Philippines Sierra Madre, Samar & Negros 3rd - 9th April 2018 Leader: Rob Hutchinson Participant: Hans Jörnvall Visayan Plumed-Warbler © Rob Hutchinson / Birdtour Asia The Philippines is without a doubt one of the worlds endemic hotspots with 250 already recognized, a number which is rising all the time as taxonomy advances in the archipelago. While it’s easy to see a fair proportion on a well planned trip – up to 160 on our regular three-week tours for example – to see the remainder takes a lot of dedication, and in the case of Hans on his eight visit to the archipelago, the number of potential new birds is low relative to the efforts required to reach and see them. In the case of this trip one new island, Samar, was combined with brief return visits to both Luzon and Negros in search of just a handful of species. We started in the southern Sierra Madre mountains of Luzon with superlative views of the elusive Bicol Ground Warbler before moving on to Samar were both tiny Visayan Pygmy Babbler and the even smaller Visayan Plumed-Warbler gave wonderful views, and ‘Samar Crow’, currently the samarensis subspecies of Slender-billed Crow, was a welcome insurance bird. Finishing with a brief visit to Negros we did well to find the poorly known White-throated Jungle Flycatcher even in the inclement weather. The trip was very much focused on the few target birds but we nevertheless bumped into a fair number of other Philippine endemics, finishing with an endemic tally of 91 out of a total of 149 species (meaning a remarkable 60% of the birds we recorded were endemic!), with 10 of those heard only. Our first excursion was into the southern most of the Sierra Madre mountain range which runs down the north- east side of Luzon. We had just a single target here, but a good one nevertheless, the elusive Bicol Ground Warbler which has probably only ever been seen by a handful of birders. Unfortunately, the weather wasn’t ideal, it was hot and sunny which tends to discourage their singing and by mid-morning we’d only heard the briefest snatches of song and things weren’t looking promising at all. Usually they would have finished singing for the day by this time and indeed we’d all but given up hope when a change in the weather to bring some overcast weather suddenly had us latching on the the distinctive high-pitched song. There were actually two in a singing dual from either side of a trail and after some careful consideration we chose our spot and committed to watch the exact spot we hoped the bird would appear. As the minutes ticked by things weren’t looking hopefully but we concentrated nonetheless and suddenly there was the ground warbler, right in the open on the exact spot we’d hoped. Almost filling our binoculars, the views were positively prolonged as it posed one way before jumping around to face us, then vanishing once more, leaving us in a state of elation as we jumped around on the roadside! Northern Silvery Kingfisher and Samar Hornbill, Samar Metallic-winged Sunbird and Little Slaty Flycatcher, Samar With a very early morning flight the following day, we were touching down in Leyte as the sun rose the next morning and were soon crossing the impressive San Juanico bridge to neighboring Samar. These easternmost Visayan islands are part of Greater Mindanao but host a few special birds of their own and three of these were our targets for this visit. Arriving into the forests of central Samar in the mid-morning the sounds of cicadas were already filling the air which wasn’t promising, but within minutes we were on to a feeding flock; Visayan Blue Fantail was typically a flock leader and this soon lead us to the first of our targets – Visayan Pygmy Babbler – which was typically amidst the bustle of the flock which also included Brown Tit-Babbler, Handsome and Metallic-winged Sunbird, and Yellow-bellied Whistler. In the afternoon we switched targets to one which is very likely to be split in the future. ‘Samar Crow’ is a form of Slender-billed Crow which is both vocally and ecologically distinct from other in the complex. It is also seemingly a rare bird with no recent records from Mindanao and a sparse distribution across Samar and Leyte, so we were delighted when a pair passed directly overhead with their very energetic flight style, and uttering their distinctive calls. The next morning was an expedition to find one of the Philippines most fascinating and enigmatic species. The Visayan Plumed-Warbler was long considered a babbler, and conspecific with the form on Mindanao but we now know if to be a distinct species in its own right, and to be more closely related to warblers than babblers. Added to this it’s also also barely known, having only been seen a handful of times in the field. Our journey to see the bird was