Chin Up

We still don't have a good picture of the Black-chinned Fruit Dove. Recently, there had been a spate of photos of this species in Facebook. Nice open shots even! So my wife and I visited La Mesa Ecopark early Saturday morning hoping to get a good shot ourselves.

There were already a group of bird photographers in the area. We introduced ourselves and while we were talking shop, the Black-chinned Fruit Dove showed up and began feeding on the red fruits of the MacArthur palm. Not even 30 minutes had passed and we already got our target bird.

After the dove left, one of our fellow photographers saw something not far from where we were. We all hurried next to him and he pointed to another surprise - a Spotted Wood Kingfisher was perched about a couple of meters away...and at eye level!

As if that wasn't enough, the other star bird of Ecopark, the White's Thrush, was seen by another bird photographer. We were all excited as we tried to get a better view of this uncommon migrant.

We told our new friends that we already met our "quota" and that was it for us. On the way out we took some obligatory shots of the Brown Shrike and Yellow-vented Bulbul.

A pair of noisy Black-naped Orioles was our grand finale.

That was one of the most productive and satisfying one-hour birding we had experienced. 

Happy Birdday

I already have a blog title in mind even before we went birding last Saturday morning: Happy BRT Day! (sounds like happy birthday, right?). BRT stands for Blue Rock Thrush, an uncommon migrant to the Philippines. Our friend, Bert Madrigal, posted a photo of one taken at the campus of the University of the Philippines (U.P.) in Diliman, Quezon City - a place close to our residence. He saw three of them according to Bert. That was our incentive to go birding on my birthday.

My wife and I were at the Science Complex (where the BRTs were seen) at 6:30 am. Three hours later and I had to accept the fact that my planned blog title would never be used after all. Not a single Blue Rock Thrush showed up!

But it was my birthday and I would not let minor disappointments ruin it for me. Cynthia and I made lemonade out of lemons, so to speak. We saw quite a number of birds, albeit the usual suspects found in U.P., but the Lord in His graciousness showed us two species that were rarely seen here: A Rusty-breasted Cuckoo and a Black-chinned Fruit Dove - both still in the immature stage.

Immature Rusty-breasted Cuckoo

Immature Black-chinned Fruit Dove

The good old reliable Philippine Nightjar was still in its usual roosting place.

There were other birds that we saw and photographed too but these were the highlights of our day. 

Despite not seeing our target species, my birthday birding trip to U.P. was still an enjoyable one considering that I wasn't feeling well the day before. This was definitely a great tasting lemonade.