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Summer road trip
seemed to like it enough to nest there.
Over the next four years, word of this
safe haven evidently spread among
members of the avian community. The
number of winged residents grew so
significantly that the Malana family
decided to give up the pepper farm and
let the kakawate trees (which hosted
the pepper vines) grow untrimmed,
creating ideal forest cover for the
birds. Estimates of the bird population
now hover around 20,000, most of
them egrets, herons and swallows.
But every now and then an unfamiliar
flyer, typically seen perched on a high
branch, swoops in to check out the
neighborhood.
Many of the birds are cattle egret
and egret, diurnal birds that leave
their nests at 4am to search for food at
nearby lakes. They return to the small
patch of forest in Baras at sundown,
just as the nocturnal birds, the black
crowned night heron and the rufous
night heron, are setting off to forage
by moonlight. Lacking the patience
or quiet resolve of seasoned bird
watchers, we struggle to stay awake
until the magic hour, wondering aloud
whether the birds chose to take another
route home.
“At 5.40,” Mary Anne reminds us
with a smile. Sure enough, almost to the
minute, the aerial show of crisscrossing
rush-hour traffic reaches fever pitch
at twenty to six. This Mother Nature-
choreographed spectacle, presented
against the dramatic light of sundown,
leaves us all speechless, so much so
that our long drive back to Koronadal
City passes in relative silence.
The T’boli of Lake Sebu
As we approach Lake Sebu, something
seems to echo across the mists of time,
which we take as a sign that we’ve
The view from a five-story tamarind
tree; Below: binoculars are available
at the Baras Bird Sanctuary; the
refuge for birds has helped promote
population growth
NECKLACE AND BRACELETS BY LALA GARCIA MANILA; TOP BY FOREVER 21; SHORTS BY RIVER ISLAND; SLING BAG BY RIPCURL
