Unexpected Lifers: Not one but two

As I have previously written in this space, we went to Infanta last July 10 to shoot the Luzon Scops Owl chick and the Yellow-breasted Fruit Dove.  While waiting for the parent owl to show up, a mixed flock arrived and I started shooting these busy little birds.  It was composed of the usual Infanta suspects - Elegant Tit, Sulphur-billed Nuthatch, Blue-headed Fantail, Citrine Canary Flycatcher, and Philippine Bulbul. At least that's what I thought until I started going over the photos one by one last July 17 and came across the photo below, which I thought was a Philippine Bulbul. I was in my mancave in our basement and my guidebooks were in our bedroom two floors up.  Not wanting to run upstairs, I used my phone to take a photo of my computer screen and sent it to Loel Lamela, Cheta Chua, and Djop Tabaranza.  All three replied within a few minutes to say that it was a Black-crowned Babbler with Cheta saying it looked like a juvenile.  

Black-crowned Babbler, Lifer # 7 for 2021; #457 overall

Two days later, July 19, while still basking in my unexpected lifer, I was surprised to see a photo of a Rufous Paradise Flycatcher, posted by Cecil Morella on the Birdwatch Community Facebook page.  Reading through the comments, it seemed that the bird was in LMEP that morning, so I commented "LMEP?" just to make sure. It was Cheta who sent me a PM saying it that said bird was indeed in LMEP that day.  I glanced at my watch thinking if I could still go there.  But it was past 5pm, and raining. 😠😠😠.  This bird belongs to my "Birding Bucket List"  (or Bakit List, as we are fond of saying), and its just here in LMEP!  I couldn't wait!!!!!!

Several minutes later, Ed Santos sent a message about the same bird and we both decided to go the following morning.  After confirming with Ed, I suddenly realized that I had to accompany Lorna, my wife, to the lab for some blood tests the following morning(!).  Needless to say, it was already 10am when I got to LMEP and found Ed Santos, Steve Albano, Loel Lamela, Henrick Tan, and Delio Tolosa waiting for the Rufous Paradise Flycatcher.  They already had photos.  In fact, some other birders had already left.  An Ashy Thrush flew to a nearby tree and they told me there was a Spotted Wood Kingfisher in the area.  Not wanting to be distracted from my potential lifer, I ignored both.  And within a fifteen minutes of my arrival, Ed's new driver, called our attention and we scooted to his location. And just like that, I ticked off another lifer, a big one at that!

Northern Rufous Paradise Flycatcher, Lifer # 8 for 2021; 458 overall

This was among my first three shots of the day and I think it is the best of the lot.  I still have to scour the rest of my photos though.  But, I believe another trip to LMEP is necessary.  After all, it is a rare bird... 😀.

Thank you Lord for these two unexpected Lifers.  And thank you for the fun time with my fellow WBPP mates.  

   

Chasing Lifers: Another Owl...

A couple of weeks ago, Mary, the daughter of Kamote, the Infanta bird guide, messaged me that her father found an owl.  Not knowing what kind of owl and not wanting to waste a trip to Infanta, I replied asking what kind of owl but I never got a reply from her.  Knowing that Loel Lamela, my Team Culion teammate in 2019, frequented Infanta, I messaged him about it.  His reply to me was a shot of his camera LCD screen.  It turned out that he was there at that time shooting said bird.  My heart started beating faster when he said it was a Luzon Scops Owl.  I looked at the Kennedy Guide and Desmond Allen's new book to check if Loel's ID was correct.  To be sure I sent it to Djop Tabaranda and Maia Tanedo.  Djop said it looked like Luzon Scops Owl and not Philippine Scops Owl because of the yellow eyes, but he was not 100% sure.  I sent Loel's photo to Desmond and he said he could not be sure 

It took me another three days (June 29th), before I could find time to go to Infanta. Loel told me to be there by six am or earlier but as (bad) luck would have it, I slept late and woke up almost five am!  As a result I arrived at Kamote's house around 7:30am, was at the site by 7:40, and got my sixth lifer for 2021 before 8am.  Stayed only till 10am and was home before 1pm. If only all sorties could be that easy...

