Show us no Pitta

For more than two hours we waited. Two hours of being drenched in sweat and enduring the humidity of a summer. We were at the Mini Forest of the La Mesa Ecopark for a particular purpose: to  photograph the Hooded Pitta and the Mangrove Blue Flycatcher. We sadly dipped on both.

But please show us no pity.  The morning was not a total disaster. For one thing a Black-naped Oriole - a species that prefers to stay high among the branches of tall trees - came out in the open and posed for us for a few minutes.

Then a pair of Lowland White-eyes cavorted just above us.

An overstaying(?) Brown Shrike was still hanging around perhaps aware that it was still quite cold in its home in northern Asia.

A surprise was a Philippine Bulbul which have not been seen much in this area.

Also the morning was about people. As we were about to get into the mini forest we met a young guy. He was a campus missionary from our church (Victory Christian Fellowship) in Novaliches. They will be holding a youth ministry at the Ecopark he told us.

While waiting for the Pitta we met an old friend, and fellow birder, Jenny de Villa. We spent some time together catching up and sharing our birding experiences.

Finally, as we were already driving on our way out, I saw a guy dressed in camp and holding a camera with long lens. "Bird photographer!", I told my wife. I waved at him and parked the car. He came over and introduced himself and we did likewise. We just added a "lifer" to our birding friend list - Rey Ibay.

Oh nest to goodness

Recent posts by fellow bloggers and birder friends Maia and Trinket about wild bird's nests found in urban areas piqued my interest. But I didn't do anything about it. Constant  prodding by another birder friend, Adri, to see the nests at the University of the Philippines (U.P.) campus - a few minutes drive from home - also failed to lift my butt from being glued to my computer chair. Friday night my wife and I still have not finalized any plans to go birding on Saturday. The Wild Bird Club of the Philippines (WBCP) group were going to Palay-palay but the meet-up time being three in the morning (which means we have to wake up at two) sort of hosed down any enthusiasm we had to go birding with them. Then came a text message from another friend, Bong, who asked if I wanted to see the nests at U.P. I texted back asking him what time he planned to go (not when it is still dark, I prayed). Seven am, he replied. Well, I certainly can live with that! So we arranged to meet along Magsaysay Street on Saturday morning.


My wife and I arrived early - about 6:30 - and started driving along the street where the nests were. Magsaysay St. is not long, probably not more than 10 blocks from end to end. And for the life of me, Cynthia and I could not locate the nests of the White-breasted Woodswallows and Crested Mynas. A frantic text to Maia. We get an immediate reply saying the nests were just across the Alumni Center. We found the building quite easily (it's not like we haven't been here before) and at once we saw the Woodswallows. I parked the car, took out my equipment and as soon as I had it ready, the Woodswallows flew away. My Kainis Poreber character was starting to surface when Cynthia pointed to the wooden electric pole to our right. "Crested Myna!" she exclaimed.


The adult birds were flying back and forth bringing food to what we assumed to be several chicks inside the top of the pole. Cynthia, meantime, joined her friends whom we met earlier at the Chocolate Kiss cafe at the next building for some girl talk. I on the other hand, stood, waited, photographed, then waited again for the Crested Mynas. 


A text message. It was from Adri apologizing for not replying earlier (I asked him for the nest location the night before). He also said that the Woodswallow chicks were now fully fledged and therefore no longer stays at the nest area. But the Mynas are still there he assured me. I thanked him and told him that I saw the Mynas already.


Another text message. It was Bong this time. He wanted to know where the nests are. I gave him the directions. After exchanging several more texts, he asked where I was. Standing at the sidewalk I told him. Apparently he already drove by a couple of times and still did not see me. My camouflage must be very effective. And I'm not even wearing one. Frustrated, he texted Cynthia instead. She promised to meet him in front of the cafe. A minute later both of them were parking next to my car.


Not long after Bong arrived, we were joined by Eve, his better half. For the next couple of hours, Bong and I watched and photographed the diligent parenting duties of the Crested Mynas while our wives engaged in some heavy conversation.

