Samar Success ! My First Ever Blog Post

Ulot River, Samar, Eastern Visayas (2024)

This is my first proper post so I’m starting my blog with a trip that truly shows the best of Philippine birding. Last year, I had one of my favorite birding trips of all time in Samar, where we cleared out all endemics and had some of the most fulfilling birding I have ever done. I technically had no more endemic lifers for my second trip this year, but the birding was so good that I decided to return.

Ulot River, Samar, Eastern Visayas (2025)

Samar is one of the least birded islands in the country. This is despite the fact that it contains the Samar Island Natural Park, which has some of the largest areas of lowland forest in the entire country.

A large reason why Samar is so underbirded is because most of the target birds are found in 2 separate areas, namely Bohol and Paper Industries Corporation of the Philippines (PICOP) in Eastern Mindanao. Samar is most similar to Bohol in terms of species and subspecies, wherein you can find Visayan Broadbill, Northern Silvery Kingfisher, Visayan Blue-fantail, Yellow-breasted Tailorbird, and Visayan Black-crowed Babbler. The main birding site in Bohol, Rajah Sikatuna, is only an hour away from the city and offers a good number of guides and hotels. Samar's PICOP specialties include Celestial Monarch, Short-crested Monarch, Little Slaty Flycatcher, and Rufous Hornbill guided by the legendary Zardo. Samar, PICOP, and Bohol all share Mindanao Bleeding-heart, Azure-breasted Pitta, Rufous-fronted Tailorbird, Buff-spotted Flameback, Philippine Oriole, Black-bibbed Cuckooshrike, although PICOP's subspecies of these birds are of the Mindanao islands.

Trail Head. Photo by Jao Gamboa

That’s not to say that Samar doesn’t have its “endemics”. There are four main target birds in Samar, namely the Samar Crow, Leyte Plumed-warbler, Visayan Pygmy Babbler, and the Blue-backed Parrot, which is easily the rarest parrot in the Philippines. The Pygmy Babbler is relatively easy to see, but the other 3 birds are extremely easy to dip on. I was lucky to see all 4 main targets in my first trip, but I only got good views of the Pygmy Babbler and somewhat decent views of the Plumed-warbler (without seeing the plumes). 

A stuffed specimen of the Leyte Plumed-warbler. This species was a semi-recent split from the Mindanao Plumed-warbler, which was only refound in the Ulot River in 2016.

These targets are also a huge reason why Samar hasn’t gotten the best reputation. 3 of these 4 targets are mostly seen on the Ulot River trail, which has extremely dense forest with a high tree line, making for some of the most difficult and intimidating birding in the whole PH. The trail next to the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) station, which has all the Bohol birds and mega monarchs, actually makes for much better and more pleasant birding. The station can have birders stay overnight with the standard creature comforts of wifi and aircon.

On the San Juanico Bridge, connecting Leyte and Samar. Photo by Jao Gamboa

I started off my travels earlier than the rest of my group, flying from Hong Kong right on the long Chinese New Year Holiday (which gave me a 5-day long weekend here in HK). I got home around 10PM, said hi to my family, dropped off some Bakehouse eggtarts, and then by 3AM the next day, I was back at the airport on the way to Tacloban, Leyte.

We landed in Tacloban and had a quick breakfast at McDonald's, then spent the next 3 hours making our way to the DENR station in Samar, which doubles as both our birding site and our resort. This area is supposedly a national highway, but has some of the roughest “paved” roads in the whole country. We were dropped off at the DENR Station, and I quickly realized that I had left ~400 pesos (7.5 USD) worth of Sausage McMuffins and Crispy Chicken Fillet Sandwiches, which I had planned to slowly eat over the next 4 days - there was no signal so no way I could ever get these burgers back. For those that don’t know me - I am very superstitious and believe in the concept of “alay” which translates to an offering or sacrifice, so I hoped that the birding gods would give us a fruitful trip. We met up with our local guide Paning. Paning properly knows the birds in Samar and is an excellent spotter, but the average birder that heads to Samar is usually much more seasoned and is typically left to bird on their own.

