The Subic Sortie...

My wife Lorna and daughter Ella left for the United States for a six week ballet course for Ella on June 13 so save for one trip to Bangkong Kahoy on June 10, I did not have much time to bird.  As luck would have it, the Palanca side of my family had a weekend bonding trip to Subic on June 14 and 15.  However, since my father is sickly, it meant that I could not go and stay overnight with the family.  So I decided to follow on Sunday morning.

I was looking forward to a harvest of at least eight to ten lifers in order to boost my BY2014 tally.  I emailed and messaged birder friends for some tips on where to go.  Everybody told me to go to the Nabasan Trail.  I googled several sites to download maps to the area. I arrived at the what I believed to be the Nabasan Trail, in Subic around 630am.  Immediately after entering the trail I saw a tree without leaves with several birds.  The most prominent was a Hornbill which I presume was the Luzon Tarictic Hornbill.  I snap a couple of shots but it was heavily backlit so all I got was a silhouette.  On the same tree,  I saw a Guiabero, a Crow and a couple of smaller birds that I believed were Yellow Vented Bulbuls.

I drove further on and saw a Barred Rail cross the road.  There would be several of them as the morning wore on.  A Red Crested Malkoha suddenly flew accross the car from left to right so I immediatle parked on the left side where there was a sort of parking lot.  There was some movement on the tree on the right side of the road beyond the fence. It was was not the Malkoha but a bird that was not familiar to me.  I slowly crossed the road to get a better view.  I was able to get several darkish shots before the bird flew away.  After waiting several minutes, I decided to go back to the car and drive on. As I was about to enter, the bird came back and perched on the electric cable directly above my car.  

Coleto, my first, (and so far my only), lifer in Subic

The rest of the morning was alternately rainy and sunny.  There were not many birds except the Crows.  I did see a White-throated Kingfisher and a white and green dove that I assume a Green Imperial Pigeon.  

I decided to call it a day by 10:00am and went to the hotel where my kids were staying with their Lola and cousins. I did not get eight to ten lifers but at least I got one!  I will be back someday...