As Munias You Can See

Finally recovering from the adrenalin rush better known as the Dumaguete trip, Cynthia and I inserted a birding trip in between typhoons.


Our friend Boboy Francisco took us inside the Beverly Hills subdivision in Antipolo and acted as our birding guide. Gray skies and an abbreviated sortie did not yield the species we hoped to find.


We started off by meeting Henry Calilung, a biologist from the University of the Philippines and his band of young volunteers, including Boboy's daughter, Moira. Henry and company were doing a monthly mist netting of the birds found in the subdivision for census and DNA analysis purposes. They haven't caught anything yet when we met them early that morning but when we saw them again after our birding sortie, he informed me that they just caught a Mangrove Blue Flycatcher.


Birding the forested areas of Beverly Hills yielded nothing much except Brown Shrikes which can be seen every 500 meters or so. Every so often we would catch glimpses of a large brown birds - at different places. We presumed them to be cuckoos of some sort. One of those was a bigger than most skulker which Boboy concluded to be a Scale-feathered Malkoha. Too bad it didn't show itself even when we waited patiently and motionlessly for a good 15 minutes.


What was rather common were the munias. They were just everywhere! The Scaly-breasteds were feasting on the fruiting grass stalks while the White-bellieds were surprisingly up in the trees. 

A puzzle was an active brownish olive bird which was busily hunting for insects. For now, I would say that it was an Arctic Warbler although I hope that it would be one of those less common species.

Finishing the loop in about two hours, we were all sweating from the humidity and from the strain of walking the undulating roads of this subdivision. We bade Boboy goodbye and assured him that we will be back and try our luck once more. Maybe when the rains finally stopped coming.

Life's Bean Goose To Me

Cynthia and I were so excited because our friend, Ralf Nabong, invited us to join him in looking for a Bean Goose at the Candaba marshes. First of all, the Bean Goose is an extreme rarity. As a matter of fact, this was the first recorded sighting of this species in the country. Secondly, the Candaba marsh is one of the prime birding areas in the Philippines.

Because of such a promising day, we didn't mind waking up at half past three in the morning to meet up with Ralf at his place and be able to leave at 5 am so we can be at the marsh by daybreak.

Call it luck. Call it whatever. But as soon as we entered the marsh, we immediately saw the Bean Goose! At first it was dozing peacefully among the water lilies. However, as soon as we have set-up our cameras, the goose awoke from its slumber and eyed us, not warily, but rather more curiously.


After getting over our initial thrill at photographing this rare bird, we now became aware of the bird activity around us. Striated Grassbirds and Clamorous Reed Warblers were constantly singing paeans to the early morn.




An Arctic Warbler was hunting for food.


A White-browed Crake was gingerly walking on the giant lily pads.


Philippine Ducks did a fly-over.


Later we concentrated on the waders. Purple Herons were flying over their nesting areas constantly while Grey Heron stood motionlessly waiting for some unwary fish to swim by.



Barred Rails were unusually out in the open.


At around 11 am we decided to call it a day. It was one of the most productive half-day's birding we have ever done. Many, many thanks to Ralf for taking us to Candaba.

Now to grab some much needed sleep.




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Tales from the Pit - Episode 3 - A Surge of Birds

My wife accompanied me on my third trip to " the Pit". We came with just a be-thankful-with-what-you-see attitude because in my previous expeditions I have dipped so much I felt like a chip over a salsa.

Almost ten o'clock in the morning and so far we have only seen House Finches, the ubiquitous Black Phoebe (is there a place in California at all where there aren't Black Phoebes?) and what seemed like a Northern Mockingbird atop every tree in the picnic grounds. We meandered southwest to the weedy area close to the lake's edge. It was here that the surge began. Right off we spotted a Blue-gray Gnatcatcher, then another one and another one flitting among the shrubs!


As we descended closer to the lake we noticed a bunch of sparrows flying back and forth from the grassy portion to the nearby willow trees. Chipping Sparrows - at least a dozen of them!

Throw into the mix some White-crowned Sparrows, a few Nutmeg Mannikins and a family of Common Yellowthroats. We stood there for a while as our eyes feasted on the extraordinary quantity of birdlife before us. Such moments like these that we are enveloped in an overwhelming sense of peace and serenity. Somehow the troubles of the world seem to vanish with every soft chirping and faint flutter of wings from the tiny, colorful feathered creatures that shared the morning with us.

Cynthia and I were still talking about the abundance of birdlife we have just seen as we returned to the picnic area when a movement among the sycamore leaves attracted our attention. Eventually the very active bird exposed itself prompting my wife to exclaim, "Black-throated Grey!" As if they were being poured from the skies, Black-throated Grey Warblers were suddenly everywhere! We have not seen this many in one place at any time!


Noontime and bird activity dwindled significantly. Once again, House Finches, Black Phoebes and Northern Mockingbirds dominated the scene. We left "the Pit" thrilled and excited. We were like children just after being at Toys 'R' Us for the first time.

"What a thrill seeing all those birds!", my wife gushed.

"Yeah, but we still dipped on the Brewer's Sparrow," I replied wryly.

"Dipped?", she remarked, "Hey about Mexican for lunch? I know this place where they have this great salsa dips....."

Tales from the Pit - Episode 1: I Love Lucy...

...but Lucy doesn't love me.

Finally, after battling with a cold and coughing for one whole week, I was able to get out and bird last Monday. Peck Road Water Conservation Plant (aka Peck Pit) hosted a few interesting species lately, one of which, the Lucy’s Warbler, would be a lifer for me.

As in many, many times before, I had two “angels” to guide me in finding my target bird. Steve and Becky first showed me another uncommon visitor to the area, the Blackpoll Warbler high up in the sycamores by the picnic area. It was a yearlist bird for me.


We then moved to the northern part of the park and thanks to Steve’s sharp ears, we were able to locate the Lucy’s darting in and out of a willow tree. It was a very active tiny bird, moving incessantly from branch to branch and occasionally flying off to the trees near the water’s edge (and therefore inaccessible) that I wasn’t able to get a single photograph of it. Nonetheless, I was quite happy at seeing another lifer.

Eye Candies

Imagine a parade of gaudy-plumaged birds appearing before your very eyes. Overwhelming your sense of sight to a certain degree of rapturous delight. And you’re not even in the tropics!

The place was Big Morongo Valley where we had an interesting encounter with a hungry Roadrunner and a staring contest with a couple of Long-eared Owl babies. At nearby Covington Park, colorful birds put on a show that made our long trip even more worthwhile.

Hooded Oriole:


Yellow Warbler:


Western Bluebird:


Vermillion Flycatcher:


Western Tanager: