breathing space: balanga

Showing posts with label balanga. Show all posts

Monday, December 26

Back to Balanga!

It was the 7th Ibong Dayo Festival and we were off to Balanga City!

Adri and I were fortunate enough to have had our schedules free to join Balanga in celebrating the return of migratory birds to the city's wetlands. The festival was established a year after the 4th Philippine Bird Festival (2009) hosted by the City of Balanga, and last year, it coincided with the 10th Philippine Bird Festival which returned to Balanga, this time hosted by the entire province of Bataan. This year, the festival won for the 3rd consecutive year an award from the Department of Tourism in recognition of its exceptional efforts as "Best Tourism Event" in the city category, allowing it to rise to the Hall of Fame for awardees.

We volunteered to man the scopes to show students and visitors the birds at the Balanga City Wetland and Nature Park on the shores of Manila Bay. We skipped the parade from the town plaza and headed straight for the park. There we found other WBCP volunteers Patty A., Richard R. and Brian E. already set up at the viewing decks.

The mood at the park was quite festive already, as the early birds (haha) waited for the parade to arrive.

The tide was high and the birds quite a distance away, but it did not stop the enthusiastic festival goers (many of them students) from dropping by the viewing decks to peer through the scopes and our binoculars!

Great Egrets stood in the far shallows, a bright white under the sun.

Black-headed Gulls, Whiskered Terns and Greater Crested Terns perched on the fish pen poles in the distance.

A pair of Collared Kingfishers were a source of great delight, perching on fence netting right next to a larger than life photo-tarpaulin which identified them.

Later the tide began to recede, exposing an expanse of mudflats. The waders came in, flying in large flocks: sandpipers, stints, plovers and more!

Many of the birds were oblivious to the fishermen going about their daily business.

The first time birders were amazed to see clearly some Common Redshanks and Greenshanks feeding on the next beach through the scope.

Unfortunately, some of the mangrove wildlife was not so appreciated, and we saw a poor snake being taken away by some of the maintenance people.

A few Kentish Plovers and Common Sandpipers were foraging just in front of the viewing decks, until they were flushed by some kids enjoying stomping through the wet and sticky mud.

Everyone in the view decks was amused by a little girl who was up to her knees in the mud. One of her playmates, quickly "rescued" her, only to get stuck as well!

Mid-morning and the festival was in full swing, complete with festival dancers and a busy trade fair.

Some kids arrived with a piece of paper they were supposed to fill up with the birds they saw. To say they were competitive would be putting it mildly!

An Osprey was spotted, perched some distance away. It was perched for so long, first eating a fish and later preening, that many of the students were able to see it through the scope and compare it to the illustration in the field guide. Alex L was also a curiosity, taking photos with his huge lens!

The time passed quickly and soon it was lunch time! Where did the morning go?!?

It was time to pack up and go. We met up with the other volunteers and bid goodbye to the wetland park. We were fed (as usual!) a sumptuous meal by our hosts from the local government, and even given delicious ice cream to take home!

How can I not love the City of Balanga? A vibrant city, wonderful people, delicious food and a great wetland park: I keep coming back again and again! I'll be back to catch the spring migration next year!

Thursday, February 5

AWC in Balanga

I was so happy to have had a work meeting scheduled on a Saturday moved a day earlier! It meant I could take part in the AWC (Asian Waterbird Census) at one of my favorite sites: the City of Balanga in Bataan.

Balanga has always been supportive of the AWC and of preserving the wetlands of Manila Bay. It is always a joy to take part in their activities.

This year, I wasn't assigned to my usual site at the Balanga City Wetland and Nature Park but to the private fishponds behind the cemetery at Barangay Puerto Rivas Lote. When our team arrived at the site, it was cool and cloudy. The first few ponds had water in them and we could see several Little Grebes even in the distance.

The next couple of ponds were drained and held hundreds of egrets! Little Egrets, Great Egrets and Intermediate Egrets!

And of course there were also large flocks of Balanga's unofficial mascot: the always elegant Black-winged Stilts.

I was surprised that there weren't too many waders to be counted. Only a few Marsh Sandpipers and Plovers. It was a challenge counting them so far away!

Because of the low count, we were done quite early and so we had time to admire the Whiskered Terns flying around us.

While having our thoughtfully packed breakfast, a flock of Black-winged Stilts flew gracefully into (and later out of) the pond right beside us.