First the entree

then comes the dessert

and clean up afterwards

During one of the lulls, both our wives were alerted by some shrieking overhead. Colasisi! Cynthia yelled. A flock of about 4 or 5 birds landed in the tree across the street. Bong and I grabbed our gears and rushed beneath the said tree. It was a challenge. We only saw one individual and it was perched in the darkest part of the leafy tree. All I got were some "documentary" shots.

By now the weather was getting hotter by the minute. There weren't anything new happening around us bird-wise so we decided to call it day.


Brunch at the Cafe Via Mare was good. Somehow food tastes even better when shared with good friends.

It's Chum to say Goodbye

Cynthia and I were planning to donate tons (it seemed like) of birding books and magazines to the Sea and Sage Audubon Center at San Joaquin Wildlife Sanctuary in Irvine. I thought that that would be a good opportunity to say goodbye to our two best birding buddies, both of whom are frequent visitors to that area.

At our appointed time of 9 am, Pat Thelen (whom I have been advising on choosing camera gears and encouraging to go deeper into birding) and Tom Starcic (whom I have birded with several times and is a fellow bird photographer) were already there to meet us. In the relatively short time that my wife and I have befriended this two very nice gentlemen, we have formed some sort of a kindred spirit with them and it is with a certain sadness that we have to say our goodbyes to them. We will be retiring to our native Philippines next month, hence the farewells.

Then there were the birds. It wasn't particularly very birdy that morning, still we were able to see a Downy Woodpecker - the first time we've seen it at San Joaquin, I think.


Spring must be near (although it doesn't feel like it) because Tree Swallows were already checking out possible nesting sites.


From San Joaquin, we did a drive by at Upper Newport Bay and got a Green-winged Teal standing on land (we always see them swimming.)


Continuing at Bolsa Chica, we witnessed a feeding frenzy of a group of (we counted nine) Red-breasted Mergansers - much to the consternation of the Snowy Egrets nearby and the Forster's Terns hovering overhead.


It had been a while since we last visited these places and as we were having lunch we reminisced of the wonderful times we have had birding Orange County and the lovely people we have met along the way. We will certainly miss them and we will miss the birds of that small patch in Southern California. But we will come back someday and experience once more these wonderful soon-to-be memories.


For other exciting birding blogs and photographs, please visit:

With a Little Help (Part VI of our Florida Trip, Apr 8, 2009)

We'll get by with a little help from our friends...

And so it had to come to an end. We felt that we have barely scratched the surface of Florida birding. The question now is, do we plan to return and have another go at it? Only time (and of course, finances) will tell. Cynthia fell in love with Florida and the thought of retiring there even crossed her mind. She simply adored the wide open spaces and the abundance of greenery and water (there were ponds and lakes everywhere we went). And of course, the hospitality of the people. Which now please allow me to acknowledge them here.

First of all, a shout-out to friend, fellow birder and blogger Felicia Lee for going out of her way in providing us information on birding places in Jacksonville. Too bad our schedules didn't jive and we were not able to meet her and her husband, Glenn.

At Jacksonville, our deepest thanks to May Galang and her Mom, Nena, who accommodated us to their home for two nights. May the Lord grant you your hearts desires! Our thanks also go to Francis and Elsie Ong, for showing us their lovely mansion and taking us to a sumptuous dinner at Mandalouns. To the very kind and helpful Ranger at St. George, Roger Clark, for helping us add numerous lifers to our list and for letting us hang-out on his veranda. More power to you! To the Rangers and other birders at Ft Caroline who made it easy for these out-of-town birders to enjoy the local birdlife, thank you all!

At Orlando, our sincerest gratitude to the Magpantay family: Joel, Jennie and their three sons, John, Josef and Matthew for letting us stay with them and for the super delicious meals they shared with us. God bless you and may the Lord prosper you in many ways!



Bill and Shirley Hills for inviting us to their yard to watch the colorful birds that come to their feeders and for pointing out the birds to us at Turkey Creek Park, thank you very much! That goes to their birding pal, Howard, too! A shout out to Ranger Cindy at Moss Park for taking the time to chat with us and making us feel welcomed.

Now for the numbers: We added 10 lifers on this trip which brought my lifelist to 469. My year list for 2009 is now standing at 233 species seen.

