breathing space: antipolo

Showing posts with label antipolo. Show all posts

Sunday, January 22

A day in Rizal

A morning in Antipolo...

Midway through December last year, Adri and I took a short trip east of Manila to Rizal to visit our friend with a lovely home and garden, teacher Emma. It is always a delightful visit, to sit down with her over a leisurely breakfast and talk about this and that in the world while surrounded by greenery and beautiful things.

Before leaving (our morning visit had lasted until noon - as good conversation always makes us lose track of the time), we took a short walk down her street and came across a few birds.

A Philippine Pygmy Woodpecker was keeping busy up a huge rain tree, together with several Lowland White Eyes, a migrant Arctic Warbler, a few Gerygones and a pair of Pied Fantails.

Further down, we spotted a White-throated Kingfisher and a few Philippine Bulbuls. A Grey backed Tailorbird called loudly from the tangle of vines and bamboo while an invisible Mangrove Blue Flycatcher sang melodiously. Above us a Philippine Serpent Eagle circled twice before gliding gracefully over the hill.

Back at the gate of the house, Yellow-vented Bulbuls and Red-keeled Flowerpeckers were gorging on the the bubbly white fruit of a small tree.

I've seen this tree in thickets here and there but never found out what it was. I asked help online and one of the suggestions was Dalunot, Pipturus arborescens.

Found this botanical print from Fr. Blanco online
at eol.org/data_objects/32359676

What I always thought of as its flowers, were actually its fruit! The small, soft, white and fleshy fruit looked to me like thick soapy foam bubbles and the birds love it!

The red-keeled flowerpecker we were busy observing was no exception. I was happy to find out that it was a native plant. (Please do correct me if the identification is wrong!)

Right above us a Philippine Coucal was skulking in the thick vines. How wonderful to be in a place where the birds do not seem so afraid of humans!

On to Angono...

Since we were already in Rizal and we had the whole day free, we decided to drive further and check on the family of Philippine Eagle Owls at the Angono Petroglyphs.

When we got there, we were delighted to here the news from the curator Roden that the young owl had just fledged that morning! We quickly spotted him quietly perched in front of the cave wall.

Higher up above the cave was mom, carefully hidden but keeping an eye out.

And even further out was dad, also well hidden but still in view.

We spent a good hour on the viewing platform for the petroglyphs chatting with Roden talking about the owls, the museum, and of course, the state of the nation. Such serious topics! All the while a pair of tiny Scaly-breasted Munias were busy with their nest just above the cave.

Life seems so fleeting when standing before a centuries-old testament to history.

Thursday, April 4

a garden by the stream and a green-eyed butterfly

it turned out to be another bird turned butte trip. maybe because it was butterfly lady/guru lydia who arranged the outing!

it was supposed to be a casual affair, we had been invited by teacher emma to visit her home & garden at a residential area just on the outskirts of metro manila. adri & i had heard of the place before, although we had never been, as there was a school there which actively exposed their students to nature through various activities including birdwatching. a small stream ran thru the subdivision, and it became the school-wide base for lessons in natural history.

as we entered the gate, we were greeted by a beautiful garden which complemented the natural rolling landscape. a little green chirping frog sitting on a lily pad on the pond welcomed us.

that same stream championed by the school flowed beside the property of teacher emma, providing the soothing sound of gurgling water coupled with the creaking of bamboo stems swaying in the wind. bird calls filled the air as we sat down to exchange stories with teacher emma and teacher henry (who heads the school projects centered around the conservation of the river ecosystem) over breakfast. teacher emma's dining area was surrounded by huge open bay windows which made the inside feel like the outside.

later, we took a walk around the property and went down to the stream. on our walk, we spotted several birds including yellow-vented and philippine bulbuls, red-keeled flowerpeckers, elegant tits, grey-backed tailorbirds, pied fantails, oriental magpie robins, brown shrikes, black-naped orioles and a white-throated kingfisher.

a barred rail quickly ran up stream's bank upon sighting us. as we sat down on the dry rocks on the stream bed, a grey wagtail moved in the vegetation several meters downstream and an indigo-banded kingfisher zipped between us.

despite the abundance of birds, opportunities to photograph birds were very limited for that morning, but the more delicate winged creatures made up for that. in fact, lycaenids were very common, flitting about like lights opening and closing as their undersides peeked through. we were able to document at least four species, and this thrilled both lydia and myself as we were bid fans of this family of lepidopterans.

one butterfly decided lydia's skin was a salty treat.

little lycaenids tinier than my small fingers' nail flew around the grass at our feet.

another species was busy drinking up salts and minerals from dried leaves and the wet ground by the stream...