When all the teams assembled at the City Hall, it turned out that the lower count (compared to previous years) was a trend for everyone. The total count was at 12,599 waterbirds for all 4 sites.

Tallying up the counts

It's hard to pinpoint what could have contributed to the lower count. Was it the timing? The tides and fishpond water levels? Was it the weather? Environmental changes? A combination of all of the above? It certainly is difficult to tell.

Still, Balanga always holds impressive numbers and a few surprises for birders who persevere. I am looking forward to many more birding trips to this city by the bay.

Thursday, October 31

low tide at Balanga

With just a few days left to the semester break and hardly any birding done, Adri and I decided to travel up north to Balanga City to check on any interesting waders. We had checked the tides, the peak of high tide was a couple of hours before sunrise and peak of low tide was after lunch. That meant that we didn't have to get up so early which was a big plus!

Upon reaching Balanga we headed straight for the Wetlands Park in Tortugas. To our delight, the fishponds adjacent to the park were had just been harvested and drained! Even if the sun was quite high in the sky already, a quick scan revealed several Kentish plovers still holed up in their little burrows! Were they late risers just like us? I wouldn't blame them, the cool and dry amihan winds are very conducive to oversleeping!

2 versions of the same picture: Kentish Plovers holed up in their shallow burrows

The other fishponds further off were still in the process of being drained, and we could see hundreds of egrets and terns flying around, probably trying to get an easy meal.

Egrets flying around a newly-harvested pond

At the wetlands, a familiar little strip of land (from numerous AWCs- Asian Waterbird Censuses, we had taken a part off previously) was exposed and waders were running around searching for food. Aside from the Kentish plovers, there were Stints, Lesser Sand plovers, Common Greenshank, Common Redshank, Black-winged Stilts, Whiskered Terns, Great-, Intermediate- and Little Egrets. It was such a delight to see them on a non-AWC birding trip!

On the sea wall we spotted a dueling Common Kingfisher and Striated Heron. They chased each other off from two points: the end of the sea wall and a huge driftwood on the beach. What a territorial battle between a David and Goliath!

Striated Heron versus..

a feisty Common Kingfisher

In the meantime, Whiskered Terns, Egrets and Black-winged Stilts kept on flying in from inland and landing on the exposed mudflats offshore. Unfortunately, these mudflats were too far away for any good photographs.

One of several flocks of Black-winged Stilts flying in.

A Great Egret

A Whiskered Tern

Most of the mudflats on the adjacent beach were also still covered by the high tide, and so we decided to check out the fish ponds at nearby Brgy. Lote. We were greeted by another wonderful sight: the fishponds had also been drained and hundreds of egrets, terns and stilts were walking on the expanse of mud!

Several of the Black-winged stilts were feeding near the dirt road, unmindful of our presence. I always enjoy seeing this migrant, which is the flagship migrant species for the City. Stilts are a cross of comical and graceful, as the walk on their unending thin pink-orange legs, gently probing the mud and water with their needle-like beaks. Some of them were so close that I could see their bright red eyes.

A pair of stilts walking in synchronicity

Poster bird of Balanga: a Black-winged Stilt

There were many other waders also. Marsh Sandpipers and Wood Sandpipers walked alongside the stilts. Blending well with the half-dry mud were Little-ringed Plovers and a few Common Sandpipers.

A Marsh Sandpiper up close and personal

Little-ringed Plovers blended well with the background

Marsh Sandpipers and a Black-winged Stilt

A couple of Wood Sandpipers with a Little Ringed Plover in the foreground.

In the harsh light, I spotted a bird which did not look like a wader. It was a wild duck! It was a bit of a distance from us and constantly dipped its head in the water making it difficult to observe well, but it looked like a female Northern Shoveler! It was all by its lonesome and tried as we might, we could not spot any other duck in the area.

A lone wild duck!

In the meantime, in the opposite ponds where there was still a bit of water, I was able to count an astounding 66 Little Grebes on the scope! A waterdance of grebes! Again, it was too bad that they were too far off for photographs. I even spotted a family, with 4 young grebes taking turns riding on the parent's back!

After spending a good part of the morning at the fishponds, we decided to check up again on the tides at wetland park.

A Collared Kingfisher was patrolling the waters from a bamboo stick perch. Behind it, our fears were confirmed. The tide was out, exposing several square meters of mud! This time our problem was compounded. The noontime light was harsher and now, the waders were scattered over a larger area! We contemplated wading in the water to get nearer, but then decided against it.

