Whimbrel...finally

Two years ago, October 29, 2014, to be exact, I was invited by fellow bird photographerand friend, Prof. Reuel Aguila to do some birding in the Las Pinas-Paranaque Critical Habitat and Ecotourism Area or LPPCHEA. To the non-birders, this is the coastal area along the Coastal Road leading to Cavite and Las Pinas. For reference, here is a map that I copied from Google Maps.

Aerial Map of LLPCHEA. The left "wing" is called Long Island while the right "wing" is Freedom Island. 

Anyway, back to the story.  About a week or so prior to this Oct 29 sortie, another fellow bird photographer friend, Capt. Floyd Bermejo posted a photo of a Whimbrel taken at LPPCHEA.  This bird was the reason I went with Prof. Reuel.  Unfortunately, we didn't see the bird that day.  I can't recall if there were any sightings of it in 2015.  But I don't recall any photos posted on Facebook.  

Fast forward to early September 2016. Another friend Pastor Tony Lim posted a photo of a Whimbrel taken at LPPCHEA on August 29, 2016.  I immediately messaged him asking where in LPPCHEA was he able to photograph said bird. But as (bad)luck would have it, (or perhaps it's fate?), I never got to go to LPPCHEA the whole time I was in Manila. I went back to Coron and stayed for quite sometime and got back only on the 7th of October. I was not hopeful about seeing the Whimbrel anymore (for this year), but I decided to try my luck on the 9th.  My birding companion that day was another birder-friend, Ed Santos.

We got to the site around 6am and proceeded to the end of the abandoned pier area at the end of the center road.  We were greeted by the usual suspects - Collared Kingfishers on the big rocks, Little Heron, Black-crowned Night Heron, Egrets and Whiskered Terns, flying about.  Plus the ever present Eurasian Tree Sparrows, Yellow-vented Bulbuls, and a couple of Brown Shrikes. Here are some of our early captures:

Little or Striated Heron

Immature Rufous Night Heron

After about twenty minutes at the pier and no sign of the Whimbrel, we decided to transfer to the "beach" area to the left of the abandoned pier.  When we got there, we were dismayed at the amount of garbage. We already knew that there was a lot but seeing it up close just disgusts you.

Again, no sign of the target bird.  We did see some juvenile Black-crowned Night Herons on the rocks:

Immature Black-crowned Night Heron

Immature Black-crowned Night Heron showing already the black crown.

And a Grey-tailed Tattler...

Grey-tailed Tattled in a beach full of trash

Another bird scavenging in the trash, a Rock Dove (most likely, a domesticated pigeon)

Rock Dove

And some Sandpipers...

Common Sandpipers flying low over a sea of garbage

A fisherman came in from the sea and I showed him a photo of the Whimbrel on my phone.  He said it frequents the rocks along the shore of Long Island. So after a few more minutes, we decided to use our cars and bird along the road on Long Island. Driving slowly, I saw a Collared Kingfisher on one of the rocks but it flew away as soon as I stopped the car.  Further down the road, we saw a couple of Common Sandpipers on the rocks.

Common Sandpiper

A pair of Common Sandpipers

The area was not that birdy that day.   I had sent a message to another birder-friend, Caloy Pangilinan who was at LPPCHEA earlier in the week, asking for the location of the Whimbrel.  He finally answered that it was in "Stinky Island", referring to the garbage ridden part of Freedom Island.  So off we went to the other "wing".  After parking near the DENR station, I went to the bird watching "hide" in front of Pond 1 and saw a couple of birds hidden in the tall grass.  I took a couple of shots and when enlarged, it showed two Purple Swamphens which was later corrected by Maia Tanedo as a Common Moorhen (it looked purple to me! hehehe).

Common Moorhen

The DENR personnel stationed in the area greeted us and after logging in, I showed the Whimbrel photo to the guys there and they said that it was just there at the beach along Freedom Island flying back and forth.  So off we went to the beach area.   Again we saw the usual suspects. A few minutes later two large brownish birds came flying from our right.  It was only when they were near that I saw the long beak pointing down.  I blurted Whimbrel! But they were gone before we were able to take any shots. So we waited again. 

Ed watched a Little Egret for some time while I got bored so I started fiddling with my tripod.  Soon the Egret started catching something from the sea and in one of its "dips" it caught a fish and the bird sort of juggled it with its beak before swallowing it.  I was not able to capture the special moment because I was fumbling with my tripod and camera. All the while, Ed's shutter was clicking and clacking like a machine gun. Haaaaay....

A Little Egret, juggling the fish in its beak.  Awesome photo by Ed Santos. 

After some time, a lone Whimbrel came flying in.  This time, I was able to get some shots. 

Whimbrel, lifer # 255. 

The Whimbrel landed on a spot on the dirty beach too far for us too shoot.  After several minutes of waiting for it to comeback, I decided to go nearer.   

Me, walking amidst Metro Manila's garbage.  Photo courtesy of Ed Santos.

After walking about fifty meters, the bird flew and landed on a spot nearer to Ed. So I slowly walked back careful not to spook the bird. Stopping every few meters to take shots.  One of the shots showed another bird in the foreground.  It was later ID'ed by birder friends Bob Kaufman and Jose Limbaga as a Terek Sandpiper, another lifer!

Whimbrel with Terek Sandpiper, a bonus lifer!, #256. 

Whimbrel

Whimbrel in flight once again

After sometime, we decided to go to the foresty area near Pond 1.   

An adult Black-crowned Night Heron at Pond 1

After several minutes of not seeing much bird activity in the forested area (save for a couple of Fantails), we decided to call it a day.

A satisfactory morning of birding.

