Last August 20, Madz, Carl, Lala, Nilo, Liza Dans and I took the bus to Tibanglan, which is located the southern most foothills of Sierra Madre. Liza met us somewhere in Sta. Cruz, Laguna where we took 2 jeepney rides to get to San Antonio in Kalayaan, Laguna.

We arrived 11 am and started hiking up to the hut. Along the way, we were met by carabaos pulling 3 to 5 logs each, apparently coming from what's left of the forest above. It was a long and hot hike. We passed through big ricefields, muddy terrain, and steep slopes. When we arrived at the top, we were hungry and tired. We stayed at Liza Dans' hut where she served fish from her fishponds. The place falls within the municipality of Paete, Laguna.

We had our rest for a while and at about 3 pm, we started to go about our business and birded. We were assisted by a guide, Zaldy, who was a former illegal logger. We went inside the secondary forest, noticing that the trees left standing were quite thin ones. It was quiet but then a group of small birds comprising of Blue-headed Fantails, Yellow Bellied-whistler, Elegant Tit, Lemon-throated Leaf-warblers broke up the silence. We were in search for the reported frogmouth seen there before, but we had no such luck. Instead, we saw a Dollarbird, perched on a branchless tree. It stayed there for quite some time, not minding anyone passing below it. We also went to a lake and watched Glossy Swiftlets skim the water for insects or a drink. On a rock farther ahead rested an Indigo-banded Kingfisher.

That night, we tried our hand in owling. A Philippine nightjar gave us good views. We think we heard owls responded to our playback. We suffered insect bites but it was tolerable. Later in the evening, we also did a bit of herping, Lala caught a small snake and we took photos of it. We also found a lone frog amidst all the frog calls. Lala heard the characteristic eerie call of the Philippine Eagle-Owl and the "barking" call of the Philippine Hawk-Owl while bathing in the freezing river just a few meters downhill from the hut. The owls seemed very far. All the guys were asleep by then since it was past midnight.The next day, we woke up early in the morning to bird a bit more. We went to Liza's hut to see what's in that area. Carl saw White-breasted Water-hens in the nearby ricefields. White-throated Kingfishers were common, doves flew above us and a Philippine-Cuckoo Dove darted into the forest. Inside the forest, the same group of birds showed up but this time with a Grey-backed Tailorbird. We have been hearing it all the time but at last it showed up even just for a second.

We went back to the hut to rest before heading back. Just outside the hut we had lots of white-eyes and Emerald Doves. We had our lunch, took a siesta and hiked back down again to meet more carabaos (one was an albino). We enjoyed the trip and hope to come back again for the raptors and frogmouth.