We started off our first birding day, and within less than an hour, we encountered our first mixed flock. First, we saw the Visayan Blue-fantails; they’re a very striking bird, but unfortunately, they’re underappreciated because birders come with the hopes of seeing the species that accompanies them. In four days, we encountered this bird multiple times, but to my knowledge, none of us got any photos of it. Along came the Yellowish Bulbul, Visayan Black-crowned Babbler, Philippine Jungle-Flycatcher, Rufous-fronted Tailorbird (all of which I have no photos as we were absolutely laser-focused on finding THE target). This was a large flock and we were feeling great that there would be something special. And sure enough, we all got views on a male Celestial Monarch. Unfortunately, we lost the flock, and it started raining, but what a start!

What is this...some sort of BIRDING IN SLIPPERS?

We waited under a hut and watched some Handsome, Brown-throated, and Metallic Winged Sunbirds feed on coconut blossoms, all of which I was way too slow to photograph.

When the rain stopped, we managed to see quick views of the Little Slaty Flycatcher. The Samar subspecies is especially good-looking as its white ear patch is much larger. Birds like Palawan Flycatcher are treated like a superstar bird, so I’m a bit frustrated that this species, which is the Mindanao/East Visayas equivalent, does not get the same love. I guess it really comes down to a lack of photos and an established guide. And yes, I will compare birds and straight up say some birds are better than others because I don’t think a Palawan Flycatcher will ever read this blog and find that I’m throwing shade at it. 

While walking to get better views of the Little Slaty Flycatcher, I was in front of the group, and I saw a Mindanao Bleeding-heart perched on a higher branch before it quickly flew away. Unfortunately, only I, Enrico, and Dindo saw it. 

Male Little Slaty Flycatcher from my trip in 2024. Photo by Olympus Tibubos. Shoutout to my original Samar crew: Josh, Bam, and Oly

For the next hour, we kept trying to look for the Bleeding-heart when Enrico suddenly shouted that he had seen the Celestial Monarch. He managed to snap some of the most incredible shots of the species ever.

I accidentally shot these Celestial photos in JPEG....

Soon after, our entire group managed to get the Celestial Monarch, and we had incredible views. Even if this trip had no more birds, it was already a major success, as this is one of the best birds in the world. People have done 5-day trips to PICOP and have still missed it. PICOP has also been deforested to an extent where these birds will one day disappear from the area, so Samar seems like a natural successor to be THE spot for the Celestial Monarch. 

The classic Celestial Monarch pose

This is a species that I fully believe deserves to be as iconic as the Philippine Eagle and Palawan Peacock Pheasant, but its elusiveness and lack of photos have really stopped it from getting the public awareness that it truly deserves.

We had a few more small birds, but that pretty much ended Day 1.

I woke up multiple times over the night as the rain was so strong. On our second day, we were meant to take the Ulot River ride but the rains did not stop - the river flow had risen to a much higher level, to the point that we were advised it was too dangerous to go. We waited maybe an hour for the rains to subside and headed back to the DENR trail. Soon enough, we saw an Azure-breasted Pitta.

We again managed to see the Little Slaty, and while we did see the bird again, it never stayed still long enough for photos, and we were distracted when a Celestial Monarch, likely the same one from the previous day, kept actively calling. We didn’t get good views of the flock this time though.

Our group split up a bit to look for different targets. I was walking back to our hut with Jao to get water when a Mindanao Bleeding-heart flew right through, less than 5 feet from Jao. Thankfully, Lu-ann managed to see it too, and while it was a tantalizing view without time to fully appreciate the details we were pretty glad that everyone in the trip finally got to lifer it. We had a fairly unproductive hour of trying to locate the bleeding-heart when Paning called us to say that he had spotted a flock of Visayan Broadbills, so we rushed to the area and managed to find them, although pretty far.

It started to rain again, but right as we were headed back, we heard Rufous Hornbills, and Enrico managed to spot a lone male. This was a semi-lifer for me, as in my previous trip, we only saw a juvenile. The Southern Rufous Hornbills of Eastern Visayas are especially unique as they have a very flat casque.

The Visayan subspecies of the Southern Rufous Hornbill. This bird has blue eyes, making it a female

Yellow eyes for the male

We then headed up all the way to a viewpoint where we would try to wait out the rain. On the way up, I thought I heard another flock of broadbills. The clicking sound of the broadbill is one of the most indistinct calls out there, so it was really difficult to say that it was the broadbill, so we didn’t really search for them. 

