Missing Tit

Early Saturday (March 4) morning I got a Facebook PM from birding friend Bim Quemado. "If you're interested, the White-fronted Tit is easy here at Subic" was his message. A couple of weeks earlier, our friends from the Baguio-Benguet Birding Group also posted photos of this species. The White-fronted Tit was my nemesis bird. Cynthia and I never saw it despite our many attempts.

Sunday afternoon we drove to Subic and proceeded right away to the place Bim said he saw the Tit. Three hours of searching and nada. Early the following day we went back. Again, three hours of waiting and staring at the trees with red flowers and still no Tit. I thought I saw it fly across the road but somehow never found the place where it landed. Or was it just my imagination playing tricks on me.

Although not seeing our target was a heart-breaker, birding wasn't that bad at all. This is the time of year when the Blue-throated Bee-eaters start their nesting period. There were dozens of them congregating on the electric wires waiting for their turn to visit their respective holes on the ground.

Some even displaying a unique posture.

Having spent most of our time looking for the imaginary bird with a white forehead, we were not able to photograph much of the avian denizens of Subic. Here are some that we got:

Blue-naped Parrot

Large-billed Crow

Coppersmith Barbet

Coleto

Luzon Flameback

Oriental Dollarbird

Stripe-headed Rhabdronis

White-bellied Woodpecker

Short, Sweet, Sour Subic

It was a short three-hour birding sortie in Subic. Our birding friend, Bim Quemado, graciously invited us to join him in searching for an uncommon bird. This bird had been seen recently here and since it would be a lifer, we thought a visit to this place would be a good idea. We even asked our friends, Rob Hutchinson and Melanie Tan, who spotted this bird just a week ago, for directions.

Those three hours were spent along the road from the Botanic Garden to the gates of the Orica Factory. Just as we were getting in, we already saw an Oriental Dollarbird basking in the early morning sun. Then it took off in the wild blue yonder presumably to search for breakfast.

Showing why it was called Dollarbird...because of the "dollar-shaped" spot on its wings.

There was one tree almost devoid of leaves that seemed to be a stopping point for quite a number of avian species. The sweetest, most cooperative of these, was the Green Racquet-tail.

Then a female Luzon Flameback flew in and began hammering the trunk for some goodies.

While Bim was enjoying himself taking photos of the Flameback (the male even joined in, he told me later) I wandered around and encountered a Blue-naped Parrot also enjoying an early morning meal.

Returning to the bare tree, we were surprised when twelve Ashy Minivets flew in. Twelve! This was the first time I have witnessed this many Ashy Minivets in one tree. Although in the Kennedy Guide it says that they do travel in flocks, I have always assumed that this migrant was a loner of some sort because every time I encounter this bird, there is just only one.

The other birds that came to the tree were Coletos, a single Grey-streaked Flycatcher and some Blue-throated Bee-eaters.

I was taking a short break when I noticed a female Luzon Hornbill on a branch with a strange pose. I called Bim and we shortened the distance between us and the hornbill. Soon the female flew and was replaced on the same spot by the male!

the male is lurking behind

By 10:30 we decided to call it a day but not without taking a gratuitous shot of a White-throated Kingfisher at the Nabasan Trail.

As I said earlier, our main purpose of going to Subic was to look for a particular bird. We were not so lucky to find the White-fronted Tit which was the sour part of an otherwise sweet birding morning. So to compensate for not showing of the White-fronted Tit we will just show our White-front Teeth.