One Fine Day

Ever since we moved to our new place we have not been able to visit our favorite breakfast buffet place as often as we would have wanted. Cafe Sweet Inspirations now being twice as far as when we were at former abode was the main reason for that.

Friday night I was mulling on where to go birding on Saturday. Shall we go back to Infanta and hope that our recent luck would continue? I checked the weather forecast and it said that there would be rain on that part of the country. 

Then there were the recent postings of photos of the pair of Narcissus Flycatchers taken in U.P. Diliman. A male of this species was also seen there way back in 2011. Not seeing it after several attempts moved me into creating a sarcastic video. 

http://ornithographer.blogspot.com/2012/11/figment-of-imagination.html

October 31 of 2016 we saw the female at Bangkong Kahoy. The day after that, a male Narcissus Flycatcher was reported seen at a tiny patch of woods near the Redemptorist church in Baclaran. That was one successful twitch we had. The curse had finally been broken.

So as I pondered that Friday night, since our beloved restaurant was not that far from U.P., then the conclusion was quite obvious. I turned to my wife and with all seriousness I could muster, I told her: Let's have breakfast at Cafe Sweet Inspirations tomorrow, then go look for the Narcissus afterwards. She smiled and hugged me in response.

Needless to say it was a most satisfying breakfast we had that Saturday morning. With stomachs full, we then proceeded to "Frogs" area in U.P. The first bird we saw was a Rusty-breasted Cuckoo.

After that we met University professor, and fellow birder, Carmela Espanola, who was so kind to show us where our target birds had been observed.

While Cynthia was stalking some birds down the trail, I stayed where the bamboo grove was. Somehow I felt as if someone was whispering to me, telling me to turn around. So I did. At a distance I saw a bird with an orange breast. Mangrove Blue Flycatcher, I thought to myself. I raised my camera to my eyes and as soon as I focused on the bird, I realized it was what we were looking for. "Narcissus!" I yelled to my wife. The moment she came next to me, the colorful flycatcher moved a bit closer to us.

Soon it flew away. My wife continued looking for other birds and I still remained hoping the male Narcissus would return. It didn't. But then the female showed up.

After that, we both agreed to now look for other birds in the campus. Not that far from the flycatcher area, we encountered a Red-keeled Flowerpecker picking on the fruits of the aratiles tree.

Driving around the Rotunda, I noticed a patch of grass and told Cynthia, "How come there are no Pipits here." I have barely finished the sentence when I saw two, yes two! Paddyfield Pipits. 

Then, of course, there was the obligatory shot of the friendly Long-tailed Shrike. This was taken from our car window and was almost full frame from my wife's comparatively shorter lens.

We then drove to where a Ferruginous Flycatcher was seen around this time of the year back in 2010. Seeing it again was a shot in the moon, a hope against hope kind of thing. Of course it wasn't there. On the way out Cynthia suggested, "Why don't you take a photo of the Woodswallow? You know, just to complete our day." So I did.

Starting the day with a sumptuous breakfast, getting our target birds, and then going home with the sun shining brightly and without the dreaded traffic. It was indeed one fine day.