Cheery Tree Swifts Takes

There was a time when Whiskered Treeswifts can only be seen perched on electric wires along the road. A fact that made them quite un-photogenic. And bird photographers not too happy about it.

But now a new era has dawned. A simple trip up to Mt. Palay-palay would reward a bird photographer with a sure sight of a Treeswift perched on a branch a mere 5 meters away from the side of the road. There the photographer can take its picture to his heart's content. The three times I was there the female Hemiprocne comata was always on that particular spot. The lovely bird would always stay on that bare branch by the road. It would fly-off occasionally to go after some unfortunate bug and then return to the same perch. We who have witnessed this scenario have learned to pre-focus on its perch while the treeswift was off hunting for food and then take a burst of shots as soon as it returned.

That made me and a lot of my bird photographer friends quite cheerful.

Taken July 24, 2010

Taken August 14, 2010

Taken August 30, 2010

Rain, rain go away, little birders want to go to Palay-palay

First of all, I apologize for not posting to my blogsite as often as I would like to. When I was living in California, my blog got updated at least once a week. Now that I am here in the Philippines I realized that birding is not going to be a weekly activity. An important factor here is travel time. In America, I can be at a birding spot some 80 km (50 miles) away in about an hour. Which means I can leave Pasadena at around 6 am and be at San Joaquin Wildlife Sanctuary in Irvine around 7 am. That same distance would require about 2-1/2 hours travel time in the Philippines. Being a tropical country (which means an almost equal number of hours of day and night) birds get active quite early - usually before 6 am. Therefore, a birder must leave home before 4 am (and getting up from bed a bit earlier than that). Since it had been a while since I resided here, there had been a lot of changes in the street and highway infrastructure. In other words, it would be very difficult for me to visit the birding places on my own, even with the help of my wife, who had only been away for 5 years. In the United States, a GPS is a great help in taking me to places I have not been to before. Not so in the Philippines. From what I have heard (and seen, actually), a local GPS is not that accurate in navigating the roads and providing directions. So I rely on signs - some of which were not that accurate as well. Thankfully the local folks were always eager to help in giving directions.

Another factor in my not being able to bird as often as I could was the weather. We were now in the middle of the rainy season, and boy, when it does, it really pours. It would rain heavily for a couple of hours, then it would stop completely and the sun would shine through. But that condition is hard when out in the field. You just don't know when it would rain.

That said, Cynthia and I had an opportunity last Saturday to go birding. Two of our birding friends, Toto Gamboa and Dennis Alfaro, were going to Mt. Palay-palay, and we decided to meet up with them there. This will be the first time I will go there on my own. Armed with the directions given by another friend, Bert Madrigal (who drove us there the last time), my wife and I bravely set-off at 4 in the morning.

A little before 7 am, we parked near the entrance to the Puerto Azul resort. Toto and Dennis were already there stalking the Glossy Starlings noisily congregating on the treetop above us. Not seeing much, we decided to move on, leaving the two guys still photographing the starling flock.

Further up the road we noticed a Whiskered Treeswift family. I spotted an immature male perched on a branch above the road. The mom would fly in every now and then and give food to the young one which was already as big as the adult. Occasionally, the adult female would alight on a dead branch not far from the road and at an eye level even. This, of course, was the perfect photo-op, which I also experienced the last time I was here with my other birding buddies. Soon Toto and Dennis arrived in their car and after a little wait, they too, were afforded great views of the female Treeswift.

Once again, Cynthia and I moved on, leaving Toto and Dennis behind. This time we tried the new road going to Nasugbu. Here we got our only lifer of the day: A Pygmy Flowerpecker. As its name implies, this is a tiny bird (about 3 inches) but very active. Both male and female foraged in a fruiting tree, continuously making their "tip" "tip" call. Despite our diligent efforts, we only managed to get a few really bad photos of these little dynamos.

We met up with Toto and Dennis again at the gate of the Caylabne resort. Here a Philippine Coucal tried our patience by answering Toto's imitation of its call but frustratingly remaining hidden from view all throughout. Both guys were determined to get a glimpse of this bird and even hoped to see the White-morph version (which we saw here last time), so we bade them goodbye as we began our trip home. On the road down, Cynthia was able to take some shots of a pair Brahminy Kites soaring above us.

Back home, we were glad that we got a lifer and I was personally happy that I was able to make it to Palay-palay on my own. I am now wondering when and where our next birding foray will be. I guess that depends on when it will stop raining.

For other (less rainy?) birding blogs and photographs, please visit:

Palay-palay Away

My cellphone beeped. It was Friday evening. The text message was short: "We're good to go". In my mind I debated whether to bring my long lens and tripod or my walk-about 100-400 zoom. I chose the latter. I didn't sleep well that night - excited that I will be going birding with my buddies. Our destination: Mt. Palay-palay in Cavite.

3:30 am and I was wide awake. I got dressed, prepared my gear and waited. About an hour later I heard a van approaching. It stopped in front of our gate and out jumped fellow birder-photographer Bert Madrigal. After the warm greetings I bade goodbye to my wife, who opted to stay behind. Already inside the van were two more friends, Neon Rosell and Alain del Pascua. And then we were off.

Mt. Palay-palay is not that far from Manila and is a favorite among bird-watchers (and bird photographers) because of its diverse avian population. Dawn had already broken as we slowly drove up the mountain road. Bert stopped the van by the roadside to buy some foodstuff. We took this opportunity to assemble our gears. "Elegant Tit!", Neon announced. My ears perked. "Where?", I asked. "I can hear it", he said. Then, "there, on that tree!" I looked. I saw. I was happy. I got a lifer!

We moved on. "Coucal!" It was Neon again. Bert slammed on the brakes, reversed and stopped. We all crept towards the Philippine Coucal perched on a dead branch just off the road. However, the large bird can only be photographed from one vantage point. A small patch surrounded by grass as tall as us bordered by a deep ravine. We took turns taking pictures of the coucal until our shoes and our pants from the knees down were soaked from the morning dew.

Further up the road as we rounded a turn we came upon a tree where about half a dozen Glossy Starlings were perched near the tree top. Below was a pair of Whiskered Treeswifts hawking for insects. But they were too far off to be photographed so we just moved on.

It wasn't long before Neon again shouted, "Coucal!" This time Bert slowly eased the van to a quiet stop. As we stepped out of the van our eyes and cameras were treated to a display of an insouciant bird basking in the morning sun. This time we had our fill.

We continued up the mountain road. Another turn and Bert once again braked suddenly. A Crested Serpent Eagle was perched at eye level! Being the one closest to the raptor I was able to fire off a couple of shots before it flew away. And before Bert, Neon and Alain could even lift up their cameras. That was my 2nd lifer!

By midmorning the birds became a bit sparse. Except for a few Brahminy Kites soaring overhead and some Philippine Falconets and White-breasted Wood Swallows perched on electrical wires. At the end of the road and the entrance to the pricey Caylabne Resort, we were all startled to see a white-morph coucal fly across the street. We spent almost an hour stalking the uncommon coucal and failing miserably. We tried imitating its call to lure it out. That didn't work. We surrounded the area where we saw it land and tried to flush it. That didn't work either. We finally gave up.

On the return trip we once again stopped at the place where we saw the starlings and the treeswifts before. To our delight, the treeswifts (at least one of them) was now perched closer to the road. All four us pointed our cameras at the lovely bird and were shooting to our hearts content. Then it rained. We barely made it inside the van when a torrential downpour was dumped from the skies.

Thus endeth our morning foray at Mt Palay-palay.

For other birding blogs and photos please visit: