Marsh Fourth

There we were huddled inside his car. Neon at the driver's seat and I at the back behind him. Our long lenses resting on our respective windows and pointed at my first lifer of the year. It was an Island Collared Dove. 


We were at Candaba marsh on the fourth day of January. I was thrilled when Neon contacted me the day before inviting me to go with him to what had become a favorite destination of birders lately. As a matter of fact, Neon had just been here two days earlier. Apparently his experience was that good that he wanted to return.


And indeed it was. At the end of the day, I tallied four lifers and also had gotten better pictures of some species that I have already seen but were only able to obtain "documentary" shots then.


We took a break around noon and while we were resting, I reminisced about my past birding experiences at the beginning of each year. That was in California. My wife and I usually avoided the madness of the Rose Bowl parade in Pasadena by going birding elsewhere. The farther the better - like Benicia last year and Salton Sea the year before that. I chuckled as I recalled all the eating and partying we did this past holiday season that made me quite enervated at the start of the new year and therefore unable to plan (or even think of) any birding activities.


My reveries burst like soap bubbles when Alex and Marts (both members of the Wild Bird Club of the Phillipines) who joined us later that morning, simultaneously shouted, "Geese!" They were referring of course to the Greater White-fronted Geese which are the current celebrities of Candaba as far as birdwatchers are concerned. Neon and I were a tad slow to react and thus were unable to photograph the lovely birds as they flew almost directly overhead. Nevertheless, we were so happy to note that there were now 15 individuals to the flock where there used to be only 13.


The afternoon seemed to drag on as there no longer were any exciting birds to rev up our energies. The hope of seeing an Oriental Pratincole in the fields along the way as we drove out of Candaba kept Neon and myself sufficiently energized even if we ended up not seeing any at all.


Back home Cynthia was surprised to see me tanned, red-eyed, apparently exhausted, yet smiling. How could I not when I just had a successful first-of-the-year birding. Thanks to my friend, Neon.


Now for the birds:

Island Collared Dove

Purple Swamphen

Wandering Whistling Duck

Striated Grassbird

Little Grebe

And for the piece de resistance....Javan Pond Heron

A Lipa Faith

The brother of my wife's friend owns a resort in Lipa, Batangas but it was not yet open to the public. Inasmuch as he and his wife were in town (they reside in California) we thought it would be a good idea to visit them in their "farm". Cynthia had been there before, about six years ago, and she remembers the extensive forest cover that still exists in the resort grounds. She wasn't into birding then and she wasn't sure if there would be a lot of birds there.

Armed with a lot of faith and hope, we arrived at the resort owned by Andy and Agnes Puno. They welcomed us warmly and offered us fresh buko juice and sweet banana. When we informed them that we would be looking for birds, they told us that we are free to roam the 6 hectares of woodland at our own pace and convenience.

The first hour was quite discouraging. The resonant calls of the Coucals filled the morning air, but the birds were nowhere to be seen. Our hearts jumped when we saw a flutter of wings in a nearby tree. Our hearts then sank as quickly when I discovered that those fluttery wings belonged to a couple of Yellow-vented Bulbuls. I thought to myself, "We drove a hundred kilometers for this!". Now Yellow Vented Bulbuls are second only to the Eurasian Tree Sparrows in terms of ubiquitousness. They inhabit even the densest urban areas as long as there are a few trees nearby.

As we approached the house of our host, Cynthia heard the unmistakable call of a kingfisher. Looking up at the branches of the tall acacia tree, we finally saw the White Collared Kingfisher. Again, this is a bird that we almost always see at the University of the Philippines campus near our home. So far, not very encouraging at all, birding-wise.

After resting a bit, we resumed our tour of the wooded areas of the resort. I contented myself at just taking pictures of the numerous butterfly species that flitted around. Suddenly Cynthia grabbed my arm and pointed at the coconut tree in front of us. Olive-backed Sunbirds were in search of food and creating a ruckus.

Things are starting to look good. Up the trail, we stalked a female Common Emerald Dove as it preened in the dark undergrowth.

Then Cynthia heard the quaint tap-tapping of a woodpecker. Sure enough a Philippine Pygmy Woodpecker decided to drop by not far from where we found the dove.

On the return route, we came upon a fruiting Macopa tree. The macopa fruit is bell-like in shape (hence the name) and is bright pink in color. Apparently it was also a favorite among fruit-eating birds. Well, at least, with the two species we saw feeding on them. One is the (ho-hum) Yellow-vented Bulbuls and the other is....the Red-keeled Flowerpecker! I can now honestly say that it was well worth the one-hundred-kilometer drive for this! With this tiny dynamo, we just got a lifer.

Happy that our faith and hope had been answered, we returned to the veranda overlooking the forested ravine. I was scanning the tops of the coconut trees with my binoculars when I saw something red move among the stems. With bated breath I fixed my attention on that particular tree. A few minutes passed and then it came into full view - the exotic male Purple-throated Sunbird! I told Cynthia to keep an eye on it while I fetch my big lens (all this time I had been using the 100-400mm zoom). At more than 20 meters away, even my 500mm could not do justice in capturing the gaudy colors of the male sunbird. Eventually the lovely bird flew off and it was then that we realized that it was almost noon.

As we were packing and getting ready to leave, we were glad that even though we did not see a lot of birds, we were still rewarded with a lifer. We even resolved to return and maybe stay overnight at the guest house so we can bird really early in the morning. Now that is something to look forward to.