We pretty much had no clue where to bird around Tagbilaran city and the local TAs warned that there would be little to see, but we decided to go check out our surroundings anyway, I mean, with all the vegetation around, there’s bound to be some scrub birds at least.

Upon waking up in Dao Diamond Hotel, it was definitely encouraging as the dawn chorus consisted of more than just Asian Glossy Starlings. We headed north since it seemed greener there, and found a road that led to the Holy Spirit School of Tagbilaran which looked pretty birdy. We immediately started hearing Coucals, Flowerpeckers, Sunbirds, Pigeons, and eventually a Magpie Robin. We managed to see quite a few scrub birds, the notable ones being the White-bellied Munia, Short-billed/white-eared Brown-dove, Lesser Coucal, and Little Bronze Cuckoo which was not reported on Bohol on any online list (Reizl said it is not surprising on Bohol). We also saw fly-overs like the Javan Pond Heron and the White Breasted Woodswallow. Some species that can be found in Singapore also looked different, i.e. Yellow-vented Bulbul has a black cheek, Long-tailed Shrike has a completely black head. On the contrary, the Philippine Magpie Robin looks and sounds the same as the Oriental Magpie Robin back home in SG, but is a different species based on genetic studies.

The main road to the school turns left, but a dirt road continues straight, leading to a smelly place, where we were confronted by a man with a little shotgun slung across his chest telling us we were not allowed to walk in. So probably don’t go there.

There are 3 species of swiftlets that can be seen flying above the city (I think). The Grey-rumped Swiftlet is the commonest, possessing a mottled whitish rump, with a similarly white but mottled belly. This is the species seen nesting in Hinagdanan Cave. The Pygmy Swiftlet has a completely white rump with browner underparts with no mottling. Lastly, the Ameline Swiftlet is larger and plain brown all over, and flies more regularly (Aerodramus vs. Collocalia).

In Mithi Resort, the Philipine Bulbul and Magpie Robin were pretty common. The starlings were building nests on the artificial island thing, and a Striated Heron flew across too.

In total we had about 31 species from pretty much 2 locations.
Checklists for Tagbilaran: https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S45786342; https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S45815877
Mithi: https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S45889028

Checklist:

White-breasted Woodswallow
Striated Heron
Philippine Bulbul
Little Egret
Javan Pond Heron
Red Collared Dove
Lesser Coucal
Large-billed Crow
Philippine Magpie-Robin
Asian Glossy Starling
Rock Dove
Spotted Dove
Zebra Dove
White-eared Brown-Dove
Pink-necked Pigeon
Little Bronze-Cuckoo
Plaintive Cuckoo
Pygmy Swiftlet
Grey-rumped Swiftlet
Collared Kingfisher
Pied Triller
Long-tailed Shrike
Black-naped Oriole
Philippine Pied-Fantail
Pacific Swallow
Yellow-vented Bulbul
Red-keeled Flowerpecker
Purple-throated Sunbird
Olive-backed Sunbird
Eurasian Tree Sparrow
White-bellied Munia