We took shelter on the balcony, but after around half an hour, Mads, ever diligent, managed to actually find the flock of broadbills.

I was previously told by a friend that both the Visayan and Mindanao Broadbill are a birders' bird in the sense that you can’t call them in by spamming playback. They’re a species that you’d have to walk around in silence and have the challenge of looking for these tiny very hard to spot birds. 

Apparently, I’m not a true birder because I ended up shouting “I TOLD YOU SO” when Mads all told us that they were actually there lol. These birds gave me the best views I’ve ever had of the species and I managed to snap some photos.

A female Visayan Broadbill A male Visayan Broadill
Ugh a branch ruining my photo

As a fairly long aside: Visayan Broadbills are no doubt the top target for birders and photographers in Bohol. Unfortunately, this demand has led to a lot of nest photography. It also so happens that many of these nests fail. While I can’t directly say that it's because of the visitors, and I do believe that people can do nest photography ethically, it’s really just best to err on the side of caution, as these birds seem extra sensitive and have a long and repeated history of failed nests.

A bit more time at the balcony yielded us Samar Hornbill, Rufous Hornbill, and, especially exciting, a Pink-bellied Imperial Pigeon hundreds of meters away. Pink-bellied Imperial Pigeons are one of the best-looking doves in the country, and while they are in most lowland sites in Mindanao, they’re more often heard only. More importantly, it was Enrico and Jao’s lifer. 

An extremely distant Pink-bellied Imperial Pigeon

We headed back down to the hut in hopes of seeing the Bleeding-heart. We split up and sure enough a few minutes later - Paning managed to spot it and got Dindo on it and he now has one of the few photos of this species in the wild. Prime bleeding-heart habitat, this species really seems to prefer areas with a lot of limestone outcrops

Dindo's Legendary Photo

SHINZO SASAGEYO ! Photo by Lu-ann Fuentes-Bajarias We headed back to the room and ended the day with even more broadbill views, a Philippine Pitta flyby, and a perched female Philippine Trogon.

A female Philippine Trogon

Our ride to the Ulot River torpedo boats

Day 3 was the day we finally would get to do the legendary Ulot River. Compared to my prior visit, the river was much higher and murkier. The much higher river made for a faster trip and soon enough we reached the site. Our first bird of the day was a flock of Visayan Broadbills, marking our 4th sighting of the trip!

Hands down the best birding commute in the Philippines! 

Ulot River from my first trip in 2024; notice how much more visible the rocks are here due to the lower water levels.

Unfortunately, the weather did not cooperate, and for the majority of the morning, we were pretty much rained out. During the rain, Dindo spotted a small bird with a red throat, which turned out to be a Fire-throated Flowerpecker - while as a species this isn’t the rarest of birds, as there are regular spots around the rest of the country. This sighting was extremely special as this was the first sighting of the Samar endemic subspecies since its collection in 1896 and we had PROOF! This means that we are the only living people who have properly seen this subspecies. That said, an important caveat is that someone ebirded a Fire-throated Flowerpecker in Leyte, and while this area is officially not part of its range, if they’re there, then they’re probably the subspecies bonga.

The first ever photos of Samar subspecies Fire-throated Flowerpecker by Dindo

We are legitimately the only people alive who have seen this bird. Footage of the Fire-throated Flowerpecker.

Trail was extremely muddy

We spent the rest of the morning looking for the Plumed-warbler, combing through flocks of Everett’s White-eye. We completely missed it, but I am certain that it was there; the high canopy views and the sheer number of birds to look for led to us not finding it. I also heard a Black-bibbed Cuckooshrike but couldn’t find it. On the way back to the upper part of the trail, I once again froze and came across a Mindanao Bleeding-heart that Paning was already looking at for a minute. That stared at me for a few seconds and flushed to a nearby tree. I managed to call everyone and point out the tree where it flew. Unfortunately, we couldn’t find it until minutes later when it flew out, denying us proper perched views. 

Clip from my first trip in 2024, rain was even worse in 2025, but that's very much a requirement for Celestial Monarch habitat, which is described as lowland riverine rainforest. 