as difficult as the bird itself, 10km along the rapids of a boulder-strewn river, then a steep slippery trail up into the lowland rainforest itself. The forest was alive with bird calls in the early morning with Pink-bellied Imperial Pigeon, Southern Rufous Hornbill, Streaked Ground Babbler and even the rare resident form of Indian Cuckoo noted. It was a feeding flock that we needed to find for a chance at the plumed-warbler though and these were none existent and as the morning pressed on, and the cicadas increased in volume, our chances looked increasingly slim. Sure enough lunch time passed with no action but we kept looking, and looking. In the heat of mid-afternoon there was suddenly some action, first a single Oriental White-eye, then a lone Visayan Blue Fantail were the indicators that things might change. Suddenly fully alert we careful scanned as the action increased… Stripe-headed Rhabdornis, Yellow-bellied Whistler, Olive-backed Flowerpecker… then suddenly something tiny and yellow in the canopy, yellow with a subtle white stripe along the flanks, there above us was the Visayan Plumed-Warbler. Already happy to have our eyes on these elusive birds, things got even better when a burst of playback had them dropping from the canopy to give us unprecedented views at just a few meters range. It was a very happy journey back down to the river and up the rapids, adding a couple of Northern Silvery Kingfisher along the way, a restricted- range bird in its own right. With all our targets in place it was a very relaxed few hours birding for our last morning on the island but we enjoyed some quality birds like Southern Rufous Hornbills, nicely perched Samar Hornbills, a family party of Philippine Trogons, Black-faced Coucal, close views of Metallic-winged and Purple-throated Sunbirds, and Rufous- fronted Tailorbird. It was then time to head back to the city for a bit of luxury and of course some celebratory drinks! Metallic-winged Sunbird and Rufous-fronted Tailorbird, Samar The next day was one of travel as we made our way to north Negros via Cebu. Our final morning on Negros had a single target, one that is rarely seen on the island. White-throated Jungle Flycatcher is a rather inconspicuous endemic of Negros and neighboring Panay, with only its sweet song betraying its presence, and even then only usually at dawn. We arrived at our stakeout only to find that the weather wasn’t going to do us any favours with rain which varied from drizzle to torrential keeping most birds quiet, including the flycatcher. After a few hours and during in lull in the rain Rob was searching away from our known stake-out when he was sure he could hear a flycatcher singing from the other side of a noisy river. Gathering together again a brief playback and a bit of movement had us latched onto this subtle bird which stayed put for us to enjoy excellent ‘scope views with the Swarovski producing a remarkable view in the dark forest before the rain arrived once more and the bird disappeared for good. Elated with this we continued birding and added some other excellent birds including Buff- eared Brown Dove to complete our set of all three of the White-eared Brown Dove splits during the tour, plus Visayan Bulbul, White-vented Whistler and Flame-templed Babbler in the feeding flocks before we could finally leave the rain behind and return to Manila to celebrate an extremely successful tour. Black-crowned Babbler and Philippine Fairy Bluebird, Samar Buzzing Flowerpecker and Rufous-tailed Jungle Flycatcher, Samar Oriental Honey Buzzard and Sulphur-billed Nuthatch, Samar Systematic List ANSERIFORMES: Anatidae Philippine Duck Anas luzonica e GALLIFORMES: Phasianidae Blue-breasted Quail Excalfactoria chinensis lineata Red Junglefowl Gallus gallus philippensis Heard only CICONIIFORMES: Ardeidae Javan Pond Heron Ardeola speciosa Eastern Cattle Egret Bubulcus [ibis] coromandus Purple Heron Ardea purpurea Eastern Great Egret Ardea [alba] modestus Intermediate Egret Egretta intermedia Little Egret Egretta garzetta FALCONIFORMES: Accipitridae Oriental Honey Buzzard Pernis ptilorhynchus philippensis Philippine Serpent Eagle Spilornis holospilus e GRUIFORMES: Rallidae Plain Bush-hen Amaurornis olivacea e CHARADRIIFORMES: Recurvirostridae Black-winged Stilt Himantopus himantopus CHARADRIIFORMES: Charadriidae Pacific Golden Plover Pluvialis fulva CHARADRIIFORMES: Scolopacidae Marsh Sandpiper Tringa stagnatilis Common Greenshank Tringa nebularia Common Sandpiper Actitis hypoleucos CHARADRIIFORMES: Glareolidae Oriental Pratincole Glareola maldivarum CHARADRIIFORMES: Laridae Whiskered Tern Chlidonias hybridus COLUMBIFORMES: Columbidae Red Collared Dove Streptopelia tranquebarica Spotted Dove Streptopelia chinensis Philippine Cuckoo Dove Macropygia tenuirostris