Here are the images I was able to create: 

Luzon Scops Owl, parent. Lifer #6 for 2021; #456 overall

Aside from my lifer, I was also blessed with a photo opportunity for two other birds that I have no decent photos todate - the Tawny Grassbird and the Philippine Fairy Bluebird.

Tawny Grassbird

Philippine Fairy Bluebird

The second sortie

The shot that I was pining for was that of the parent Luzon Scops Owl with its chick.  So being a greedy bird photographer 😁😁😁, I decided to go back eleven days after my first sortie. I had two main targets for this trip, namely, a mother and chick photo of the Luzon Scops Owl (or at least the chick), and the Yellow-breasted Fruit Dove.  The latter is not a lifer anymore, having seen it at Infanta in 2018, but I still did not have a good photo of it.  This was actually my main target for the day. 

Our party included Ed Santos, Steve Albano, Win Paler, and Homer Pialda (who was birding for the first time since our Canarem trip on January 29).  We set out early and hoped to be at the site by 6am or earlier but as the saying goes, all the best laid plans of mice and men often go awry... we got to the owl site past 6:30am.  In any case, I left the group at the owl site and went in search of my main target for the day, the Yellow-breasted Fruit Dove.

I found the fruiting tree described by Loel with almost no difficulty.  As I got out of the car, Adri and Trinket Constantino passed by and we waved at each other and they drove on.  Using my bins, I scanned the tree and I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw my target bird contentedly perched on top of one of the clumps (of berries).  And my camera was still in the car!!!  I slowly and quietly opened the car door and carefully reached for my camera which was on the passenger seat, didn't close the door for fear that it will spook the bird and using my car's hood as support, fired a few bursts as insurance.  Then I went to the back of the car to get my tripod, walked carefully back to the front, set up camera, and fire away.  

Yellow-breasted Fruit Dove

After a few minutes, the bird went inside the tree canopy.  I decided to go back to the owl site where I found the group waiting for the parent to appear.  They all asked me what I was able to photograph.  After seeing my photo of the Fruit Dove, Steve and Wins decided to go and check it out.  Homer had earlier left for Kamote's house and bird there.  Ed opted to stay since he wanted to photograph the parent bird.  Unlike my previous sortie when I did not see the chick at all, this time it was there on full display. Here is one of my shots.

Luzon Scops Owl chick

After about half an hour, I left Ed at the site and went back to the Fruit Dove area.  The bird had appeared while I was gone but it was not visible when I arrived.  Steve went back to the owl site.  Wins then found the Fruit Dove somewhere inside the tree under some leaves.  And with some maneuvering, (which included shooting in the middle of the road),  we were able to get views of its full body. 

Yellow-breasted Fruit Dove

The rest of the day was spent waiting for the owl and going back to check on the dove but since it was raining intermittently, there were not many photo opportunities.  Although at the owl site, a mixed flock featuring the usual suspects would come every now and then. Not even a sumptuous lunch of Ed's magic adobo could bring out the birds. Maybe I should have brought some Dr Pepper in can...hmmmm

It was while having lunch at Hungry Tummy that we bumped into and had a short and pleasant chat with other birders, namely, Trinity Gatuz, Linda Gocon and Bambi Martinez, whom we met for the first time. 

Feeling tired and sleepy, I decided to leave at around 4:10pm.  Homer had left earlier because his son had a meeting while the rest of the group left around 5pm.  I went home happy and contented that I got both my targets for the day despite the rain. However, as with any WBPP sortie, getting the birds is only half the story.  A big part of a successful trip is because of the camaraderie and fellowship that has become a WBPP trademark (including all the jokes and wisecracks 😆😆😆). 

Thank you Lord for another safe and successful birding trip.