Back to the Philippines with little time for birding
- Michelle Wood: SWCD
- October 25, 2009
- 975
The first typhoon hit the Manila area, flooding various parts of the city, especially along the Pasig River. If you look at a map of Manila and surrounding areas, you will see that the city is wedged between the ocean and a large lake (lagoon). The lagoon drains through the city, mainly via the Pasig River. Over the years, the lagoon and the river have been filling up with silt, and there are many squatters living on the banks of the river. When the typhoon dropped 12-16 inches of rain in less than a day, the flooding was the worst in 40 years. In the city itself, flood waters dropped fairly rapidly and city officials moved quickly to help with the immense cleanup process. However, along the huge lagoon, the water levels stayed high because there was no way to quickly drain it through the still-full Pasig River.
Meanwhile, the second typhoon hit the northern part of the island of Luzon. This time damage came from flooding and from landslides, because the north is a mountainous area. The typhoon was a strange one, staying around for more than a week and making three passes over northern Luzon. Many roads were closed, including all three routes to the resort city of Baguio. We were not able to travel into this area, but visited sites in central Luzon, Manila proper, and the areas south around the lagoon.
One reason that MCC decided to check out the damage in the Philippines was that there is a conference of Mennonite churches in the Manila area. I was pleased to find that these congregations already had received help and were recovering quite well, although there was flood damage to some of the churches and surrounding communities.
At the same time that the Philippines was experiencing successive storms, Indonesia was struck by two earthquakes, and the typhoons also caused serious flooding in Vietnam, Cambodia and India. MCC responded with an Asia Disaster Response, which you can follow by checking the Web site www.MCC.org
During my travels this past week I did get to watch birds from the vehicle as we passed through a number of flooded areas. As would be expected, there were lots of herons and egrets, most of them the same ones we see in the U.S., such as Great Egrets and Cattle Egrets. I saw one Cinnamon Bittern flying across a flooded rice field. Several species of terns also frequented the wet areas.
The most common bird at this time of year in the Manila area is the Brown Shrike. A migrant from further north in Asia, they arrive in the Philippines in the fall in huge numbers and can be seen and heard almost anywhere. Another common migrant is the Barn Swallow, and there are thousands of them to be found this time of year. In Manila I often see and hear Pied Fantails and Yellow-vented Bulbuls from my guest house window.
I have also checked with some of the partner agencies that MCC worked with in the past. These groups work with street kids, health and education, and peace-building. I plan to fly to Davao City, where Helen and I lived in the southern island of Mindanao. As we near the month of November, enjoy the last tastes of fall and watch for those rare birds that will be coming through Ohio.
Good birding!
To contact Bruce Glick, e-mail him at birderbruce@yahoo.com, or call 330-317-7798.