Imus Go There

 When our friend, Linda Gocon, posted photos of some unusual birds taken in Imus, Cavite, I thought "I must go there."

Early Saturday morning (June 26) my wife and drove to the place not that far from SM Center. Only to discover that the "birding" place was teeming with joggers, cyclists, and even motorcyclists. Forget about the Grass Owl I whispered to Cynthia. Thankfully, despite the abundance of human beings, there were still birds that inhabit the nearby grasslands. The most common of which (aside from the Eurasian Tree Sparrows, of course) was the Zitting Cisticola!

Something really weird happened next. We both saw some movement on the ground. So we both took pictures of the bird that was roaming around. I knew that my subject was a Paddyfield Pipit and I assumed that Cynthia was photographing the same species. However, when I was processing our photos at home I discovered that the bird my wife was taking pictures of was an Oriental Skylark!

Paddyfield Pipit

Oriental Skylark

Next came the doves: A Zebra Dove was also foraging among the grass.

Cynthia was lucky enough to get a shot of a Spotted Dove making a landing.

We then moved to a place where some trash had been piled up. From there my wife saw a Cinnamon Bittern in a distance. Eventually it flew off and of course, Cynthia got a perfect BIF (bird in flight) shot! 

To console myself after failing to get my BIF shot, I took an obligatory photo of a Eurasian Tree Sparrow.

Speaking of BIFs, a couple of Oriental Pratincoles were flying around providing a challenge for us.

Cynthia's sharp eyes got her a White-browed Crake.

From the roundabout, we proceeded to a road nearby. Feeding on the grass stalks were a horde of Munias - both Chestnut and Scaly-breasted.

Chestnut Munia

Scaly-breasted Munia

I also saw an immature Striated Grassbird preening on barbed wire.

Near the narrow road, we were surprised to see an Intermediate Egret!

Perched on the electric wire were some Pacific Swallows

Past nine o'clock and we were soaked in our sweat, so we both agreed to call it a day. As we were about to leave, we got our "lifer" - penguins!!