Pond-ering

A recent post in Facebook by our friend Benjie Jiao of a Grey Wagtail and Common Kingfisher seen at the "pond" in U.P. Diliman gave my wife, Cynthia,and I a reason to visit that place Saturday (Sept. 24) morning. But first, as had been our routine whenever we go to U.P., we passed by Greenmeadows Avenue and Temple Drive. We stopped by the small waterway where we've seen a Little Egret almost all the time. It was there alright but did not give me a good enough pose for a decent photo. As I was processing my pictures when i got home later that day, I was surprised to see that there was a Black-crowned Night Heron next to the Egret!

We moved on. Perched on a wire was a Striated Grassbird. Sadly the weather was a bit gloomy and so the lighting was not that good for photography and I only got a documentary shot.

Across the road I got another documentary shot this time of a Zebra Dove.

Further down the road, a pair of Crested Mynas were perched..guess where? On electric wires...and of course, one more documentary shot.

Near the Mormon church, we spotted a Brown Shrike and got a, you know, so-so picture.

As had been our custom, we had a sumptuous breakfast at Rodic's. From there we proceeded to the Child Study Center area. Unfortunately there were no birds at all! Our next stop was at the Astrodome Center and thankfully, the resident Long-tailed Shrike did not disappoint.

Then off to the "pond" we went. We did see our target birds but both were quite skittish. We pursued the Grey Wagtail and as we neared one of the waterways near the pond, we saw a Little Egret. But what surprised us was what was feeding alongside the Egret...a Javan Pond Heron! Of the many times we've birded U.P. Diliman, this was the first time we saw this species here.

Happy that I was able to get some good pictures of this rarity, we continued our chase of the Wagtail. Persistence finally enabled me to get a shot at it.

We went back to the "pond" and again patience got me a long-distance photo of the Common Kingfisher.

Happy that we got both birds that we came here for - and with a bonus at that - we decided to call it a day. As we were about to leave, the Little Egret came to the pond and posed for me.

At home as I was processing the results of our birding trip, I was pondering on our luck at the "pond" considering we even saw a very uncommon Javan Pond Heron

Target Acquired

Thankfully LA Mesa Ecopark (LMEP) is now open to seniors over 65 years old. That was good news to us because recently a Common Kingfisher had been seen (and photographed) there. Not that it would be a lifer for us but it had been quite a while since we've seen one.

Saturday morning we purposed to go to LMEP to see the kingfisher of course! But first we birded along the way, beginning at the Greenmeadows Avenue. Our first stop was by the small waterway where a Little Egret is almost always a sure sighting. We were not disappointed.

 

Just above us a Philippine Pied Fantail was frolicking.

 

From there we proceeded to the parking area of the Christ the King Parish church. The first bird we saw was a Brown Shrike.

 

Surprisingly an immature Black-naped Oriole was singing out loud on top of a bare tree.

 

Another bare tree has a Philippine Pygmy Woodpecker basking in the rising sun.

 

Of course we had to take the obligatory shot of the resident Zebra Dove.

 

Another surprise was a Spotted Dove.

 

Our next stop was at Rodic's in U.P. Diliman for our breakfast. After our morning repast we went to the Astronomy area and got the Long-tailed Shrike.

 

We made another round and this time it was the Crested Mynas that posed for us.

 

We also got a good enough shot of the migrant Arctic Warbler.

 

Then off to LMEP we went. The guards were so nice and very helpful in getting us through the entrance protocols. By the pond where the Common Kingfisher had been seen, we met fellow bird photographers Nelson and Benjie. They had gotten a shot of the kingfisher early in the morning and they were both waiting for it to show up again. Almost an hour passed and the kingfisher was still a no show. Cynthia and I were both considering to give up when I saw a bluish bird fly by and landed on a bare branch on the pond. We hurried to where we could get a better look at it and after some waiting it perched out in the open. We were surprised that there were actually two of them - an adult and an immature!

Immature

 

 

Adult

 

We were so happy that we finally got what we came here for. Target Acquired!

Aw, Common!

This was our first birding trip to Baras in 2021. My primary purpose for this sortie was to get better photos of the Blue Rock Thrush. The previous times we were there we only got glimpses of this species and one very distant shot.

It was deja vu as we got in Palo Alto, the very first birds we saw were two Turtledoves. But no Partridge in a pear tree still. 

From there we went to the clubhouse. Unfortunately the flowers of the African Tulip tree were almost gone and only the Yellow-vented Bulbuls were present.

We moved on to Campeche Street. Blue-throated Bee-eaters were all over the place.

Eastern Cattle Egrets were friendlier than usual.

From a distance we got a Black-naped Oriole.

Then off to site where the Blue Rock Thrush stays. We saw our target bird but it was still too far.

Our next stop was at the small pond hoping to see some kingfishers. I heard that a Common Kingfisher had been seen here. After a few minutes waiting, guess who suddenly popped up? 

I even got some good shots before it was bullied by the White-throated Kingfisher.

At the fields a Long-tailed Shrike was basking in the sun.

At the Alicante waterway were two (!!) Green Sandpipers! Here's a picture of one of them.

Nearby a male Pied Bush Chat posed for us.

We moved to the Alfaro side of the waterway and there the expected Grey Wagtail was present.

Near the wagtail we saw a small brown bird (about the size of the wagtail). Looking through my lens, I was surprised that it was a Common Sandpiper!

And this time a female Pied Bush Chat was the one who posed for us.

To the tank area we went. Along the way fellow birder Joel Dayao pointed to a Whiskered Treeswift perched on a wire. This was the first time we saw this species here in Palo Alto.

At the tank area a flock of Lowland White-eyes were cavorting almost at eye level.

Then we saw a blackish bird perched behind the leaves. At first I thought it was a Balicassiao. But then Christopher Ferrer assured us it was a Philippine Drongo-Cuckoo. A lifer for us!

Having gotten our first lifer for 2021, Cynthia and I both agreed to call it a day. But before we did that I wanted to get a better shot of the Blue Rock Thrush. Thank goodness, we did.

Finally, I asked my wife to humor me one more time. I told her that we haven't had a good shot of the Paddyfield Pipit that day so we went around one more time. As we were driving to the place where the pipits roam, I saw a small brown bird bobbing at the road. Not a pipit for sure and definitely not a wagtail. I asked Cynthia to take a shot at it as it was on her side. And voila! Another Common Sandpiper!

And to end our birding morning, the Paddyfield Pipit.

It was another bountiful birding adventure at Baras highlighted by two species that has the word "common" in their names: Common Kingfisher and Common Sandpiper - both seen by us for the first time in Baras. We can only express our delight by exclaiming "Aw, common!"

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.