Another Unexpected Lifer

After a somewhat hectic and stressful week that included an aborted Tanza sortie, I felt the need to bird.  So I decided to go to Taytay last Sunday afternoon, September 19, (since it was the birding patch nearest to me).  However it was drizzling in San Juan the whole morning.  A message to Cainta residents, Brian Enriquez and Joel Dayao, revealed that it was also raining there.  But Joel kept urging me to go because "mahina lang naman ang ulan".  And by about 1:24pm, he joyously messaged,  "wala nang ulan, dito", followed by, "punta ka ng maaga at baka madilim na by 4pm".  A leisurely late Sunday lunch was hurriedly finished, dishes washed (that's my home chore 😀), dress up, and off I went.  I reached the site at exactly 3:08pm and there was no bird activity for the first half hour except for some Egrets ad Terns on the other side of the field.  But I quietly and patiently sat in my car, waited, and scanned the field as I contemplated the meaning of life, the pandemic, and the uncertain future.  

The first significant capture of the day was a quick fly-by of the Purple Heron.  This occurred about almost an hour after I arrived.  

Purple Heron

This was followed a few minutes later by the appearance of the main target bird.  Still not the shot I am aiming for but still grateful for this shot. 

Black Bittern

Meanwhile, the White-browed Crakes continued to pop out of the vegetation. 

White-browed Crake

Then I saw a bird with a different jizz fly from behind me going towards the field and in a matter of seconds, the same bird was heading back.  It was flying higher than the Herons and Bitterns, and was really just a dark shape.  I aimed as fast as I could and pressed the shutter, getting about five to six backlit and distant shots.  I quickly enlarged the largest of the bunch and immediately I recognized a raptor.  It looked like a Crested Goshawk.  I took a shot of my LCD screen and sent it to a couple of people.  Rob Hutchinson replied that it was a Chinese Sparrowhawk!  Lifer! Another unexpected one!

Chinese Sparrowhawk, Lifer!!!

After the appearance of the Sparrowhawk, the Black-crowned Night Herons came alive.  All of a sudden, several of them were flying about.  Perhaps they sensed the presence of a predator?  One of them even perched on top of one of the concrete posts as if to stand guard.  They were a bit too far for me to get good shots.  In any case I have plenty of good Heron shots.  The crakes were also starting to come out more and nearer to me. A larger bird also popped out of the vegetation.  From the head and the eyes, I knew it was a bittern.  At first, I thought, Yellow Bittern because one just flew by and landed somewhere to my right.  But when its body came out, it was too dark to be the Yellow but too brownish to be the Black Bittern.  That left Cinnamon but it did not seem "reddish" enough. I continued taking shots and had a sudden thought that it might be the rarer Schrenk's Bittern.  I quickly googled images of it and my heart started beating faster again at the possibility of another unexpected lifer.  Took a photo of my LCD and sent it again to Rob.  Who quickly answered back, Cinnamon. Not giving up on a potential lifer and that Rob may be wrong (hey, he is human ✌), I sent it to several others namely Djop Tabaranza, Rommel Cruz, Lisa Paguntalan, Cheta Chua, Anre Kuiz, even Desmond Allen. All of them eventually said Cinnamon. 😟😟😟.  Well Cheta was not sure because he said it was not his expertise.  So Cinnamon it is!

(My almost Schrenk) Cinnamon Bittern

My last shot of my almost lifer 😆

It was getting dark by 5:30pm so I decided to leave, content with the day's catch.  And on a whim, I decided to pass by Megamall to buy cupcakes for Lorna and the kids.  Got home a little after 7pm and had an enjoyable dinner with the family.  Thank you Lord for your blessings!

An Unexpected Lifer

Last Sunday morning, September 11, we went to a birding patch somewhere in Imus, Cavite.  Our target was the Asian Blue Quail (if you go by Desmond's new book) or Blue-breasted Quail (if you follow the older Kennedy guide).  Whatever the name is, birders know what bird I am referring to. Said bird was seen and photographed in this site several months ago.  There were one or two subsequent sightings.  So full of hope, Ed Santos and I met up with Romz Lopez somewhere in Imus.

Upon our arrival, we saw several birds - Cattle Egrets, Brown Shrike, Long-tailed Shrike, Oriental Skylark, Zebra Dove, and Spotted Dove. One bird sprung out of the grass and flew across and around us.  I was able to let out one burst of maybe five to six shots and got two decent ones.

Snipe

Looking at the LCD screen of my camera, I knew away that it was a Snipe.  But knowing how difficult it is to correctly identify a Snipe, I mentally filed it as another "Snipe sp" entry.

We continued to wait.  Romz said he could hear our target bird making a call.  And it did make a couple of appearances but true to its nature, it was very difficult to get a decent photo.  Sharing two of my better shots.  These are severely cropped, enlarged, denoised, and sharpened. And still, one can hardly distinguish the bird.  Romz, who was nearer and has sharper eyes, said it was the male.  Birder friend Conrad Olayres is disputing its gender because not much blue is visible.  In any case, I am not yet including this in my Life List, although technically, I already could (some even list with just hearing the call).  So the search for the Blue Quail continues...

Blurry image of what we believe is the Blue-breasted Quail

The unexpected twist to this story happened when I sent my photo of the flying Snipe to Rob Hutchinson for ID.  I was expecting that he would say that it was difficult to ID without having the bird in hand.  I sent it late last night and didn't read his reply until this morning. Needless to say, I was pleasantly surprised when he said that said bird is a Common Snipe.  Lifer 9 for 2021; #321 for the Philippine List and #461 over-all.  Yay!!!

 

Bitter(n) no more

There are three somewhat common bitterns found in the Philippines - Yellow, Cinnamon, and Black. There are others, such as the Schrenk's Bittern, but this is more rare. Of the first three, the last is the most elusive.  I have previously seen it in different locations but no decent photos. I even went to the Total Station along NLEX twice just to be able to get a photo of this bird.  But each try always ends in bitterness (pun intended).  So when several birders started posting photos of the Black Bittern taken somewhere in Taytay, Rizal, (which is only 30 minutes from where I live), it was something worth checking.  But our friend delta started running amuck so I postponed it.  Finally got the courage to go this morning.  Fellow WBPP member Eugene Garme (Ugin Bxu in FB), offered to meet me at Tropical Hut at 6:30am.

I left the house before 6am and stopped by a gas station along Ortigas.  After refueling, my car won't start. Fortunately there was a mechanic who was able to help me fix it.  However, it caused about a 10-15 minute delay.  Then waze sent me to another Tropical Hut.  So I had to call Eugene for directions.  Finally found him a little 7am.  We convoyed and arrived at the site a little before 8am.  After the usual greetings punctuated by a fist bump, we went to the road side area and waited for our target bird. We of course observed proper health protocols including social distancing or what Loel Lamela calls "galit-galit" birding.  After about forty minutes, our target bird appeared. 

Here ate three of the images that I was able to create.

Black Bittern

Ever the greedy birder, I am planning to go back to get more and better shots.  Hopefully soon 😄

Other birds seen were: Yellow Bittern, Cinnamon Bittern, Little Egret, White-browed Crake, Brown Shrike, Crested Myna, and the ever present ETS.  

Big thank you to Eugene for taking time to accompany me.