Sabang, Palawan birds by Tonji

[Tonji Ramos]

Sylvia and I went to Palawan last June 10 to June 14. We went birding everyday, from the moment the van picked us up to the last morning of the day we left!

I personally had 25 photolifers and 31 lifers. Plus so many other birds my brain is still reeling from the bird fest. More than 1000 pictures maybe close to 2000. View, arrgh...delete..arrgh delete...ooohh wow, nice.....arrghh delete.

Of the birds I saw but got away, I regret being unable to take pictures of the hornbills, the Hooded Pitta, the Red-bellied Pitta, the Oriental dwarf kingfisher and the White- bellied Sea Eagle. Well more reason to go back.

Here are some of the pictures I took.


We saw two of these birds in the Last Frontier in Sabang. This particular bird was hiding deep inside the thick bushes but I saw a small opening and took this photo.

CHESTNUT- BREASTED MALKOHA
Phaenicophaeus curvirostris

ISO 640; 1/100; f5.6 handheld



This is one of many kinds of Bulbuls found in Palawan. I saw it thru an opening and had a nice keyhole effect.

GREY-CHEEKED BULBUL
Criniger bres

ISO 400; 1/200; f5.6 handheld



After taking pictures of the Malkoha, I stumbled upon this bird who was trying to stay still so I would not see her. She probably was wondering, who is this strange man and why is he up so early?

PINK-NECKED GREEN PIGEON, female
Treron vernans

ISO 400; 1/320; f5.6 handheld



I took this picture in the mangrove area. The bird was perched high on a mangrove tree and there were 10 people on the boat moving around. I was happy to even get the pic. Hehe.

THICK-BILLED GREEN PIGEON, male
Treron curvirostra

ISO 320, 1/250, f5.6 handheld



We saw this fellow as we were going home from a very very long day of birding. The sun was going down. We were tired and ready to crash. But as crossed the last bridge, wait...what is that bird. ...oh yay. Lifer!

STORK-BILLED KINGFISHER
Halcyon capensis

ISO 500, 1/40, f5.6 handheld



This guy was not scared at all and allowed us to take very close photos.

ASHY DRONGO
Dicrurus leucophaeus

ISO 400, 1/320; f7.1 handheld



There were a lot of Olive-backed Sunbirds Aurora sub species in the Sabang area. A lot as in like ETS a lot. This bird is a young male. The colors are starting out on the throat and there is an orange mark near the eye and the bill.

OLIVE BACKED SUNBIRD, male
Nectarinia jugularis aurora

ISO 400, 1/250. f5.6 handheld



We saw these species of parrot four times. This bird was photographed along the Monkey trail in Sabang.

BLUE NAPED PARROT
Tanygnathus lucionensis

ISO 320; 1/125;f5.6 handheld


I miss Palawan already.

[Ely Teehankee]

Great catch Tonji. I am partial to Kingfishers so I like your stork bill best of all. From the way you described how you made your captures I don't think I will be able to do what you did. Well done. Mabuhay.

[Elvin Sansona]

wow! great shots, congrats

[Manny Illana]

congrats to both of you! thanks for sharing

[Romy Ocon]

A very productive trip, amazing shots Tonji!

[Edu Lorenzo Jr]

veeeery productive indeed! Congrats on the harvest!

[Toto Gamboa]

Woooooow. Palawan is really unloading the very unusual species. Very beautiful captures.

[aries]

wow those birds are beautiful congrats!

[Nilo Arribas Jr.]

Very good harvest Tonji and Sylvia. Congrats!

Nilo

[Tonji Ramos]

Ely, we were excited to see the Stork Billed also. We were unable to photo the other KF species found in Palawan. I guess we have to go back again!

Thanks for the kind comments knightvin, Manny, Romy, Edu, Toto, Aries and Nilo. It was indeed a very productive trip. We now have photographed 168 birds and have seen over 200 species. We have been birding for one year and one month hehe and this has been the biggest bunch of new birds in one trip. Oh well 400+ species to go.

[Mark Itol]

Great set, Tonji! Must have been worth it!

[tina mallari]

Wonderful captures Tonj and nice captions too Wency and I enjoyed reading your little "stories". Let's gooooooo na dali.... after the rains naman siyempre

[jonathandael]

that malkoha is a beauty! like a masked hero.. well-done!

[William Lim]

Bountiful and beautiful harvest. Maybe next time you go birding, I will tag along. You seem to attract birds

[Felix Servita]

Great shots of Palawan birds !!! My two thumbs-up !!

[Tonji Ramos]

Thanks Mark, yup the trip was worth it. It was a nice place for non-birding stuff too. Lots of things to do with the family.

Tina, Palawan again. OK! Hehe. Why wait for the rain to stop? It was sunny for all our birding it only rained when we were entering the van to go to the airport for the flight home. We want to try other parts of Puerto Princesa next time, the ones we missed.

Jonathan, thank you. Glad you liked the Malkoha. We were happy to spot it. We now have the complete set of the 3 Malkohas. Yay. ;D

Hi William we were lucky with the weather and there were lots of birds in Palawan. It seemed like every bird was new to us, and we really clicked away. I think anyone who goes to Palawan will get a lot of birds. If you have an interesting birding sortie planned we are very easy to invite!

Felix thanks for the thumbs up.

[April Son]

OMG nice captures! did you go on a birding tour? please share your travel info! what month is the best time to visit Palawan and see all these colorful birds? would love to plan a trip, thanks!

[Ed Matuod]

Am sure this place is one on my list when I happen to visit 'pinas again. 3-4 days is enough, right Tonji? Great gallery of birds you got here. Congratulations!

