It was another hot, humid, suffocating day. My wife and I had been cocooning ourselves in our airconditioned room lounging in self-imposed lethargy. The other day, just to break the quotidian monotony of our slothful lives, we went to Conti's to have a halo-halo (a native concoction of various sweets steeped in crushed ice and milk). Just one glass to be shared by both of us.
Liking that break in routine, we thought it would be a good idea to repeat that parsimonious act. This time our goal was Cafe Via Mare. Do you know where that is? At the University of the Philippines in Diliman. Do you know what else is there? Nesting Coppersmith Barbets! Hence our two-fold mission: Enjoy a cold refreshing snack and photograph a specific species.
As we were driving towards UP we still have no idea where the exact location of the Barbet's nest was. It was our friend, Jasmin, who has that information. I was about to make the left turn toward CP Garcia when Cynthia grabbed my arm. "No, no no. Let's go to Via Mare first!"
"Let's have the Shooters first, and ask Jasmin for the directions to the nest later," she continued.
The Shooters is a Cafe Via Mare specialty. It is composed of three types of cold refreshments: the halo-halo (mentioned earlier), mais con hielo (corn with shaved ice), and guinumis (gelatin and sago in coconut water with shaved ice as well).
Refreshed, we contacted Jasmin and asked for the location of the Barbet's nest. We quickly found it but..it was a hole new world for us. The birds were gone, the young ones probably having already fledged and all that was left was an empty hole.
And so….I just took pictures of whatever bird we saw (except, of course, of those extremely rare and skittish Eurasian Tree Sparrows). All the while being taunted by the loud "pok! pok! pok!" of the invisible Barbets.
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| Is that an empty hole? |
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| Is that an empty hole? |
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| Don't know about you guys, but I'm outta here! |
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