Breakfast at Baihualing started at the crack of dawn, 5am, which was still dark (and very cold!). The Singaporeans and Chinese guests were always there early because they wanted to be at the hides by 6am. We pinoys would amble in at around 6am (while the Singaporeans are already hurrying out) and have a leisurely breakfast with the usual wisecracks. We would arrive at the hides around 6:45am. Which was alright with us because light was just starting to be good. After having porridge on our first day and noodles on the second day, I was already craving for bread or maybe danggit. But there was no danggit in the mountains of Gaoligong, and the nearest thing to a bread was a white thing that resembled a siopao. It came with filling (like a siopao) or no filling. Ramon Quisumbing had been eating that since day 1 with hard boiled eggs, so I decided to copy him. A siopao bun plus two hard boiled eggs washed down by Old Town 2-in-1 coffee (which I brought), became my breakfast of choice the rest of the mornings.
Siopao bun (without filling) and two hardboiled eggs washed down with coffee.
Our destination for the day was a hide owned by Jeremy Yip's family (one of several). Instead of a number, this one was called Malu (or at least it sounded like that). We were joking that we will probably have a great day because the hide is ''pet-Malu''....
And Malu did not disappoint. I did not get that many lifers from this hide because many of the birds were "repeat" birds. But among all the hides we went to at Baihualing, this was my favorite because the shooting area was the best - good light, good background, nice perches, and the hide was spacious. That we got the whole hide for the whole day also helped.
The lifers from Hide Malu:
Yellow-cheeked Tit
Red-billed Leotrix
Long-tailed Thrush
Fire-tailed Sunbird
Streaked Spider Hunter
Grey Buschat, female
Grey Buschat, male
Blue-fronted Redstart, male - not a lifer because I got the female the day before
Maroon-naped Accentor
Seven lifers was not high per Baihualing standards but in terms of total species, Hide Malu gave us almost as many (36 species) as Hide # 8 (Day 1, which had 37). More importantly, it gave so many beautiful photos. Sharing some of these.
Himalayan Blue Robin, aka Himalayan Blue Tail (female)
Great Barbet
Black-breasted Scimitar Babbler
Himalayan Blue Robin, aka Himalayan Blue Tail (male)
Rusty-capped Fulvetta
Blue-winged Minla
Red-tailed Minla
Chestnut-tailed Minla
Blue-fronted Redstart, male
Golden Bush Robin
Rufous-gorgeted Flycatcher
Rufous-capped Babbler
Rufous-throated Partridge (three of them!)
Oriental White-eye
Grey-winged Blackbird, male
Aside from these, the Thrushes, the Niltavas, Sibias, Barbets, etc., were also present.
Hide Malu was also a lot colder than the three previous hides we went to. Although we were so pre-occupied with the birds that it was already almost noon when I noticed that my heavy coat was still zipped (I usually unzip it when we get to the hides for better mobility) and that I could feel the cold in my toes even if I was wearing two layers of socks.
Needless to say, we were a bunch of happy birders that night.
Some scenes at Hide Malu
When we got back to our hotel, Alex, Keith, and I went up to the roof deck to shoot the surrounding area.
Our dinner that night was a farewell of sorts because Ramon and Keith were leaving the following morning. So after we ate, we signed the big autograph wall and had our group photo taken.
L-R: Atty Ramon Quisumbing, Ben Go, Alex Ting, yours truly, Prof Tirso Paris, Raymond Dan, and Keith Sundiang (aka Shoot Mee).