LPPCHEA Revisited

LPPCHEA (Las Pinas-Paranaque Critical Habitat and Ecotourism Area, whew!) or more commonly known to birders as the Coastal Lagoon, was one of the first birding areas, outside of Coron, that I visited when I first became a birder in 2012.  The Philippine Bird Fest, organized annually by WBCP, was held in Manila on December 2012 and among the activities was a visit to the Coastal Lagoon on December 7.  I arrived at approximately 7am for the guided trip and we soon discovered that there were four birder-guides from WBCP and only one guest, (me), prompting, one of them (Christian Perez, if I remember correctly), "great, there are four of us guides, and one guest, who is also a birder".  That trip has been followed by a few other sorties in the following months and as a result, I have a few lifers there. However, sometime in 2013, new rules required that one has to get a permit at the LPPCHEA office in Quezon circle seven days prior to a visit.  So I haven't been there in almost a year.  When fellow birder, Prof. Reuel Aguila, said he is going there on October 29, with a TV crew, I asked to go with him.   

We met at the faculty center in UP Diliman at dawn and soon we were off to LPPCHEA.  After a quick breakfast at a Jollibee, along Macapagal Blvd, we met fellow birder Win Paler at the market area along the Coastal Rd. As expected there were Egrets and Herons in the lagoon beside the market so we took some shots although most of them were quite far.  We took out our gear and started shooting.  As usual, Win's set up generated words of awe and from our non-birder companions (he has an 800mm prime lens attached to a D4 body). And ever the friendly birder, Wins invites everybody to take a look. 

Egrets and a Grey Heron

Egrets

A few Little Egrets ventured near the shore...

Little Egret, foraging near the shore...

After a while we tried some BIF (birds in flight) shots...

A juvenile Black-crowned Night Heron

A Common Kingfisher did a quick fly-by and perched on a banca somewhere to our left but it was quite far and backlit so no good shot presented.

After some time the people from LPPCHEA joined us. And of course, they were all awed and "paid homage" to the 800mm lens (hehehe, sorry couldn't resist, peace, ser Wins).  Then we decided to proceed to LPPCHEA.  We stopped at near the container van turned office at the crossroads between Freedom and Long Islands.  

Walking along the road, I saw Prof Reuel shooting at three Collared Kingfishers perched on a wire.  My real target for the day was a couple of Whimbrels that fellow birder Floyd Pison Bermejo was able to photograph at LPPCHEA a couple of weeks back. So I went towards the shore hoping to catch a glimpse of my target.  No sign of the Whimbrels, but I was able to shoot a Little Egret in flight up close.

Little Egret 

A few minutes later, some Whiskered Terns also came close to where I was... 

Whiskered Tern

We went back to the road and saw a flock of ducks which we later ID'ed as the endemic Philippine Ducks (that a politician up north insisted that they hunted it outside the Philippines...endemic nga di ba)

A flock of Philippine Ducks

We proceeded to the area near the LPPCHEA station.  In one of the ponds, we saw an adult and a juvenile Black-crown Night Heron perched close to each other.

Adult Black-crowned Night Heron

Juvenile Black-crowned Night Heron

Walking along the (dirty) shoreline, we spotted more egrets and terns (but sadly no Whimbrels). We did see a couple of waders.

Common Sandpiper

Asian Golden Plover

We also took sometime photograph the Terns that dove to the sea to catch something to eat.  Below is a photo showing one of the terns just after it emerged from the water.

Whiskered Tern, with its morning meal

After about an hour on the (dirty) beach, we went to the other island of LPPCHEA in search of the Whimbrels (I cannot recall which one is Freedom and which one is Long).  Again, no Whimbrels in sight.  We did find a Grey-tailed Tattler.

Grey-tailed Tattler

I first saw this migratory bird on September 29, 2013 at the reclaimed area in Coron.  A couple of weeks later, I birded in LPPCHEA and saw this bird again on this same area of the coastal lagoon.  It amazes me that these migratory birds fly all the way from Siberia or some place cold and far and end up in the Philippines, sometimes even all the way to New Zealand.

Prof. Reuel and I, with a guide, walked all the way to the end of the island but unfortunately no Whimbrels.  We contented ourselves with more egrets.

Egrets, foraging for food.

Coincidentally, while we were searching for the Whimbrels (in vain!), the guy who was able to photograph them passed by overhead (Capt. Floyd Pison Bermejo is a PAL pilot).  Later that day, he posted this photograph in this timeline and asked if there were birders at LPPCHEA because he saw a black SUV (Wins' car). 

Aerial photo of LPPCHEA, courtesy of Capt. Floyd Pison Bermejo

We met a couple of retired military men, who we found out were with the security company employed by the Indonesian firm Amari (of PEA-Amari fame).  They brought us to the quarters of their people at the edge of the wooded area and talked to us about the many birds in the area.  They also told us we can just go in anytime and just ask for the security chief (he mentioned the name but I could not recall it at the moment).  I sensed some kind of tension between him and the LPPCHEA people.  But maybe, I am mistaken.  (The LPPCHEA people were not with us at that time).  

It soon started to rain so we went back to the DENR area for lunch. We ate a simple but sumptuous lunch of rice, and inihaw na isda and liempo, washed down with ice cold coke.  At around 1:30pm, I bade my companions good bye because I still had to pick up my son. I later found out that as soon as I left, Prof. Reuel was able to photograph a Clamorous Reed Warbler which landed on a branch in front of him.  Such is the nature of birding.  When you leave early, a lifer arrives. 

But birding is never a boring activity.  Even if one does not get his target birds, the trip, the chase, and the company of fellow birders always make it a worthwhile exercise.