Dalaguete Cebu

The official website of the Wild Bird Club of the Philippines

Hi all, while in cebu i couldn't get a guide to Tabunan forest so i decided to try the DENR reforestation area known as Mag-alambak for a half-day walk.

To get there FROM CEBU CITY: take a Bato/Oslob bus in the cebu south bus terminal. fare is P47 (no aircon). get off at the seaside town of dalaguete (80 km south of city). take a jeep bound for mantalongon. the jeeps dont leave until they're full so the last option is the habal-habal (battered 125cc Hondas) which can seat 5 including driver (pressed very close). i've rode on habal-habals on a lot of occasions and I DON'T RECOMMEND THEM. if you must absolutely ride a habal-habal make sure you wear thick trousers in case the motorcycle crashes your legs will have some protection. wear sturdy shoes too for same reason. a habal-habal's 20 minute-trip to Mag-alambak is a horrendous uphill trudge on crushed limestone with coral bits. patches of loose gravel. the road is cut thru limestone.

re Mag-alambak: the remaining forest is a pocket of green. around it everywhere the hills are bare or planted with vegetables. the air here is cool (by Pinoy standards) owing to high elevation. pine trees can be seen as well as the gnarly trees that live in higher altitudes. epiphytes. colorful shrubs one sees in city gardens. ferns. im not sure how to call the forest: lower-montane? definitely disturbed.

I arrived in Mag-alambak 7:30 and stayed in the forest til 11:30. drizzly. DENR planted hardwoods. the foot path is along a stream. the opposite side of the stream has been cleared, settlers have planted taro and other vegetables. two barefooted boys came to me and asked if i was hunting monkeys. i saw no forest rangers. a man carted off a felled tree trunk. i heard the DENR has a tree nursery here but i didnt see it.

BIRD LIST:
1. black-naped monarch. male and female. male is a beaut. 3
2. red-keeled flowerpecker - male australe (no black on breast, just a bright red patch). 1
3. elegant tit. male only. 1
4. narcissus flycatcher (female only). 1
5. everett's white-eye - flocks in the pine trees. common.
6. brush cuckoo - Puzzling. white tufts on tail is diagnostic but the 2 i saw had much darker heads than the Kennedy illust.
7. mangrove blue-flycatcher. 1
8. philippine bulbul. Puzzling. Kennedy illust not exact match but book does say that there are 5 races in the country. the race present in cebu is saturatior but Kennedy doesnt describe this race in detail. 2
9 white-collared kingfisher. 2
10. barn swallow. common
11. pacific swallow. common
12. Brahminy kite - 1 seen while i was on my way down to dalaguete town.
13. glossy swiftlet - on my way back to Dalaguete. common.
14. asian palm-swift- common.

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