LOGSAC: Birding in La Mesa Dam Ecopark and UP Los Banos

Sunday, June 9, 2019

Birding in La Mesa Dam Ecopark and UP Los Banos

My latest Luzon trip had me searching for some green spaces in Metro Manila to be able to do birding despite a heavy trip schedules in span of 3 days in the metropolis and key provincial destinations Laguna and Bulacan. I thought of having a long stay in La Mesa Eco Park on June 4 but then again urgent matters on separate cases had to be considered which led me to join a short La Mesa visit in the morning on that same day (Tuesday) along with my colleagues who had their own park tour (not a birding tour).

I had to separate myself from the group because birding with non-birders would never give me the result I desired, that is of course seeing birds and hearing bird sounds. From the park entrance I already saw four Black-naped Orioles passing around the big tree canopy within the parking area. It was humid during that day so I had to leave the group who were still left in the registration booth. Few steps from where I leave them, particularly in the right side of the main road had two Lowland White Eyes moving in company with the widespread Eurasian Tree Sparrow.

As I moved along I noticed there were plenty of people already gathered inside so it was not good already for birding activity. Nonetheless, when I was about to go back from a hike up a stairway through the dam I heard a Hooded Pitta calling near the pond but that was quick it might have disappeared from the site.

On June 5 my target was to seriously explore the University of the Philippines campus in Los Banos where I heard of as a good birding site especially in the college of Forestry where the Botanical Garden is situated. I was told by our guide that the site is the jump off point for mountaineers climbing Mt. Makiling. While walking around in a hot 3:00 o’clock in the afternoon there were only a handful of bird calls I heard made up of Red-keeled Flowerpecker, Collared Kingfisher, White-eared Brown Dove and Yellow-vented Bulbul to name a few.

I was supposed to hike further but I was instructed by the guide not to proceed to the denser part of the forest for safety purposes so I hiked back trail and enjoyed the flora species of UPLB, most notably the huge trees both endemic and native in the Philippines.