Sunday, January 15, 2012

15th Jan - San Juan and IRRI

A first visit to San Juan for 2012 with newly arrived birder Richard from the UK. Early birds included good numbers of Pink-necked Green Pigeons and several Black-naped Orioles. Lots of heron spp. around including Purple, Grey and Green-backed Herons. Also both Rufous and Black-crowned Night-Heron, Great and Little Egrets and Yellow and Cinnamon Bitterns. Wader numbers were down, with only Greenshank, Pacific Golden Plover, Black-winged Stilt and Marsh Sandpiper in any concentrations on the ponds. On the beach a large flock of Charadrius plovers turned out to be mainly Kentish Plover, with a small number of Lesser Sandplover mixed in. A couple of Whimbrel floated around during the morning. Philippine Duck numbers were also lower than usual, but those that were present showed fairly well.

Back at IRRI the Peregrine was back on station, but the state of the fields was clearly not conducive to birds as numbers of rallids and waders were both well down.

At the IRRI staff housing compound a Philippine Nightjar has taken up residence near my house, and can be heard calling most mornings, and occasionally in the evenings too.

A one-footed Black-winged Stilt, a Whimbrel and four Pacific Golden Plovers.
 Little Ringed Plover
Long-tailed Shrike

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