When Things Don't Go As Expected

Saturday morning Cynthia and I planned to go birding in Infanta. It's been a while since we've been there so we were expecting to see some species that we have not seen for quite some time. As we approached Baras the skies were dark and looked like it would be raining soon. So we decided to just go to Palo Alto - our usual birding spot in Baras. At the gate, the guard informed us that birdwatching is no longer allowed there. There had been complaints from the local residents he said without specifying what the complaints were about. He was very apologetic about it and requested us to turn around. With that unexpected situation my wife and I both agreed to continue going to Infanta inasmuch as the sun was beginning to peep through the clouds. As we approached the town of Tanay, we were surprised at the long line of vehicles. Was there an accident ahead? was our initial thought. As we inched closer to the front of the line we realized that there was checkpoint and the military was asking the drivers the reason for going to Infanta. Apparently "pleasure trips" were not being allowed to go through. Another unexpected snag to our birding plans. As we drove back I told Cynthia that our only option would be Taytay. 

When we arrived at the usual bird stop in Taytay, we were glad to see fellow bird photographers Mon Quisumbing, Joel Dayao and his wife, Gemma. With them was Bing Santos and her husband Arnel. They were all waiting for the resident Black Bittern to appear. Since the said species was still a no show, my wife and I photographed the birds in the area.

Whiskered Terns, surprisingly, were quite plentiful.

 

There were also some Intermediate Egrets and Little Egrets.

Intermediate Egret

 

Little Egret

 

All of a sudden a Black Bittern did a very short fly by. It disappeared among the tall grass before we could point our cameras at it. Again, we concentrated on the "friendlier" birds. One of which was a White-browed Crake.

 

Another surprise was when a Purple Heron flew over and landed at some distance.

 

We then saw another bird fly at a distance and landed on a banana tree. At first we thought it was our target species but it turned out to be a Yellow Bittern. And we only got a documentary shot at it because it was so far away.

 

Then a single Wandering Whistling Duck flew by but unfortunately we were unable to get a good shot at it.

Around 9:30 am and the hoped for Black Bittern still not appearing, we decided to call it a day. It wasn't that fruitful birding trip since we had some unexpected glitches in our plan but just having the opportunity to be out in fields was refreshing for me and Cynthia.

Bird and Breakfast

February 20, 2021 - My wife and I decided to forgo our usual Saturday birding trip. It's just that we've been to only two places since the start of the pandemic almost one year ago - U.P. Diliman and Baras and so we would just be seeing basically the same birds. In addition there was a typhoon coming and we were worried that we might get caught in the rain. Unfortunately we are unable to go to the other birding places. Because of our age we have to follow certain protocols that are in effect during this pandemic. Also driving long distances has become physically daunting for me.

So this Saturday we both agreed just to have breakfast at one of our favorite restaurants. Cynthia suggested that I bring along my camera just in case we encounter some birds along the way. Good thing I did. We made a stop at the small waterway by the White Plains road where we almost always see a Little Egret. Unfortunately, it wasn't there but when I looked up I saw it perched on a tall tree beside the waterway. Then it flew and in a short while returned to where it perched earlier. That was some sort of routine for this white wader so I positioned myself and waited until it flew back to the tree top to get some BIF (bird in flight) shot. Luckily I did.

From there we drove along Temple Drive. At the bare trees by the roadside, we saw several species basking in the morning sun.

Pied Triller

Olive-backed Sunbird

Coppersmith Barbet

As we passed along Katipunan Road I suggested we pass by the subdivision where we used to live. We added two more species to our list.

Philippine Pied Fantail

Black-naped Oriole

From there we went for our much anticipated breakfast. As expected it was very delicious. To top it off, the cashier and the server remembered us despite the fact that we only visited this place just one time during the pandemic, although as I mentioned earlier, this is one of favorite eateries and we've patronized this place many times before.

After breakfast, we both agreed to pass by the Marikina River to see the Whiskered Terns and maybe a Little Egret or two. The terns were quite plentiful and we were surprised to find a Chinese Egret!

Chinese Egret

Whiskered Tern

Even though it was a short "urban" birding foray we had fun and we did see quite a number of birds. Not to mention a very sumptuous breakfast.

Candaback

After a rather long hiatus from  birding, my wife and I decided to return to our hobby. The place we agreed to go back to was the Candaba wetlands. The last time we visited this place was in early January of this year. We were disappointed that time having photographed a total of only 13 species. We hoped we would be luckier this time.

The very first bird we encountered was the Purple Heron. As it turned out this would be the bird of the day - having encountered it at different places.

As I negotiated the challenging deeply rutted dirt road, we were frustrated by surprising skittishnesss of both the Zebra Doves and Red Turtledoves. We would see them feeding on the grounds ahead of us but everytime we stopped to take their photos they would fly away. And this happened a lot of times! Rather surprising because in our previous trips here both species would remain on the ground unperturbed by our presence.

At least one of their cousins, a Spotted Dove, posed long enough for us to be able to take a shot at it.

The area near the entrance was a fallowed farmland and completely devoid of avian population. As we neared the "wetlands" the Whiskered Terns were as usual flying around. Again, we only saw a few individuals where there used to be hundreds of them before.

Good thing a family of Common Moorhens were out searching for food.

