March 19, 2007
Time 10:00 - 12:00 NN
Tadlac Lake, Los Banos, Laguna
Very sunny with gusts of winds

Birder: Caloy Libosada
with: 4 other companions from Urbis consultancy company

It was a real nice surprise to see Tadlac Lake, which is only about 20 hectares in diameter. The locals made an effort to cleanup the lake and removed all the fish cages so it is now a clean site ideal for nature trips. we did our birdwatching in the quarried area through barangay Makini (the lake is within the jurisdiction of Brgy Tadlac). You can actually see the lake and the quarried hill when you go up to the National Arts Center in Mt. Makiling.

What I though to be an ordinary place turned out to be an exciting discovery! Hundreds of blue tailed bee eaters are flying in the quarried hill and THOUSANDS of nests are visible on the exposed walls of the hill. There were some of the blue throated kind, but it was clearly a city of blue tailed bee-eaters.

Blue-tailed Bee-eater

By the way, the area is called the following: Crocodile Lake, Cayman Lake, Mysterious Lake, Enchanted Lake

Bird list:

Striated Heron (Butorides striatus) - 3
Brahminy Kite - 1
Chinese Goshawk - Accipiter soloensis - 1
Zebra Dove - 3
Whiskered Tern (Chidonias hybridus) - 4
Glossy swiftlet (Collocalia esculenta) - 1
White-collared Kingfisher - 2
White throated Kingfisher (Halcyon smyrnensis) - 1
Blue throated Bee-Eater (Merops viridis) - less than 20
Blue tailed Bee-Eater (Merops philippinus) - 500+
Yellow vented Bulbul - Pycnonotus goiavier - 2
Black-naped oriole (Oriolus chinensis) -1
Slender-Billed Crow (Corvus enca) -1
Pied Bushchat (Saxicola Caprata) - 1
Tawny Grassbird (Megalurus timoriensis) - 1
Pied Fantail (Rhipidura javanica)- 2
Brown Shrike (Lanius cristatus) - 3
Crested Myna (Acridotheres cristallus) - 6
Olived-backed Sunbird (Nectarinia jugularis) - 1
Orange-bellied Flowerpecker (Dicaeum trigonostigma) - 2
Lowland White-eye (Zosterops meyeni) - 5
Eurasian Tree Sparrow - many

* sighted in Tadlac poblacion, about 300 meters from the lake Little Egret (Egretta garzetta) - 1
Barn Swallow (Hirundo rustica) - 8
Pacific Swallow (Hirundo tahitica) - 3

There were far fewer terns, egrets and herons encountered maybe due to the timing re migration.

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