Birding in UP-D: The Coppersmith Barbet

Sometime in June of this year, some WBPP photographers posted photos of a colorful bird found somewhere in the UP Diliman campus.  I immediately asked Prof. Bert Madrigal, Bj Capacite and Alex Ting for directions.  After I got the location, I headed there on June 25th.  This was the day before I was to leave for a business trip to Beijing and my to do list was kilometric.  But I knew that if I wait until I get back (after 6 days), the chance of catching the bird in its nest, was very slim.  So after dropping my son Leon to his school in Katipunan, I headed to UP. I found the place with no difficulty and after about five minutes, Prof. Bert, also arrived.  We did not wait long as the adult bird arrived shortly. It flew away after a few seconds.

After a several minutes, it came back with some food.

And promptly fed its young chick...

After feeding, the adult bird went inside the hole and went back out taking "trash".  This bird is practising 5S!

It would fly away taking the trash with it and come back after a few minutes with food.  In between the trips of "mama" Barbet, the "baby" Barbet would poke it's head out of the hole and curiously look at its surroundings.

The routine was repeated several times.  I wanted a photo showing both the adult and the chick but I could not catch them together.  Soon it was time for me to leave so I gave myself my last five minutes. As I was about to head back to the car, the adult bird showed up once again and fed the chick.  I managed to get just two shots and only one (1) that is sharp.  

note: I do not normally post photos of nesting birds in order to protect the location of the nest.  By now, the chick has already fledged and not in the nest anymore (I checked the nest yesterday).  Incidentally, even if the nest was located on a tree beside a pedestrian pathway, it was photographed from a safe distance.  Photos posted in this blog were cropped and enlarged to show the bird more closely.  

Having gotten the shot that I wanted, I bade goodbye to Prof. Bert and did my errands.  

Coppersmith Barbet, a lifer for me.