Blurred Watching

It was one of those mornings where routine (routine [roo' ten] noun: a sequence of actions regularly followed) had been the norm. It went like this: One of us would yell, "There it is!" Then we would all point our cameras to the subject of the yell. Bursts of shots would be fired. All of us would groan in unison, "Aaargh!"


For almost two hours, Gabs, Edu and myself followed these pathetic attempts to photograph the Red-bellied Pitta at La Mesa Ecopark. (My wife, Cynthia, perhaps gifted with foreknowledge decided not to bring a camera). We only gave up when fellow bird photographer, Jun Osano, informed us that two, count 'em, two Grey-backed Tailorbirds were seen up close (!) just down the road. We hurried to that place only to meet the rest of the Wild Bird Club members just as they were leaving. The tailorbirds were (note the past tense) just there they told us.


We staked a vigil hoping our would-be lifers would return. Then it rained. Thankfully it was just a short downpour. Soon we were chasing after a strange trilling sound. When we finally located the source we saw a long-tailed bird and it was grey... no, wait.... oh, it's a female Philippine Magpie Robin. At this stage, any bird (well, maybe except those ho-hum Eurasian Tree Sparrows and Yellow-vented Bulbuls) would be fair game. So I took some pictures of the Magpie Robin and...."aaargh!"


We joined up with the Wild Bird Club members and noticed they were all looking up. A stance deemed normal for birders, by the way. Which probably explains why they didn't see us until we were standing right next to them.  When asked for the reason for their craned necks, "No, not a crane", was the reply, " but a White-eared Brown Dove!" Sure enough there it was, twenty-thousand feet up on the branch of a tree perched behind several layers of leaves. Looking every bit as bored as a government employee. But like any self-respecting bird photographer, we took obligatory pictures of the dove. "Aaargh!"


Fie on those blurry bird pictures! We three are all "groan" up bird photographers anyway. Besides, we can always blame the rainy, gloomy weather.


Note: For the sake of my dignity I purposely did not post any photograph of any bird taken that day. 


Unless you guys beg me to.


Nah. I still won't.