A Collared Kingfisher on patrol

We walked through some of the mangroves to check out the adjacent beach, but most of the birds were egrets and very few waders. Several Black-winged stilts were flying in, their dark wings and pink legs in contrast to the white egrets.

Little egrets and Great egrets on the beach

And more stilts flying in.

We stayed for several minutes, the tide was turning again, but we decided that we should be on our way. We were content with the large numbers of waders we had seen at our 2 regular AWC sites, this time, we didn't count them though!

A peaceful co-existence

Monday, February 11

the mystery gull and the wild gull chase

it all began when adri and i found ourselves back in the balanga city wetland and nature park, one week after the awc. this time we were with american birder e.m., who was interested in seeing waders in their winter plumage. surprisingly there weren't as many birds as the previous week, but we still had good views of the usual egrets, herons, greenshanks, redshanks, plovers, sandpipers, stints, stilts, terns and gulls. it being a sunday, the park full of people enjoying the ocean breeze and wading in the cool waters (which were unfortunately part of the very polluted manila bay). em was especially delighted to see several locals toting binoculars and cameras, with obvious appreciation for the birds. it was a very relaxing morning, and as we were leaving, we decided to scan the exposed mudflats where various waders, gulls and terns were quickly gathering as the tide continued to rise.

and there it was. a gull which was obviously larger than the hundreds of black-headed gulls. even in the white heat of mid-morning, its grey brown plumage stood out in the sea of the mostly white black-headed gulls.

and adri and i had no idea what it was. we could also make out a black tipped orange-ish bill, and it behaved quite differently. it ran around on the mudflat at the waters edge constantly, very active compared to the black-headed gulls which mostly stood in one place while preening and would fly off after.

might it be a herring gull, em asked. it could, we answered. the kennedy field guide had 3 suggestions: herring gull, slaty-backed gull or black-tailed gull.

at a loss, we took down notes and tried to document the bird. it was too far away for both my short 350mm lens and even for adri's digiscoping set-up. the harsh lighting and strong wind did not help our cause.

the mystery gull: with pictures like these it could be the loch ness monster

that night, adri posted a "possible herring gull" message on the wbcp facebook page, but nothing could be confirmed. black-tailed gull though was looking to be a better candidate, according to more experienced birders.

we didn't think it would generate much interest, but little did we know that 2 wbcp-ers, irene and rob would be back in balanga the next day to try to find the mystery gull.

did they find it? no, but they did find and photograph a beautiful laughing gull, the first record in the country!

now, that picture got several people twitching, and the very next day, i found myself in the company of a group of them: ivan, mel, rob, irene, tonji and sylvia! what the hey, it was still just past january (my personal "waterbird season") so might as well try to pin down the id of sunday's gull, and maybe get a laughing gull lifer! besides, it was a school holiday. adri, unfortunately could not join us as he was off guiding another group.

we all arrived at the wetland park just before the peak of high tide, which again would hopefully gather the birds closer to shore. it was now a weekday, it was virtually empty of people, although the stifling heat and burning sun could have also chased any normal person away.

we scanned the nearby mudflats again looking for any unusual gull. nothing but whiskered terns and black-headed gulls. it was a hard wait under the hot sun. later, a few common terns caught our interest, but still nothing more interesting. we waited in anticipation as the gulls and terns began flying in as the ocean level rose. a couple of great crested terns (i was excited about them the last week though), still not very interesting.

a whiskered tern (left) and a common tern (right):
if only they could always be side by side for size comparison

when it became painfully obvious that neither mystery gull nor laughing gull was there, we decided to move to another baranggay where we could take a bangka out to look around the fishpens. talk about a determined group! somebody likened it to looking for a needle in a haystack.

whiskered terns and black-headed gulls

so we took two small outrigger boats out, and circled the nearby fish cages and even took the boat all the way back to the wetland park. for the next couple of hours: black-headed gull and whiskered tern galore.

a pair of elegant black headed gulls

whiskered terns all in a line

a sand martin, spotted by rob, flying with some swallows over newly planted mangroves was consolation enough.

a sand martin among the swallows

on the way back we did get out of the bangkas one more time to take a look at some fishponds. more waders, but no gulls. and no unusual waders.

assorted waders plus whiskered terns and gulls in the fishponds

oh well, you win some you lose some. we left balanga as the sun was setting. mystery still unsolved.