Birding Taytay

There had been several postings in Facebook recently of birds seen in Taytay. That, of course, piqued our curiosity. Thanks to our birder friend, Linda Gocon, who gave us precise directions on how to get to the birding place, my wife and I went early Saturday morning.

We were surprised that on a small patch of wetland just beside the road were a number of birds! The first species that we saw were a bunch of Crested Mynas frolicking on the muddy area.

 

There was also a small flock of Little Egrets and a single Intermediate Egret feeding on the wetland.

 

Then we noticed small brown birds moving about. Upon closer look, we were surprised to see Wood Sandpipers, Common Sandpipers and a bunch of Little Ringed Plovers.

Wood Sandpiper

 

Common Sandpiper

Little Ringed Plover

 

There were also a few Black-winged Stilts.

 

Cynthia even got a shot of an immature White-browed Crake.

 

At around 8 am, someone came and waded through the said wetland, spooking all the birds there. And that ended our short birding trip in Taytay.

Over the Rainbow

It was a blustery morning as we started our birding day in Baras. Winds so strong it almost wrenched our cameras from our hands. As gusts blew all over the place our hopes were damped..for how can birds show up in this dangerous situation.

Eventually the winds died down and we were so glad to see a complete rainbow appear on the horizon. 

Rainbows are a promise of good things to come. And indeed birds started showing up. 

Perhaps it was the season because we saw several species doing some courtship rituals. A male Spotted Dove strutted on the road displaying its gorgeous spots to a couple of females.

A pair of Common Sandpipers were flirting with each other.

Grey Wagtails having a lovers quarrel?

A male Philippine Hanging Parrot trying to hide his "kulasisi" behind the leaves.

Aside from these romantic scenes, we saw the usual species found regularly here.

As we were about to leave, we were shocked to see some guys cutting off the tall grass along the road. To our surprise just a few feet away from them, we spotted a bird that we have not seen here before - a Golden-headed Cisticola!

Ah, a beautiful rainbow indeed is a harbinger of good fortune!

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!"

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.