Rockjumper Birding Tours - Netfugl.dk

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At 5.10 am. We left Narra for Puerto Princesa – bound for a 10.40 am flight to Negros. However,
we still had the morning drive along the so-called “Zig-zag Road” through good forest, on our way
to the Palawan capital. A dense bamboo thicket was a stake out for the difficult and most wanted
Palawan endemic, Palawan Flycather, and we were lucky to see and hear this fine, little elusive
bird at close quarters. The site also had Ashy-headed Babbler. Along Napson Road, we birded in a
wooded river bed. Six, stunning Blue-headed Racquettails came racing over, one by one, showing
their fine racquets in the morning sun. Other nice birds were Philippine Cuckoo-Dove, Bluenaped
Parrot, Asian Drongo-Cuckoo, Rufous-tailed Tailorbird, Striped Tit-babbler, Palawan
Flowerpecker and Ashy and Hair-crested Drongo.
During the flight to Negros, we wasted most of the day on a stopover in Manila Airport, waiting for
the Negros plane. Our only encouragement was 5 Oriental Pratincoles around the runway – they
were probably breeding birds.
After dark, we finally arrived in Bacolod, the capital of the island of Negros, and checked in at the
fancy Royal Amrey Hotel.
Thursday May 26 th : Negros, morning on Mt. Kanla-on and afternoon visit to Mambukal Reserve.
Evening in Bacolod.
The island of Negros is part of the Visayan Islands of the central Philippines. These islands also
include Cebu and Bohol, among others. Not much forest is left in these islands, but the little there is
contains important, endemic species. Therefore, we had decided to visit all the three mentioned
islands, to see as much as possible. Except two almost extinct species (Negros Bleeding-heart and
Negros Fruit-Dove) we managed to see all the Visayan specialities during our visit to the three
islands.
Only the island of Mindoro (with five endemic birds), the Sulu Islands in the extreme south (also
with five endemic birds) and the island of Calayan in the extreme north (with the newly discovered
Calayan Rail) are places in the Philippines with additional endemic birds that we did not have time
to visit during our four weeks journey to the Philippines. Probably, our planned itinerary could not
have been composed any better within four weeks, if you wish to see as many of the Philippine
specialities as possible, in a realistic way.
Large parts of the Negros landscape has been turned into sugar cane fields, but the large and scenic
mountain of Mt. Kanla-on in the northern part of the island is still covered by jungle on the upper
parts, below the crater, and is the best place in the island to see the Negros specialities.
We only spent 36 hours in Negros, and they were all donated to a short “Mt. Kanla-on expedition”.
We started out extremely early at around 4 a.m. from Bacolod, and drove in darkness in a hired
jeepney to the mountain. While ascending, the road got steadily worse, muddy and stony, and it
remains a mystery how we made it the last stretch to the national park entrance. Thousands of
roosters were calling from little cages scattered all over the hill grass fields – probably a production
site for these birds, meant for cock-fighting? At 6 am. we started to walk up through the forest along
a good trail, and had a very succesful birding trip until the rain started around 12.30 p.m. During
these hours we managed to get all the Negros birds (except the two extreme rarities). Best bird of
the day was the gorgeous Flame-templed Tree-Babbler, seen in two little flocks. We also had the
luck to see a single Visayan Tarictic Hornbill, now considered an endangered species. Other
specialities were White-winged Cuckoo-shrike, White-vented Whistler, Negros White-browed
Shama (a distinct subspecies lacking rufous rump and white wing bar) and the white-bellied
subspecies of Balicassio. More goodies were Blue-crowned Racquettails and Lemon-throated