Camella's Back

We were invited by our neighbor and fellow birder, Chin, to go with him to Camella Homes in Bulacan. We've been to that place before and we had a great time with the Jacanas. Inasmuch as one of our target birds, the White-winged Tern, had been seen there lately, going back would be a good opportunity.

For almost three hours we stayed by the pond looking at a number of Pheasant-tailed Jacanas and Whiskered Terns cavorting all over the place. However, the hoped for flight of the Jacanas did not happen as we expected - only some short hops from one end of the pond to the other.

While waiting for our target bird to appear I observed an uncommon behavior from what I believe is a Clamorous Reed Warbler. Normally this species is a skulker -darting in and out of tall reeds while looking for insects. This one, however, was acting more Pipit-like, standing on top of waterlilies and grabbing an unfortunate bug. It looked like a Pipit, behaved like a Pipit, but Pipits are migrants and were supposed to be back up northern Asia by now. Our friend, Adri, later confirmed that this was indeed a Clamorous Reed Warbler.

Anyway, another interesting avian activity I observed was playing "king-of-the-hill" (or should I say a "king-of-the-pole") between two species. The Blue-tailed Bee-eater would perch on said pole then fly off to chase of an insect. A Whiskered Tern would then perch on the said pole before the Bee-eater could return. The smaller bird would then harass the tern albeit to no avail. Eventually the tern would also fly off to join its comrades in swooping for tiny fish. That would be now an opportunity for the Bee-eater to reclaim its throne, so to speak, and fend off the returning tern. But then the Bee-eater would of course had to eat so off it would fly again. That would be the go signal for the tern to return (pun intended). That scenario was repeated several times.

As in most of our birding trips there would be a bonus bird. This time it was a pair of Greater Painted Snipes! For a short while both male and female got out of hiding from the reeds and enjoyed a few moments in the sun.

female 

male

A little after 8 am, with the White-winged Terns not showing up and the heat and humidity becoming unbearable, we all agreed to call it a day. 

Missed Purple Mystery

The last time we saw it was in April, 2011. We've been to Candaba lots of times since then and we never even had a glimpse of it. "Isn't it a bit mysterious that the once very confiding Purple Swamphens were now nowhere to be seen?" I told my wife. Cynthia couldn't agree more. "It's been more than three years and we missed seeing this bird!" she confirmed.

Saturday we were back at the popular birding site in Pampanga, once again hoping that we would see our long lost target species. It was a beautiful sunny morning and the usual denizens of the wetlands were up and about. A male Pied Bush Chat was shaking off the dews from its feathers.

A Clamorous Reed Warbler was living up to its name climbing to the top of the bush loudly announcing its presence.

As we entered via the "back door" to the marshy area, Black-winged Stilts and Sandpipers (Wood and Marsh) were beginning their foraging for breakfast.

Black-winged Stilt

Wood Sandpiper and Marsh Sandpiper

Of course, this time of the year, the migrant Common Kingfisher was a sure sighting here.

Surprisingly, ducks were scarce. Only a few Philippine and Wandering Whistlings were present. Luckily, there was a single (yes, just one), where there used to be hundreds of them, Tufted Duck. I said, luckily, because this was the first time I was able to take a decent photo of this annual visitor.

The hours passed. The absence of the usual migrating species was saddening. There were some Grey and Purple Herons but they preferred to stay at a distance, with one exception.

Purple Heron

It was nearing 10 am and the blue skies were now slowly being covered by grey clouds. We were already on our way out when Cynthia suggested we linger near the junction of the road from the mayor's house. My wife walked a hundred feet or so and stared at the wetlands before her. I was scanning the edges hoping to see a Black Bittern. "Purple Swamphen!" my partner suddenly yelled. "But it flew away already!" I walked over to where she was and she showed me a photo of our hoped for bird, flying indeed. 

"Maybe it will come back," my wife said assuringly. We switched places. I stayed where we were and she went to look for Black Bitterns. Perhaps it was about half an hour when I saw something purplish emerged from the tall vegetation - but only oh so quickly - returning once again in the deep brushes. I managed to take a few quick shots before it completely disappeared from view. 

When I told Cynthia about my fleeting encounter she was happy that finally we both saw the purple bird that we missed seeing since 2011. A soft drizzle signalled that it was time for us to go. It was amazing that it decided to wait until we both have seen our target bird before the rain started to fall.

Still Ruff at the Edges

Cynthia was standing at the edge of a huge pond, patiently beckoning to me and Irene and Ha Luong, our friend from Vietnam. But we three were busy taking shots at the Striated Grassbird and Clamorous Reed Warbler who were drying themselves in the morning sun. Ha was fascinated by the Chestnut Munias glowing in the bright sunlight.

Striated Grassbird

Clamorous Reed Warbler

Eventually we relented and scooted over to where my wife was. In front of her were waders, lots of them and also way too far. We tried to move closer gingerly balancing our camera equipment as we negotiated the terribly uneven trail. Just as when we were relatively close, the birds flew off….but returned a few minutes later. Scanning the multitude, I was able to point out the most obvious Black-winged Stilts and a plethora of Marsh Sandpipers. However, there were these birds that were bigger than the Marsh Sandpipers but had a shorter bill. Flipping through the pages of the birdlist in my mind, a light bulb shone over my head.

"Ruff!" I shouted.

"Your skin?" Cynthia asked.

"Dog?" Irene looked around.

"Huh?" wondered Ha.

"No! Those waders over there, they're Ruffs!"

These uncommon migrants have been seen and photographed before by some members of the Wild Bird Club of the Philippines (WBCP) and we were hoping that these birds would still be here close to the edge of the concrete road.

Elated at adding another species to our lifelists, we proceeded to the Mayor's House. There we met up with our friend, Bong and his wife, Eve. I was about to go where they were staking out some birds when Ha said, "Pied Triller!" Cynthia repeated, "Pied Triller!" in case I didn't hear it the first time. I was about to ignore them (I have seen and photographed Pied Trillers many times already) when Ha shouted "White-shouldered Starlings!" Again my wife echoed, "White-shouldered Starlings!" albeit  in a louder, higher pitched tone. Irene was already doing her patented "Eeeek!" I looked and saw four, count-em, four starlings cavorting on the tree branches above us. 

I ran towards Bong and Eve and yelled "White-shouldered Starlings!" In a flash they were both beside us. Bong had been wanting to photograph this species for the past two years and now he was having his fill.

For our final mission, we went to where the ducks usually congregate. There they were, thousands of them, seemingly thousands of miles away. There was a small group preening a little bit closer to us. This bunch of snobbish Tufted Ducks avoided the mixed crowd at the other side of the pond. I took a "hail mary" shot of the huge flock. Later that night as I reviewed my photos, it turned out that that duck convention was composed mostly of Garganeys, some Philippine Ducks and a few Northern Shovelers.  However, when we were at Candaba viewing them, we could not distinguish the individual species much to Ha's consternation because she wanted so much to see the Philippine endemic.

On our way back to the Mayor's house, I saw a group of ducks flying not too far from us. I grabbed my binos and excitedly told Ha, "Philippine Ducks!" She grabbed her binos and was so happy to have finally seen what she wanted to see.

A beautiful way to end our birding day. Now to look for a great place to have lunch.