Up on the Rufous

Despite it being quite common, we never had a good photo of the Rufous Night Heron. The ones we had were taken in Olango and it was of an injured individual being rehabilitated at the local administration's office area.

Recent pictures of this species taken at the LPPCHEA (Las Pinas-Paranaque Critical Habitat and Ecotourism Area) and posted in Facebook sort of prompted us to make plans to visit that place. Since a great majority of the population of MetroManila would either be visiting their departed relatives at the cemeteries/memorial parks or taking a vacation because of the long weekend on All Saint's Day (November 1), Cynthia and I both agreed that that would be the perfect time to go to the "beach" and hopefully bring up the quality of a Rufous Night Heron photo.

It took us less than an hour to get there, considering we made a few wrong turns and also almost losing our patience waiting for our breakfast order that took quite some time at an undermanned Jollibee along Roxas Blvd. 

It was not yet even 6 am when we entered LPPCHEA. After I parked our car, we started scouring the seashore. Cynthia pointed at some movement. My ancient pair of eyes couldn't see anything at all. My wife took a "documentary" shot just so she could point the area where there was supposed to be a wader. Looking at the image I was thrilled to discover that it was the species we came here for. We inched closer to where the bird was and finally I was able to get some shots.

As it turned out, it was a Rufous Night Heron morning. In our almost three hours of birding, we saw 8 individuals, ranging from juveniles to adults, standing on the shore or flying over.

Of course, there were other birds there too. Its close relatives, the Black-crowned Night Herons, were present. We even saw one flying above us with a fish in its beak.

Unfortunately, it was a gloomy morning with dark clouds foreboding some rain. Not only that, it was also low tide. My wife even jokingly said that we should have brought along some wellies (that's wading boots to you non-Brits) so that we could slosh towards the wading birds. That said, most of our photos were dark and the subjects quite far. Here are some samples.

Intermediate Egret

Common Greenshank

Common Redshank

Common Sandpiper

Grey Heron

Little Egret

Lesser Sand Plover

Pacific Golden Plover

Whimbrel

After our walk along the shore, we decided to drive over to where the docks were. Along the road was the kingdom of the Collared Kingfishers. Every hundred meters or so we would see one perched on a rock.

It was while driving on the muddy road (it rained the night before and there were some small pools on the unpaved road) that we saw a brightly colored bird fly across. For several times the reddish-orange bird kept flying left and right until it completely disappeared into the dense foliage by the creek. I then realized that it was most likely the migrant Ruddy Kingfisher that had been seen here by some lucky fellow bird photographers.

Around 8:30 am and we were drenched with sweat from the extreme humidity. Inasmuch as we got what came here for and then some, we both agreed it's time to go back home. Near the entrance, as we were about to pack our gear, Cynthia noticed some movement at a nearby tree. To end our birding day, we obligingly got some shots of a Yellow-vented Bulbul and a Brown Shrike.

Yellow-vented Bulbul

Brown Shrike

Just like that morning, it took us less than an hour to reach our home despite taking some wrong turns, again! Somehow the Waze app was no longer as efficient as it used to be. How we wished that driving in MetroManila would be as traffic free as it was that day.

The Coast of Living

The LPPCHEA (Las Pinas Paranaque Critical Habitat and Ecotourism Area) is one of the few birding areas in MetroManila. There, the presence of shorebirds despite the trashy coastline, is just incredible. 

It was a beautiful sunny morning when we got there Thursday. Right off the bat we got really good photos of the Striated Heron - a species we haven't seen for quite some time. This was so obliging that I got close enough shots.

Not too far from where it was, a Common Kingfisher was being bullied by its bigger cousin, the Collared Kingfisher. My photo, therefore, was taken from a distance.

As we walked along the debris-filled coast, we saw some Black-winged Stilts, a species we didn't see the last time we were here in October last year.

Another species we didn't see last year but quite plentiful now is the Common Greenshank. As a matter of fact they were the most in numbers this time.

Surprisingly, the Common Redshanks were very few.

Of course, Whiskered Terns were always there hunting for fish. It was our favorite BIF (bird in flight) subject.

The egrets were not as many as last time. We only saw the Little Egrets.

It was when we were about to leave that the Common Sandpiper finally showed up.

And, naturally I had to do the obligatory shot of the ubiquitous Brown Shrike.

At the small pond near the entrance to Freedom Island, we saw a commotion. It turned out to be a Yellow Bittern having a territorial dispute with the Striated Heron.

A short drive by the shore gave us open views of the Collared Kingfisher.

At around 10 am we called it a day. Despite the short birding we did, we were glad to have seen a good number of birds living at, and seemingly enjoying, the coast - trash notwithstanding.

Trash Birds

In the birding community the term "trash bird" refers to a species that is so common to the point that they are sometimes just tolerated as unavoidable but necessary. Like trash. Oftentimes they are simply ignored by birdwatchers and bird photographers.

Our recent trip to the Las Pinas-Paranaque Critical Habitat and Ecotourism Area (LPPCHEA) gave that term a new meaning. It became more literal. We were amazed as to how birds could thrive in an environment that is full of garbage.

Here are a couple of examples: Apparently both species were getting food amongst the debris. We saw them foraging and pecking at places where the soil was covered with plastics, shoes, backpacks and other stuff of every imaginable kind. It was such that both brown birds were difficult to see much less photograph. When I saw a bird I would describe its location to our friend, Peter, like, "it's in front of that pink plastic bag" or "it's right beside the red bag of chips".

The resident Common Sandpiper was so "at home" and was obviously unmindful of its messy surroundings.

The cute migrant Pacific Golden Plover, however, looked so out of place here. It was like a lovely girl model posing beside a trash bin.

Thankfully, some species knew how to avoid the trashy areas. Like the Grey-tailed Tattler.

Understandably with the kingfishers because their prey were in the waters anyway and not on the shoreline.

Collared Kingfisher 

Common Kingfisher

Before we encountered the trash birds we were awed at the number of Egrets and Whiskered Terns. These birds provided an opportunity for us to practice our BIF (birds in flight) shots.

Black-crowned Night Heron

Little Egret

Whiskered Tern

Our hoped for encounter with the Whimbrel never materialized so after several hours of patiently waiting for it to appear we decided to call it a day.