Sunday, June 26, 2016

"Pok" a-Haunt Us

"Pok!" "Pok!" "Pok!"

The call was so loud like it was coming from a place not more than a couple of meters away. My wife and I strained our necks as we searched between the leaves of the tree in front of us.

"Pok!" "Pok!" "Pok!"

The hammering noise kept on teasing us. Try as much as we could we were not able to detect even the slightest movement that would reveal the source of that haunting sound.

And to think that such an experience happened not only once but twice! In a short span of two hours!

Thankfully, unlike the schadenfraude filled Coppersmith Barbet, the other avian denizens of the U.P. campus were kinder and more cooperative.

Such as the Black-naped Oriole which was more pre-occupied at picking berries than torturing a couple of bird photographers.



Even the constantly moving, tiny Lowland White-eyes, took some time off from their activities to pose for us.



And finally, the Philippine Pygmy Woodpecker flew to a branch close enough for us to be able to get some good shots.



We also tried to look for the Philippine Nightjars near the burned faculty building and failed miserably on that. As we were about to leave we saw our new friend and fellow birder, Jun Sibal, whom we met earlier. He showed us the exact place where the pair of nightjars were roosting. However, because of the steep angle, the resulting photos were not worthy of publishing.

Like most birding adventures, our morning had some good moments and some not so good. 

And we still keep hearing the mocking "pok!" "pok!" "pok!" when we were already home.


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