Car Few

In my previous blog I lamented the fact that the current traffic situation in MetroManila had negatively impacted our birding activities. Thankfully there are still some places we can bird that are not affected much by such inconveniences. One of them is Antipolo. Our friends John and Vivette Webb gave us a season pass - as it were - to access their subdivision which has more trees than houses and therefore has a lot of birds. We've had great experiences here encountering uncommon species such as the Slaty-legged Crake, Philippine Hawk-Cuckoo and the Philippine Cuckoo Dove.

Last Saturday was a bit of a different story though. There seemed to be a dearth of birds. Could it be the unseasonably warm weather that we are having that caused such scarcity? I mean here we are almost mid-December and the temperatures are still in the mid 30s!

On the positive side, the Collared Kingfishers were the birds of the day.

global warming? how about earth worming.

We also tried our skills at BIF (birds-in-flight) photography using the White-breasted Woodswallows as our subject.

And finally just as we were about to leave, a male Pied Bush Chat posed for us obligingly.

It was not really a bad birding day, short as it was. Only a few birds turned up but then so were the cars along the road.

Pick Up the Thrush

Perhaps it was because of habit that we woke up at 5 am. Normally at this time on Saturday mornings we are either already on the way to a birding destination or getting ready for one. Today, however, we did not have any plans to go birding at all. The reason for that is we will be attending a discipleship seminar at Ortigas Center at 10. We looked at each other and I subtly broached the subject of a quick sortie at the La Mesa Ecopark, after all it's just 15-20 minutes away sans trafic - to which my wife hastily agreed. We skipped breakfast (another deviation from the norm) and were at the park by 6:30.

Our primary targets were 1) the Indigo-banded Kingfisher and 2) Brown-headed Thrush. Although both species had already been seen and even photographed by us, the recent postings in Facebook by our friends sort of inspired us to make the same pursuit.

One look at the pond and I knew the kingfisher would be a no-show: the area "residents" had just awakened and were doing their morning ablutions and preparing breakfast. So I decided to pick on the thrush by positioning myself near the fruiting MacArthur Palm tree. Only to realize the vanity of it all. How could a self-respecting bird withstand the joggers, bikers and noisy crowds passing underneath the source of its breakfast? 

Cynthia decided to roam around and try to look for other avian subjects. After an hour, she returned to where I was silently controlling my seething anger and told me that she got nada. Soon, our friend, Fr. Auckhs, came also with the intent of photographing the Indigo-banded Kingfisher. We apprised him of the situation but he had more confidence and patience than us.

At around 8, human activity waned to a tolerable level. I was still at the trail by the palm tree. I noticed some movement behind. It was the thrush I was hoping for. It was casing the joint, so to speak, trying to determine if it was already safe to pick some fruits. It was then that another boisterous crowd walked by and drove my target bird into hiding once again. Luckily I was able to get some shots, albeit a bit dark, before it was spooked.

At around 8:20, I told my wife that we have to go. We bade goodbye to Fr. Auckhs and informed him that we will go around the trail loop and head home from there. As I turned I saw the Brown-headed Thrush feeding on the palm tree! A short burst and then it flew off again. One shot turned out to be good enough. 

We had a quick breakfast at nearby Jollibees and then an hour-long patience-trying, trauma-inducing drive back through a horrific traffic jam. Considering that we still have to go home, wash up and change our clothing, my wife and I did some thrush talking to alleviate our building anxieties (we're both punctual persons and getting late is something that we absolutely hate). 

It was a miracle that we got to the seminar just in the nick of time.

Weather or Not

Saturday was the exact opposite of last week. Whereas we slept late that time expecting torrential rain coming from typhoon Ruby but turned out to be a sunny day, this time believing the words of the local weather bureau that it would be nice and clear, we woke up early to go birding - to a place more than 90 kilometers away. Only to discover that it was dark and gloomy as soon as we got out of the house. We were all dressed up and ready to go anyway, so regardless of the weather, we still went.

It was a stygian Saturday morning with occasional drizzles interspersed now and then with teasing moments of sunshine. Overall, grey was the color of the day and almost all our photos were unintentionally black and white. Not only that, some of the birds we expected to see at Mt. Palay-palay were not there.

One of the very first birds we saw was a Pygmy Flowerpecker. However, it was so heavily backlit that none of our combined 50-plus shots could even be salvaged through post processing. 

A calmly perched Brahminy Kite yielded only some so-so photos.

Our luck, or rather, Cynthia's luck, turned for the better when I saw a male Luzon Hornbill feeding on some red berries. I said Cynthia's luck because she got at least one great shot while I got a big fat zero.

It was my wife's day, actually, because she was also the one who got better photos of one of our target birds - the Philippine Bulbul.

With the weather not promising to get better, we agreed that it was time to go. The trip home was a sad punctuation to an already unproductive day. Combine drizzles and the Christmas season in the Philippines and what do you get? The worst traffic jam you can imagine.

Lots of BS

The grounds of the University of the Philippines were not that birdy Saturday morning. Except for Brown Shrikes. It seemed like each time we turned a corner there would be a BS.

Our birding trip to U.P. was a last minute decision. The night before we were warned by our friend, Bong, that there would be an ACET (Ateneo College Entrance Test) on Saturday morning. That would trigger a humongous traffic jam along Katipunan Avenue, he said. Now using Katipunan would be the shortest route from our home to U.P. Not wanting to go through the misery of being part of an impromptu parking lot, I gave up on the idea of going birding on Saturday. 

As fate would have it, my wife and I both woke up at 5 am Saturday morning.

"If we leave before six we could probably beat the onslaught of cars taking test-takers to the Ateneo campus" Cynthia said in a most encouraging way. 

That definitely sounded like a good idea to me. We quickly did our morning ablutions and were out of the house at 5:45 am. As we neared Ateneo University we could see the rows of vehicles filling up all but one lane of the north-bound Katipunan Avenue. To the credit of the traffic controllers, those of us non-Ateneo goers were able to squeeze through the single lane without much high-blood-pressure-inducing delay.

Then came the encounters with the multitude of Brown Shrikes - most of whom were basking in the early morning sun.

Our meanderings brought some nice surprises though. A pair of Large-billed Crows passed by and one of them perched on a not too high branch in front of us.

The biggest surprise was an adult and immature Barred Rail searching for food just behind the Vargas Museum. This was the first time we saw this species in the university's premises. Both were a bit skittish though. Luckily, Cynthia was able to get a photo of the adult.

Nine in the morning and we were feeling the pangs of hunger. We debated on where to have our breakfast, taking into consideration the possibility that the traffic jam along Katipunan Avenue still have not subsided at this hour. All the restaurants that we have considered, unfortunately, would require us to pass through that dreaded route. After praying about it we left U.P. 

There was absolutely no problem negotiating Katipunan! Not only that, there was even an available parking space in front of Banapple - one of the restaurants we have considered - which in itself was another miracle!

Our breakfast was sumptuous and my cafe mocha was heavenly! And that is no BS.