Drying to Meet You

A little after 1 pm we decided to leave the Indigo-banded Kingfishers of Villa Escudero alone. Tirso had an appointment at two and Peter wanted to try birding the streets of Hacienda Escudero. As soon as  Cynthia and myself boarded Peter's car it rained. No, not a trickle but a downpour. That made the three of us happy. Why? Two reasons: One - what would we have done if that happened while we were shooting the kingfishers? our precious equipment would have taken an unwelcome bathing. And who knows what havoc that calamity would have wrought. Two: this deluge of a rain will soon stop and when it does birds will certainly come out and we will be there to meet them.


Come out they did. When the rain finally dwindled to a drizzle, an impatient (and hungry) Pied Bush Chat started diving at some unfortunate insect from its perch.

The shower came to a complete stop. Birds started popping out. They were so intent in drying themselves up that we were able to get reasonably close. Like this Long-tailed Shrike.

Along the road, Paddyfield Pipits and White-browed Crakes were shaking off their wetness.

As is their habit, a Lesser Coucal was rising to meet the sun.

The sun eventually peeped through the dark clouds as a heavily laden Collared Kingfisher prepared for takeoff.

And the Philippine Coucal proudly welcomed Phoebus into its realm.