We were back at the Makiling Botanical Garden hoping that the same variety of birds we saw a week ago would still be at the now famous lipote tree. Unfortunately, most of the flowers had already wilted and so the avian visitors were few and far between. Mostly flowerpeckers. As I have observed the last time we were here, these tiny creatures seemed to have fun chasing and bullying the Sunbirds. Except for one particular species - the much bigger Grey-throateds. The colorful Handsome and Flaming varieties were now nowhere to be seen.
However, there was a new kind of Flowerpecker that appeared on the scene. These were unperturbed by the Orange-bellied trouble-makers. And it was our first lifer: The Buzzing Flowerpecker.
Occasionally a Stripe-headed Rhabdornis would venture into the flowering tree but preferred to stay in the darker part of the canopy.
Our group (composed of Irene, Peter, Mr & Mrs. Weefar Wee, my wife and myself) were talking about birds during one of the lulls in bird activity when all of a sudden a raptor flew above us.
"Raptor! Raptor!" I shouted pointing at the obvious.
Thankfully, Cynthia was quick on the draw with her camera gear. When I looked at the images she got, I noticed right away the longish neck of this particular bird of prey. I knew we got another "buzz" for a lifer: The Philippine Honey Buzzard.
At around 10 am it started to drizzle. Inasmuch as we were not seeing anything new anymore, we all decided to call it a day.
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