as i said previously, adri had not yet seen the white wagtail... and it was just 15 minutes away from my home. he had attempted an entire afternoon stakeout with felix, and they failed miserably, to the great concern of several people who heard about it.
but everyone can relax now, adri (but unfortunately not felix!) has seen the white wagtails of la mesa!
so now adri has all 4 reported wagtails of the philippines on his life list: yellow, grey, forest and white. i do hope i get the forest wagtail on my list soon!
enough said on that.
we saw 3 individual white wagtails. it was a good opportunity for me to improve on my previous photos, and i was able to document the 3 individuals.
white wagtail #1
white wagtail #2
white wagtail #3
and adri was able to get several minutes worth of video, which he put together to make this:
on top of the white wagtails there were also several sandpipers, a very scraggly common kingfisher and a bully little egret who chased all the other little egrets away.
a very bedraggled common king clashed with the collared king more than once!
several common sandpipers wagged their tails too n the spillway
a little egret noisily chased away any other little egret that came to feed on the spillway. such an unpleasant call for such a graceful bird!
despite their common niche, the wagtails seemed to peacefully coexist with the other birds...
a grey wag and a white wag feeding very close to each other
white wagtails 2 & 3 seemed unfazed by the several common sandpipers
i hope these rare migrants stay for the rest of the season & give everyone a chance to enjoy them!