Birding at Timberland 2013-07-27

I was back in the Philippines to take care of a few things. It was very fortunate that during the weekend, WBCP was invited to take part in a bird survey at Timberland. I was initially hesitant due to a lot of things to be done, but changed my mind when Mike asked if I wanted to join.

At the meet-up point near Ever Commonwealth, I arrived there before everyone else. Once everyone arrived, we proceed to the Timberland Sports and Nature Clubhouse. After the initial registration, welcome program, snack and announcement, we proceed to the first birding site.

 

The surprise bird was the sleeping Philippine Frogmouth.

Philippine Frogmouth

While going to various areas of the property owned by Filinvest, we were able to see lots of white breasted wood swallows along the way. We also saw some striated grassbirds, long tailed shrikes, yellow vented bulbuls, pied bushchats and a few others. There's an area where we hiked to try and find some owls, but it was already getting dark and the slope was a bit wet and slippery. We decided to cancel our owl watching and just do birding early in the morning.

At night, we had dinner and counted the birds we had and proceed to our guestroom. Most of the members decided to have  a little liquor session, but as a non-drinker, I didn't join them.

The moon that night

Nighttime view outside the guesthouse

Sea of clouds in the morning

Early in the morning, we proceed as planned, visited several areas before taking a break at the plant nursery. From there, we started the hike to the waterfall, but due to the soggy trail and danger of slipping, the organizer and a few of us decided to forgo the waterfall. Many people in the group are also not used to walking a few kilometers, not to mention the bad trail condition. During the last leg of the hike, rain started pouring which further complicates the hike. It took us over an hour before we arrived to the area where cars will pick us up.

Lowland white-eye

Philippine pygmy woodpecker

Black naped monarch

Pied bushchat (female)

Scaley breasted munia

White collared kingfisher

We cleaned ourselves before proceeding to clubhouse. After the bird tally, group picture taking and some discussions, we left Timberland. It was a pleasant experience for me, although I'm pretty sure many people didn't like the last hike.

Here are some pictures I took during the trip.