About three weeks ago, a certain Greggy Enriquez posted beautiful photos of a Eurasian Hoopoe in the WBPP page. Though a Hoopoe is not a lifer for me, its being a rare migrant caught my attention (and probably the attention of several other birders. It turned out that Greggy is part of the staff at Epic Park, a rainforest/nature resort in Tanay. Shortly after the posting, my friend Ed Santos, messaged asking if I am interested in birding at Epic. October 10 was set as our Epic day. Our group was composed Ed and Harry Miller in Ed's car (along with a driver) and Homer Pialda and myself in my car. Ed, Homer and I were together in Thailand in 2017 so I was looking forward to this trip. Besides its our first long trip after lockdown.
We met up at McDo along Ortigas extension, had a quick breakfast and was soon on the way. We arrived at Epic in due time and after the logging in and a quick briefing, we were endorsed to the resort's bird guide. The we started to walk, and walk, and walk. At first it was downhill then it leveled then it became rolling. Pretty soon we were all huffing and puffing (hey, it's our first major birding since March :-))
There were a number of birds in the area - we saw Tarictic Hornbills, Philippine Cuckoo Dove, Philippine Hanging Parrot, Coppersmith Barbet, Brown-breasted Kingfisher, Whiskered Tree Swift, and of course, the Yellow-vented Bulbul, to name a few. These birds were all a bit far and most of my shots were the documentary kind. I do not know if I was out of practice or if I got used to shooting birds from a short distance (like within our yard) but I only have two birds worth sharing. However, I am quite happy with them. The first is the Red-keeled Flowerpecker which was not even on our list of targets for the day. But this bird has been on my photo bucket list for some time. To be able to get close captures is always a joy.