... and was even caught in the act of starting a new generation.

the most interesting one was a pale grey lycaenid with beautiful celadon green eyes! at least 2 individuals posed quite politely, and we were able to get excellent documentation.

there were other butterflies as well, although most of the larger ones flew about actively in the heat of the day, refusing to perch.

a common leopard (Phalantha phalantha phalantha -love its scientific name!) finally perched on a bougainvillea leaf, although quite a distance from me.

as we were leaving, a mapwing suddenly appeared and we quickly retrieved our cameras for a shot,

and an Ypthima sp. satyrid perched nearby to show us its owl eyes on both the upper- and under-side.

as the morning progressed, we moved back indoors and drank super refreshing iced tamarind juice as more stories were exchanged. when it was finally time to go, we said our long goodbyes, hesitant to leave such a lovely place. much thanks for the hospitality shown to us by our (just as lovely) host.

Thursday, June 9

metro manila: the big picture

it's been a VERY, very busy summer for me!

my summer teaching load was quite heavy, with more than a hundred students from 2 classes, so this summer has barely provided me with breathing space. i did go to pinatubo at last, and had a short trip to subic (more on that in later posts... hopefully!).

after summer classes ended, it was right on to the second quarter of my biosafety course. it was a full 10 days for our class, working right through sunday and travelling all around manila for various lab visits. luckily, we were housed at the very scenic and relaxing eugenio lopez center in antipolo. everyday we were treated to a wonderful view of the entire metro manila... from laguna bay across to manila bay!

on good days we would see the changing weather across the metro, observing that it was raining in quezon city but sunny and bright in alabang! on some days it would be rainy in antipolo and our visibility was reduced to zero!

seeing metro manila daily from a distance reminded me that i live almost everyday under a grey cloud of smog which envelopes the metro like a heavy, sticky shroud. early in the morning, the highrises of ortigas, makati and alabang would hardly be visible under the smog, becoming clearer as the day progressed and the smog lifted and swept away. i say ALMOST everyday, because last sunday we were greeted at lunch time with a wonderful view of a smog free metro manila: its buildings bright and clear against a blue sky.

the difference? i guess sunday means less vehicular traffic meaning less pollution! it was a beautiful, beautiful sight!

i suppose we must count ourselves lucky that our landscape is relatively flat and winds can easily blow away the smoky and dusty air. it gives me hope also, that, with change (& this applies to me too!), we can live in a clean city!

as dusk falls, the twinkling lights of the city turn on and the pollution is hidden in the darkness of the night.

stepping back and looking at the "big picture" can definitely provide views and insight which one cannot see when one is right smack in the middle of everything.

Monday, March 5

butterflies... and birds... and bugs.

Lydia arranged the very first butterfly watching activity for Paroparozzi (paro-parozzi@yahoogroups.com) last Saturday at Boso-boso, Antipolo. Armed with cameras of all sorts (and binoculars), bird watchers became bug watchers. Of course there was no lack for food and drink. I'm sure we could have stayed overnight and not gone hungry!

It's great to be in the company of people who enjoy natural history! I know it isn't for everyone to spend hours on end watching insects and birds... sitting motionless or crawling on grass or perched in some precarious position. How I wish I could have such focus and patience for all other aspects of my life!

Boso-boso Paro-parozzi (starting from left, standing): Alex L., Alex T., Mae, Adri, Wency, Tina M., Felix, Tina A., Anna, Tere, me!, Ixi, Lydia (not in photo: Orly)

Haha, I hope Lydia won't mind my saying but the highlight of the trip for me was seeing a pair of grey-backed tailorbirds hopping around a bamboo thicket! Not a lifer for me, but a great view of a hard to spot bird. (The highlight could have been a shot of the tiger-patterned lycaenid which I have tried to photograph twice before: in Boso-boso and in Caylabne. I got the picture, unfortunately, the lighting was all wrong).

Strangely, the activity was pretty draining and at the end of the day I was so tired I could hardly keep my eyes open. It could've been the weather, it was quite humid. Signs of summer fast approaching.

See my pictures at: http://katrinket.multiply.com/photos/album/7