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Caylabne Bay Resort

Location: Caylabne Bay Resort
Province: Ternate, Cavite
Date & Time: 8 January 2006: 4pm - 6pm, 9 January 2006: 7am - 10am
Weather: Windy, slightly cloudy
Birders: Trinket Canlas & Adri Constantino

Thanks to the Philippine Bird Festival 2005, we were able to stay overnight at Caylabne Bay Resort for free Sunday to Monday! Under threat from President Mike if we didn't come up with a substantial bird list, we decided to make it a good birding trip.

BIRD LIST:
1. Little Heron 4
2. Philippine Duck approx. 500
3. Brahminy Kite approx. 10
4. Philippine Falconet 4* (not included in census)
5. Barred Rail 1
6. Common Sandpiper 6

Other species seen but not part of the waterbird census:
7. Pompadour Green Pigeon 2
8. Pink-necked Green Pigeon 15 (1 flock)
9. White-eared Brown Dove 1
10. Zebra Dove 15, more heard
11. Colasisi 4
12. Red-crested Malkoha 2
13. Philippine Coucal 3, more heard
14. Lesser Coucal 1
15. Philippine Swiftlet common
16. Pygmy Swiftlet common
17. Whiskered Treeswift 2*
18. Common Kingfisher 1
19. White-throated Kingfisher 7
20. White-collared Kingfisher 10, more heard
21. Tarictic Hornbill 2 (M & F), more heard
22. Coppersmith Barbet 3
23. Philippine Pygmy Woodpecker 3, more heard
24. Barn Swallow approx. 25
25. Pacific Swallow common
26. Striated Swallow 17*
27. Pied Triller 8 (1flock)
28. Yellow-vented Bulbul common
29. Philippine Bulbul common
30. Black-naped Oriole 14, heard more
31. Elegant Tit 7 (1 flock)
32. Stripe-headed Rhabdornis 7
33. Oriental Magpie Robin 6
34. Pied Bushchat 1 (M)*
35. Golden-bellied flyeater heard only
36. Grey-streaked Flycatcher 1
37. Pied Fantail 3
38. Black-naped Monarch 5 (4M, 1F)
39. Grey Wagtail 1
40. White-breasted Woodswallow 3, (10*)
41. Brown Shrike 9, several more on the road!
42. Asian Glossy Starling common
43. Olive-backed Sunbird 8, more heard
44. Buzzing Flowerpecker 3
45. Lowland White Eye 50+ (1 flock)
46. Eurasian Tree Sparrow approx. 25

On Sunday afternoon, the sight of 2 Philippine Ducks on the river excited us as we stopped at the first bench on the nature trail. As we followed the trail up river, the sight of many many MANY more ducks greet us! They were very skittish and although they could not see us behind the brush, the sound of our footsteps and whispers would often send flocks flying into the air and circling back to land on the water a bit further. The loud quacking sounded like they were laughing at us: QUACK, quack, quack, quack, quack, quack (like Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha!).

Philippine Duck
Philippine Duck
We have recorded (blurry) video clips with (excellent) sound uploaded at the Birdwatch Philippines yahoogroups files section under the Philippine Duck folder.
The next morning, we couldn't resist checking if they were still there. We saw them at the same general area, this time half were in the water and half were on the banks. This time, there was a much smaller group, less than half the original 500 we estimated the afternoon before.
As we were scanning the river along the nature trail, a gang of dogs suddenly flushed a rufous, crake/rail-shaped bird from our side of the bank. It quickly flew to the opposite bank. The dogs continued to bother something on the riverside, and two other similar dark birds were flushed, and they flew to the same place as the first. We lost sight of all of them as they landed in the thick greenery. We were never able to ID the birds for lack of a good view.

Little Heron
Little Heron
Near the bridge was a fruiting tree ( small, brown fig-like friut ) where we were delighted to find a mixed flock of Pink-Necked and Pompadour Green Pigeons. In the same tree we spotted a small White-eared Brown Dove and pair of Tarictic Hornbills. They were all unfazed by the good number of Asian Glossy Starlings and Yellow-vented Bulbuls flitting around the same tree.

Brahminy Kite
Brahminy Kite


A Brahminy Kite joined us for breakfast! As we sat eating beef tapa, danggit and fried eggs at the beachfront, we spotted a lone Brahminy Kite flying over the water near the breakwater. He made several attempts at catching a fish and finally was successful. He flew to a nearby tree where we were able to scope him enjoying his fresh catch.