Egret Start

Aside from the harrowing traffic in getting to U.P. Diliman - what normally takes less than 30 minutes became more than an hour's travel - we had a great birding morning. We started off with really nice shots of two kinds of egrets - the Eastern Cattle Egret and the Little Egret.

Eastern Cattle Egret

Little Egret

We proceeded to the pond but drew a total blank. As a consolation, I just had to take a photo of the uber common Eurasian Tree Sparrow.

At the Pagasa station, or what we usually refer to as the Long-tailed Shrike Territory, the eponymous bird was nowhere in sight. In its place was a lone Zebra Dove that was unperturbed by the passing bikers.

Eventually the Long-tailed Shrike did show up as it hunted for prey on the ground.

Not too far from it, a Pied Triller played hide and seek with us as we tried to get its photo.

Our next stop was at the parking lot of the MSI (Marine Science Institute) Building. A pair of Olive-backed Sunbirds were feasting at the flowers but we only got a good picture of the female.

And to cap things off, we also took an obligatory shot of the common Yellow-vented Bulbul.

Thankfully the traffic along Katipunan Avenue wasn't that bad on our way back.