Back in the upper trail, Dindo heard some squawking and what turned out to be a Samar Crow. We watched it from a mountain away as it moved from tree to tree. Enrico spotted a Philippine Oriole in the same general area and was only ID’ed through zooming photos. The crow eventually showed, and we were treated to a brief view before it flew up the trail. We tried locating it for a few minutes when I heard Enrico say that he saw it up the trail. These are probably the best anyone has ever seen this bird and Enrico snapped easily the best photo ever of this species. I was way too excited to snap photos, and my camera (that I borrowed from Angel) had already fogged up, so I decided to just enjoy this MEGA bird. These close views really showed how distinct it was compared to the Philippine Jungle Crow, as we saw its incredibly bulky bill (ironic that it was named Slender-billed), short tail, and its lighter gray neck.

At the time, the first eBird photo of a Samar Crow was still by far the best photo of this species.
Photo by Enrico Legaspi

Post Samar Crow celebration and swim! Pose is based on the Samar Crow's low-angle "flappy bird" flight style

I had never thought in my life that I would ever be this excited for the crow - but here we are. Our trip has some of the most incredible birds in the entire country and yet the excitement for a crow was next level. 

We ended the birding day with a nice swim on the river. We did not see the Plumed-warbler, but with all these other records, we were happy. On the way back, we stopped by a Northern Silvery Kingfisher, which is one of the few "guaranteed" birds.

Northern Silvery Kingfisher

The next morning (for some undisclosed reason), I ended up waking up late at 7am… the moment I arrived, I was told by the rest that they had seen the Southern Sooty Woodpecker - one of my most wanted birds and something I had not seen since 2019, back when I didn’t even know it was a different species. We did see a male Buff-spotted Flameback. The Visyan subspecies has rarely been photographed and is much more different from the birds in Mindanao, with a much redder plumage. I did see another larger woodpecker, which I assumed to be the Sooty, but alas, I wouldn't properly see this bird on this trip.

Feeling horrible both from the “undisclosed reason” and missing the Sooty. I decided to just have breakfast and head back. I ate as quickly as possible and decided that I wouldn’t dare miss any more birds. I thought I heard a parrot, and it very well could’ve been the extremely rare Blue-backed Parrot. Enrico called me, and we managed to get the closest views I’ve ever had of an Azure-breasted Pitta. Azure is a very rare color among birds, and to my knowledge, there are only 4 named Azure birds. The Azure-breasted Pitta is special among them as it is the dominant color!

Azure-breasted Pitta

All the colors in one shot!

As I arrived at the viewpoint, Mads had told me that they had seen a Japanese Sparrowhawk, which would’ve been my lifer. I felt kinda bad, but then again, I wouldn’t ever trade my pitta views for that. We ended the birding trip chatting on the view deck with a couple of raptors that I now forget. 

I’m 100% sure that I won’t write a blog this long ever again, but this trip was just incredible and legitimately one of my best birding experiences ever, even if we missed the Plumed-warbler and the Parrot among the "Samar endemics". Had we seen just one of Celestial Monarch, Mindanao Bleeding-heart, Visayan Broadbill, Samar Crow, this trip would’ve already been a success. I’m scared of hyping this area so much, but I’ve now had 2 of my best trips ever in back-to-back years (and with many people saying that this area was hard to bird in). I’ll be back again for sure, especially to see the Blue-backed Parrot and to be more diligent with my photos. 

Finally, we began to head home, but apparently, I booked our ride for the next day, so we had to book a last-minute van at a much higher price (my bad). I guess that was another part of the alay sacrifice for this trip.

On my first trip, we heard a couple of chainsaws but none on the second, this isn’t much to know the entire situation and I guess the loggers weren't out because of the strong rains. I do think it's in the best interest that many more people learn about this area, and hopefully, with more tourists and birders, this area can be put on the global birding map! The area is officially listed as a protected area, and DENR has invested a lot in creating its station with good facilities, so I do see a much better path forward for Samar compared to an area like PICOP. Lowland specialist species like Celestial Monarch, Samar Crow, and Blue-backed Parrot especially rely on this place's continued survival. 

I haven't figured out a catchphrase to end my blog but see you guys next time! My next blog will be about my worst birding ever!!!! 

I swear I'm not pot-bellied...those are my binoculars...

Imagine seeing this and then thinking "maybe we should create some shareholder value"