We also encountered three species of bitterns but only managed to get photos of two: the Cinnamon and the Yellow. The Black Bittern made a quick flyby, landed on a clump of tall grass and completely disappeared from view.

Cinnamon Bittern

Yellow Bittern

A White-breasted Waterhen walked across the road and stopped just before going in the shrub.

A little further up the road, Cynthia noticed some movement by the tall grass. "Coucal!" she said softly. Unfortunately, the large bird skulked behind the reeds and never showed itself in full view.

As we approached the pond which was now almost dry, we were glad to see several members of the Ardeidae family: the Cattle Egret, Little Egret, and Intermediate Egret. 

Cattle Egret

Little Egret

Intermediate Egret

Since there wasn't that much water the colony of Black-crowned Night Herons was no longer there. Actually we were surprised when we saw one juvenile fly over.

When we were just about to get to the "mayor's house" I noticed that the ruts on the road was definitely not accessible, especially since our car isn't a 4-wheel drive. So we thought it prudent to just turn around.

At the provincial road, we got photos (and not so good ones even) of two of four regulars usually seen here: the Striated Grassbird and the Long-tailed Shrike. Unlike before, the Pied Bush Chat and Chestnut Munias were too far off for us to even get a decent shot.

Striated Grassbird

Long-tailed Shrike

After about 3 hours we decided to call it a day. A few meters down the road I saw some waders in the shallow waters. Let me just say that we got some bonus albeit all photos were only of the "documentary" type inasmuch as our subjects were too far off from the roadside. At least we know that some migrants such as the Marsh Sandpiper, Wood Sandpiper, Black-winged Stilt, Long-toed Stint and even a Little Ringed Plover still come to this place.

Marsh Sanpiper

Wood Sandpiper

Black-winged Stilt

Long-toed Stint

Although we got better results now than we had early this year, it was still heartbreaking that the number of species and the quantity of birds had declined sharply this year.

From our home to this place took us about an hour-and-a-half when we left at around 4:30 in the morning. The return home took almost five hours as we had to endured the horrendous traffic situation in MetroManila, particularly along EDSA. It was such a traumatic experience that we probably would never come back to Candaba again.

The Coast of Living

The LPPCHEA (Las Pinas Paranaque Critical Habitat and Ecotourism Area) is one of the few birding areas in MetroManila. There, the presence of shorebirds despite the trashy coastline, is just incredible. 

It was a beautiful sunny morning when we got there Thursday. Right off the bat we got really good photos of the Striated Heron - a species we haven't seen for quite some time. This was so obliging that I got close enough shots.

Not too far from where it was, a Common Kingfisher was being bullied by its bigger cousin, the Collared Kingfisher. My photo, therefore, was taken from a distance.

As we walked along the debris-filled coast, we saw some Black-winged Stilts, a species we didn't see the last time we were here in October last year.

Another species we didn't see last year but quite plentiful now is the Common Greenshank. As a matter of fact they were the most in numbers this time.

Surprisingly, the Common Redshanks were very few.

Of course, Whiskered Terns were always there hunting for fish. It was our favorite BIF (bird in flight) subject.

The egrets were not as many as last time. We only saw the Little Egrets.

It was when we were about to leave that the Common Sandpiper finally showed up.

And, naturally I had to do the obligatory shot of the ubiquitous Brown Shrike.

At the small pond near the entrance to Freedom Island, we saw a commotion. It turned out to be a Yellow Bittern having a territorial dispute with the Striated Heron.

A short drive by the shore gave us open views of the Collared Kingfisher.

At around 10 am we called it a day. Despite the short birding we did, we were glad to have seen a good number of birds living at, and seemingly enjoying, the coast - trash notwithstanding.

Trash Birds

In the birding community the term "trash bird" refers to a species that is so common to the point that they are sometimes just tolerated as unavoidable but necessary. Like trash. Oftentimes they are simply ignored by birdwatchers and bird photographers.

Our recent trip to the Las Pinas-Paranaque Critical Habitat and Ecotourism Area (LPPCHEA) gave that term a new meaning. It became more literal. We were amazed as to how birds could thrive in an environment that is full of garbage.

Here are a couple of examples: Apparently both species were getting food amongst the debris. We saw them foraging and pecking at places where the soil was covered with plastics, shoes, backpacks and other stuff of every imaginable kind. It was such that both brown birds were difficult to see much less photograph. When I saw a bird I would describe its location to our friend, Peter, like, "it's in front of that pink plastic bag" or "it's right beside the red bag of chips".

The resident Common Sandpiper was so "at home" and was obviously unmindful of its messy surroundings.

The cute migrant Pacific Golden Plover, however, looked so out of place here. It was like a lovely girl model posing beside a trash bin.

Thankfully, some species knew how to avoid the trashy areas. Like the Grey-tailed Tattler.

Understandably with the kingfishers because their prey were in the waters anyway and not on the shoreline.

Collared Kingfisher 

Common Kingfisher

Before we encountered the trash birds we were awed at the number of Egrets and Whiskered Terns. These birds provided an opportunity for us to practice our BIF (birds in flight) shots.

Black-crowned Night Heron

Little Egret

Whiskered Tern

Our hoped for encounter with the Whimbrel never materialized so after several hours of patiently waiting for it to appear we decided to call it a day.