT DOVE :) Unfortunately though, according to the ranger locals would catch this dove and eat it. As we headed back to the DENR station to go back to the house we noticed GLOSSY SWIFTS in the area....it was already 10:30am.

After our sumptuous lunch, we still wanted to bird! So we surveyed the compound. We went back to that tree with huge red-orange flowers and found LOWLAND WHITE-EYES along with male and female Olive Backed Sunbirds. 3 YELLOW VENTED BULBULS joind the party too. Then from a distance across the pond we spotted the resident White Collared Kingfishers and BARN SWALLOWS. From across the river at the back of the compound Mike spotted a COMMON KINGFISHER (2:12pm). Then when we looked up we luckily saw a WHITE-BELLIED SEA EAGLE at 2:14pm! :) Then Annette suddenly screamed "Oriole! Oriole!"...it was a BLACK NAPED ORIOLE....came from the tree with red-orange flowers to a coconut tree. The Black-naped Orioles (2:19pm) were kind enough to show their presence to the rest of the group when 2 more orioles were spotted on the same tree and then flew away. In search for more birds... we spotted a ZEBRA DOVE (2:28pm) on the ground, which was almost camouflaged. We walked some more and spotted from across the river again a WHITE-BELLIED MUNIA resting on dried grass. We needed 2 more birds to complete our goal of seeing at least 30 species :) and then we saw a RED-KEELED FLOWERPECKER on the tip of a Coconut tree and then flying from one tree to another :) For our 30th bird...is of course the survivor....the bird who has lived through tough times...that we often take for granted...the bird that came all the way from Europe....the EURASIAN TREE SPARROW...there were a lot of them :) hehe

I'm sorry of typos, wrong spelling, and maybe grammatical errors....i am tired and sleepy and so i'm not going to review this email i'm about to send but i felt like doing the report tonight...as everything is fresh in mind still :)

This has been a very good birding trip. I wish all of you could come see it. James' thank you for your earlier post! :) Without it we wouldn't have come to this site yet...though i knew that it would be a very good birding area.

Ned - we were always thinking of how much you would enjoy the trip!

So, when do we go back? :)

regards to all,
KITTY

Here is the summary of our BIRDLIST:

Date: Feb 22-23, 2003
Location: Arce Compound Bo. Sapang Ternate Cavite
1. White-collared Kingfisher - 2
2. Brahminy Kite - 1
3. Lowland White-eye - 3
4. Yellow-vented Bulbul - 3
5. Barn Swallow - common
6. Common Kingfisher - 1
7. White-bellied or White-breasted Sea Eagle - 1
8. Black-naped Oriole - 2
9. Zebra Dove - 1
10. White-bellied Munia - 1
11. Red-kelled Flowerpecker - 1
12. Eurasian Tree Sparrow - common
13. Olive-backed Sunbird - 4 (males and females)

Date: Feb 22-23
Location: DENR STATION -roadside and PICO TRAIL
14. Tarictic Hornbills - 5 (including a male and female pair)
15. White-throated Kingfisher - 1 + BRAHMINY KITE - 3
16. Philippine Coucal - 2
17. Scale-featherd Malkoha - 1
18. Philippine Bulbul - 2
19. Oriental Honey Muzzard - 1
20. Long-tailed Shrike - 1
21. Orange-bellied Flowerpecker - 2
22. Glossy Starling - 2
23. Ruddy Kingfisher - 2
24. Coleto - 5
25. Brown Shrike - 2
26. Osprey - 1
27. White-breasted Wood Swallow - 1 + Olive-backed Sunbirds - 2
28. Yellow-breasted Fruit Dove - 1
29. Glossy Swift - kinda common - several flying in the area
30. Red Jungle Fowl - 1 male