Birding in Mapawa Nature Park, CDO

Today (February 27) is the second day of the Philippine Environment Summit in Cagayan de Oro City (CDO) and I just arrived in my transient hotel walking distance away from the venue particularly in Win Min Inn, an affordable and convenient accommodation establishment right in the heart of Agora Bus Terminal. Just before the forum started early this morning I headed to Mapawa Natural Park, a popular mountain resort situated more or less 10 kilometers away from the city proper. I hired a motorbike to ferry me in the area and good thing the driver agreed to wait for me for at least two hours of birding.

I pre-booked online through its dynamic facebook page and the resort personnel already assigned a guide for me in the person of Dodong Paglinawan, perhaps the only good birding guide in Mapawa. Some pre-arranged details had me paying 500 pesos for the guide and 70 pesos for the environmental fee which the resort strictly imposes.

It was still very dark when I arrived in the resort but plenty of calls already greeted my ears even before I could step out of the motorbike. While waiting for Dodong the very first bird I saw was the Philippine Drongo Cuckoo and some calls of Philippine Magpie Robin and Philippine Bulbul just along the main road near the information center. Several doves flying all over the canopy of endemic trees which included White-eared Brown Dove, Yellow-breasted Fruit Dove and Philippine Cuckoo Dove. At this point frustration came over me because with the dark site I could hardly take pictures.

When Dodong arrived he told me the best bird he was sure would appear is the Philippine Dwarf Kingfisher, a 100% dweller in the resort which is a highlight among other Philippine endemics in Cagayan de Oro. But before we headed to the specific site of this star bird we stopped by a stream where the Southern Silvery Kingfisher stayed and waited for a breakfast. And then on the same site we had good looks of the Brown-breasted Kingfisher and another Mindanao endemic Black-faced Coucal. At the other end of the forest opposite the stream I heard multiple calls of Hooded Pitta. As usual this bird is one of the hardest to see despite it calling in a nearer location.

In an open area I thought of as a team-building site a Rufuos Paradise Flycatcher flew straight only once and never got back. The flock of Asian Glossy Starlings obstructed the arrival of Philippine Hanging Parrots which Dodong said are also in abundance here. And when we had full natural light mix flock of Grey-streaked Flycatcher, Red-keeled Flowerpecker, Olive-backed Sunbird, Brown-throated Sunbird and Brown Shrike came.

After less than two hours I left the resort in a hurry to catch up with the summit schedule in downtown. Dodong said Mapawa is so far the number one birding area in the entire Cagayan de Oro City and he used to guiding all other birders here from all over the world. I might have fall short of the other special bird species here but certainly that instant decision to insert a birding tour in CDO is worth more than doing nothing in a hotel room in one fine morning.