Words and Photos by James Lambert (Guest)
The following is based on the birds seen between 27 July – 2 Aug 2013. This is the height of the hot wet season and so most birds found were residents. During the migrations seasons and winter, a number of other birds are to be expected. The resort grounds have a number of ponds surrounded by both sparse and dense vegetation patches forming small wetlands that provide good habitat for birds. In the immediate vicinity surrounding the resort are the river, which has good riverine habitat serviced by a sealed road, and, along the main road, extensive paddy fields. Both these areas provide habitat for birds. Most of the birding I did was in the early morning and late afternoon towards dusk in the resort grounds, and along the access road outside the resort gates.
Yellow-vented Bulbul Pycnonotus goiavier samarensis: this is a common bird of parks and urban gardens throughout much of Asia; a small number were in the resort grounds; the local subspecies samarensis is endemic to the southern Philippines
The field guide I used was Kennedy et al. (2000). This is very good in a number of ways, yet the strictly adhered to rules used by the authors to accept or reject distributional data resulted in a number of cases where birds that occur in Bohol were not listed as such.
White-breasted Woodswallow
White-breasted Woodswallow Artamus leucorynchus leucorynchus: these swallow-like birds with white bellies and black heads were usually seen in the evening just on dusk, flying high overhead and making calls that sound a bit like a child’s squeaky toy; some also landed on dead tree branches and other exposed perches, and are recognisable from behind by their white rump patch; the birds appear in pairs or small parties and feed by catching prey on the wing; a number were also seen feeding in the paddy fields.
Visayan Broadbill
Birding is just one of the few activities you can do at our Loboc River Resort trekking path, if you’re a Birding enthusiast, view Mr. James Lambert’s complete list of findings here.