It was foggy as we approached our destination. Despite the directions given me by our friend, Bong, I (being direction-challenged) still couldn't locate the place where the Fruit Dove was seen. It was good fortune that while I was pondering where to proceed, another friend, Loel, stopped his vehicle when he saw our car. He told us that he and his friend Joel were actually going to the Fruit Dove place and asked us to follow them.
As we entered the site we met fellow birders Fidel, Steve, and George. It was about 8:30 in the morning and Kamote (who is the caretaker of the place) informed us that one of the parent doves would leave the nest between 10 to 11 am and perch on a nearby branch. That would be the time for the photo-ops.
While waiting, we experienced some strange weather phenomenon (climate change?): It would drizzle a bit, clear up, then a bit of sunshine, followed by a heavy downpour. This happened about 3 times in a span of one hour. Once again, good fortune was on our side - at around 9:30 there was a lull in the precipitation. That was when one of the parents perched in full view. All of us took the opportunity to take photos of our target bird.
Having met our "quota" for the day, we told our birding buddies that we will explore the road until kilometer 106. Unfortunately, there weren't any birds along the way and when we got to Km. 106 there was another heavy downpour.
After the rain ceased we saw a few Pacific Swallows drying up.
Along the road in one of our stops, a Philippine Serpent Eagle flew by taking advantage of the bit of sunshine.
A little after 11 am we checked out Kamote's place again. Apparently the Fruit Dove never showed up again after our encounter with it earlier. Except for Loel and Joel, the other bird photographers have already left. As we were about to board our car, Cynthia noticed some movements at the trees across the road. We were fortunate enough to add two more species to our list that morning: The Elegant Tit and the Flaming Sunbird.
Was it fortune that had our birding sortie start with a Flame-breasted Fruit Dove and ended with a Flaming Sunbird?
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