[Tonji Ramos]

April (Bandana) and Ed,

Regarding our Palawan trip we did not have a bird guide. There are good ones you can contact if you want to be 100% sure of good birding. Nicky and Adri know the place well.

We are just newbies, only been at this for a year and a month but for what its worth this was our experience.
1. We had a driver who took us around for three days. If you want his number PM me and I will give it to you. He knew some good spots but is not an expert birder but he has good eyes.

2. We stayed in a nice resort called Daluyon. Its the best resort in the area now. Decent food and good room service( this helps when you are downloading into your computer and looking at the pics at night). They have a pool. WIFI reached our room. Not cheap but we had no theft of our stuff, we felt our stuff was secure. Oh and they have a bird guide named Jun, he is a housekeeper there knew a lot of stuff but he never could get a day off and join us. Not sure if he is reliable.

3. We took Cebu Pacific first flight out of Manila. Then we took the last Flight out of Palawan. This maximized the trip as there is a two hour trip from the airport to the resort. A lot of good birding on the road, keep your windows open right from the start and your camera ready.

4. A few minutes away from the airport just near the city there is a dirt road with lots of birds, we were birding there at 10:00am and saw the following birds along the dirt

1. White bellied munia
2. Common iora
3. Chestnut munia
4. Black nape monarch
5. White vented shama
6. Plain throated sunbird
7. Olive backed sunbird aurora
8. Grey-cheeked bulbul
9. of course the ETS

On the road to the resort we saw many birds so we dropped our stuff checked in and went back on the road. This is a partial list of the birds we saw along the provincial road.
10.Zebra doves
11. Spotted doves
12. Spangled Drongo on a nest
13. Plain Throated Sunbird
14. Lovely Sunbirds on Acacia trees
15. Green Imperial Pigeons- usually in pairs, lots in the afternoon
16. Philippine cuckoo dove
17. Yellow throated leafbirds- not easy to spot, as they look like leaves
18. Asian Fairy Bluebird- near a fruiting Balete
19. Black headed Bulbul- on a fruiting Balete tree
20. Great Egret- on a rice field
21. Little Egrets - on a rice field
22. Slender billed Crows- on a rice field
23. Sulphur Billed Bulbul- supposed to be uncommon
24. Striped tit Babler- on the roadside, lots of eye level looks, also on monkey trail
25. Olive-winged Bulbul- on the roadside and also in the back of the resort past the perimeter
26. Palawan Flowerpecker
27. Asian Drongo cuckoo
28. Common Emerald Dove- seen often but flying

Seen on the mangrove area. I suggest take a boat solo early in the morning. If you go later you have to share. It costs 200 pesos. We did this twice first with 10 people on the boat and the next time just the two of us early in the morning.

29. Oriental Dwarf Kingfisher- heard 2x, seen flying, sadly unphotographed
30. Red-bellied Pitta- flying seen 2x sadly unphotographed
31. Hooded Pitta- seen flying 1x also sadly unphotographed
32. Rufus-tailed tailorbird- on the mangrove branches
33. Thick-billed Green Pigeon
34. Great Slaty Woodpecker- easy to spot due to loud call
35. Blue-naped Parrot

Last Frontier ( we went once in the afternoon and once in the morning)hmm not too many birds here for us.

36. Chestnut breasted Malkoha
37. Pink necked green Pigeon
38. White collared Kingfishers
- more slender billed crows
- more Blue-naped Parrots
- more Spangled Drongos

Monkey Trail/ Underground river park- go here before the tourists arrive or else birding will be hard.
39. Common flameback woodpecker
40. Palawan-peacock pheasant (go early in the morning to see this bird)
41. Tabon scubfowl
- more white Vented Shamas (early morning)
- more Blue Naped Parrots
- more Striped tit Babler
42. White bellied Sea Eagle- (my ID, no photo) seen in the early morning beach front by driver, seen by me early morning Park of the underground river
- Hooded Pitta - no pics again!
43. Hornbills - saw 3 no pics!
44. Reef Egret
45. swiftlet 1 no ID yet probably a birdsnest swiftlet
46. swiftlet 2 no id yet- might be a pygmy had a white stripe in the tail area

Resort Area inside and to the rear.
47. Stork Billed Kingfisher
- lots of olive backed sunbirds
48. Asian glossy starlings
- common iora
-unidentified sunbirds!! Arrgh. Bad photos 2 kinds.
- slender billed crows
- zebra dove
-spotted dove
-pink necked Green Pigeon, male and female

I hope this helps. If you need more detailed info send me a PM. We did not use any bird calls nor do we have any local knowledge. We just kept our eyes open and our ears alert. If you want to get more birds it would be best to talk to a professional bird guide to get more birds. We are just beginners after all.

Supposed to be there is even better birding in Iwahig (the prison) and the crocodile farm. We did not get to go there as we did other family oriented activities instead. We enjoyed the beach with the kids, the pool, did the mangrove tour with the kids and their friends, did the underground river tour... If its purely a birding trip, Iwahig and the croc farm sound like they are must see spots. Those two spots are near the city so you may want to spend a day or two in a hotel in the city rather than spend all your time in Sabang.

Hope this helps. I am sure you will get many many more birds with someone like Nicky or Adri with you.


I am not sure when the best time to visit will be but I suspect better weather in Nov-Feb plus you get the migratory water birds.

[Sylvia Ramos]

There's also a group called Birdwatch Palawan and they have local guides. We didn't contact them though. The housekeeper from our resort was or is a part of that group.