Ibiseeing you

Battling with neck and shoulder pain, (ah, the travails of getting old) I still asked Cynthia that we go birding Saturday afternoon. I wanted to see the reported Wilson's Snipes at the Irvine Civic Center as it would be a lifer for us.

I don't know what happened, but plans changed when we exited Jamboree Ave in Irvine. We ended up at the San Joaquin Wildlife Sanctuary instead. After looking at the various duck species at the ponds, we checked out San Diego Creek (afterall it was in this creek that the snipes were seen, albeit further upstream). Down below was a White-faced Ibis nonchalantly feeding among the Killdeers. We saw this bird as we drove in but when I got off to get a better look at it, it was spooked by a low-flying Red-tailed Hawk. Which prompted my wife to declare that it was a "scared" Ibis - an intended pun against the Sacred Ibis of Asia. Witty, my wife is.

Having gotten some good shots of the wader, we proceeded to Upper Newport Bay to look for the Short-eared Owl. Dipped on that one (although some birders saw it a few minutes after we left). Oh well, c'est la vie. At least we got eye-level shots of an American Kestrel and a very busy Say's Phoebe.

We passed by San Joaquin again on the way home where we met fellow photographer and Blogger Glenn Price & Felicia Lee, respectively, who were just about ready to leave, too.

That evening at Wal-mart (a good place to end a birding day, at least according to my wife), we met fellow photographer Jimmy Chen and his wife Susan. We may not have been that successful in seeing our target birds but meeting friends definitely added nice memories for the day.

A Short Story and a Long Tail

I can't believe I went 10 days without birding! Was my passion for birds waning? Heaven forbid! A few factors contributed to this pause in my birding activities: High price of gasoline (please realize that I am currently jobless), no reports of any unusual sightings within my comfort radius of driving, entertaining Cynthia's daughter and her family who were visiting from the Philippines, and, I'm quite embarassed to admit, sloth.

But, when news that a Long-tailed Duck was seen at Bolsa Chica, the spirit of twitching awakened in me. Undeterred by the heavy fog on Saturday morning, we proceeded to Huntington Beach. A gang of photographers brandishing a variety of lenses that would put Ritz Camera stores to shame were already making negotiating the boardwalk a test in personal maneuverability. With Brown Pelicans putting on a show, dive bombing for fish just a few feet from the railings, and Forster's Terns zooming overhead, ducks were the norm of the day - and I do not mean those birds swimming and calling "quack, quack" - I meant avoiding getting whacked in the head by swinging 12-pound lenses.

Despite all these, nobody seemed to know that a rare duck (the swimming bird) was present in the area. We left the swinging bunch and proceeded to take the trail alongside PCH. While we were trying to look at some White-crowned Sparrows, a gentleman and his son greeted us with "If you're looking for the Long-tailed Duck, you can find it north of the Tidal Gate". We gave them our heartfelt thanks and wasted no time getting to the place referred to.

At the tidal gate, we saw nothing but Lesser Scaups and Surf Scoters with a couple of Buffleheads completing the group. No Long-tailed Duck. We went to the mesa to get a more panoramic view of the lagoon below. We saw Northern Pintails and American Wigeons, but still no Long-tail. Feelings of disappointment began to gnaw at my soul. My wife, bless her, suggested we give the tidal gates another try. There we saw Glenn Price and his wife, Felicia Lee. Even before I could say anything, Glenn asked if I had seen the Long-tailed Duck. I, of course, replied in the negative. Glenn smiled and said, "There it is approaching us." pointing to an almost nondescript brown bird among the black Scoters. My jaw dropped, for it was indeed swimming towards us. Excitedly, I showed our lifer to Cynthia and we spent the next half hour or so taking its photograph.

Like rain that fell on parched earth, my experience with the uncommon waterfowl was refreshing. My birding spirit had been revived.

Postscript.

Our deepest gratitude to Glenn and Felicia for showing the rarity to us. You can find Glenn's excellent photographs at http://raptorcaptor.smugmug.com and Felicia's blog (always a great read) at http://yellowrump.blogspot.com/