breathing space: birdwatchers

Showing posts with label birdwatchers. Show all posts

Saturday, March 25

Manila idylls: Terns and Gulls of the Pasig River

Old Manila conjures up images of the walled city of Intramuros - adobe fortifications and cobblestone walks, churches and ruins, bridges over the river Pasig and plazas. But wildlife? Not really on the radar when one thinks of the historical district!

A view of Pasig River with the old Manila Post Office on the right bank
and the Binondo district across.

Last February 26, the Battle of Manila in 1945 was commemorated with an open-to-all festival in the park at Buluarte San Diego organized by Carlos Celdran. Before the party kicked off, the WBCP decided to introduce another side of the city to its residents: birds of course!

Late in the afternoon, we met a small group of mostly first time birders at the Plaza Mexico.

No traffic on Sundays! Facing the Aduana building ruins.

Participants included repeat guided walk participants, urban sketchers, families and barkadas looking to try out birdwatching and curious about the birds of Manila.

Mike and some of our participants.

No worries about spotting birds: the Pasig River was alive with Whiskered Terns and even a few Black-headed Gulls!

Terns perched on the wires crossing the river (Can you spot the gull?)

We spent a lot of time admiring the graceful birds as they skimmed over the dark waters of the Pasig.

Whiskered Terns

Black-headed Gull

While many coastal cities all over the world are plagued by aggressive gulls, the birds here were still wary of people. WBCP-er and Manila-resident Rache G. says that they used to be persecuted by those who lived along the banks, who made them targets for their slingshots and airguns. Thankfully, the recent initiatives to clean up the river side has diminished these threats, and now more of these coastal birds are commonly sighted along the river banks inland.

The Whiskered Terns perched on electric and communications wires were dwarfed by the much larger gulls, and it was amusing to see them give way so their larger neighbor could have some perching space.

In (almost) perfect alignment!

One of the Black-headed Gulls was already approaching full breeding plumage and it actually had a black head! It was an excellent example to explain winter plumage and migration to the bird walk participants.

Black-headed Gull approaching full breeding plumage:
so that's why it's called Black-headed!

Besides the gulls and terns, we were able to spot several other birds. Pacific Swallows, and Glossy Swiftlets glided smoothly over the waters also.

Along the banks were several Little Egrets perched on floating clumps of water hyacinth. On the few trees and electrical posts we spotted Zebra Doves, Asian Glossy Starlings and Yellow-vented Bulbuls.

At the Maestranza ruins, Eurasian Tree Sparrows were enjoying dust baths. A lone Brown Shrike was hunting amongst some bougainvillea bushes. We were surprised when one of the participants pointed out a Java Sparrow in one of the trees!

A lone Java Sparrow int he parking lot.

As sunset approached, we were treated to playful pair of Philippine Pied Fantails and to cap off the birdwalk, a beautiful Common Kingfisher was spotted!

Urban landscapes are more than just buildings and people, more than historic monuments and modern structures. Cities are home to wildlife as well! All we have to do is open our eyes to see our wild urban neighbors whom we share the city with.

After birding: the Transitio Manila party at Buluarte San Diego

Cheers to urban biodiversity!
A cold jar of purple kamote leaf Bayani Brew never tasted so good.

Friday, August 23

back in anvaya - twice!

last year, i began summer with a guided trip for the staff and residents of the anvaya cove beach and nature club. this year, i was back, this time to begin the rainy season with another guided trip!

fortunately, the afternoon showers let up just in time for our afternoon birding. together with adri, anna, jessie and gina, we took a small group on a leisurely guided bird walk around anvaya's great lawn. i was a little apprehensive as i thought that, minus the migrants, there would be less birds than last time. but i was not to worry as even as we were giving our introduction by the pool, there were already brahminy kites flying over plus white-breasted woodswallows, asian glossy starlings, colasisi and crows perched on a nearby mango tree! we even had a philippine duck flying across, seen briefly by those with quick eyes!

we were joined by a varied group: a trio of girlfriends, a family with three kids, parents, nannies and a lola, and some of the activities staff of anvaya.

leisurely birding on the great lawn

we were soon pointing out several birds easily seen around the lawn and ponds fronting the main activities building including yellow-vented bulbuls, chestnut munias, striated grassbirds, black-naped orioles. several glossy swiftlets flying overhead. there were large flocks of lowland white-eyes moved noisily through the trees affording everyone with a chance to see these usually hyperactive birds through their binoculars. the bright blue white collared kingfisher once again brought out exclamations of appreciation from everyone, and the little kids had a small tiff over who would look through the spotting scope first.

chestnut munias are very common in anvaya

philippine pygmy woodpeckers, golden-bellied fly-eaters and a coppersmith barbet provided good examples of distinctive bird calls to demonstrate that bird watching is also bird listening!

golden-bellied flyeaters: noisy but hard to see

as we rounded the lawn to the start of our walk, a male pied bushchat perched on a lawn lamp was a good last bird for the day. it was hot and humid so everyone was a bit tired and parched but were all smiles.

all eyes on a male pied bushchat

the next morning as we were leaving our overnight accommodations anna and jessie pointed out a flock of asian glossy starlings just outside our doorstep in a mini-murmuration.

a small flock of asian glossy starlings

as we were saying our thanks and goodbyes to our hosts at the main building, adri and i spotted a southern sunbeam flitting across the sunny path, flashing its orange upperside. how apt, as the staff was also asking about the butterflies at anvaya!

Curetis tagalica showing its plain underside

it was a beautiful and sunny morning as we left anvaya that day.

a beautiful morning at anvaya

who would've thought that just 2 weekends after, adri and i would be back!

this time, it was a more technical activity, as adri was invited by the staff to give a bird photography talk plus a short bird photography walk. we were not so lucky this time as the rain poured hard and long during the scheduled talk! our audience dwindled as most of the guests who had signed up decided to back out because of the rains!

still, we pushed through with the activity. under a small tent which barely protected us from the wind and rain, adri unflinchingly gave his talk. however, we could not ignore getting slowly cold and wet for very long and we finally decide to transfer to the kids playroom!

hard core: bird watching & photography lecture in the pouring rain!

after the talk, the rain had mellowed into a light shower. the overcast skies plus the approaching sunset were not ideal for bird photography. "we are waterproof but our cameras and lenses aren't!" exclaimed one of the participants! so we just birdwatched by the pool area, with a group of huddled white-breasted woodswallows afforded a brief photographic opportunity. we wrapped up the activity with smiles and vow to repeat the activity in better weather.

white-breasted wood-swallows cuddling together: so that's why they're called git-git!

the rains finally let up and as the sun set, the sky blazed a fiery orange, and we contented ourselves with landscape photos.

a blazing sunset at the beach

adri and i had planned for an early start at subic the next day, but it was a beautiful morning with blue skies and the call of the beach was irresistible. we lazed by the beach, myself immersed in a book and adri on the coast chasing a couple of white-phase eastern reef egrets.

a pair of white phase eastern reef egrets

when he came back, he said he had "gifts" for me, and it turned out that he was able to photograph a couple of Papilionidae butterflies puddling on the sand! a green dragontail and a common jay!

a puddling Lamproptera meges - missing its long tail

another puddling butterfly: Graphium doson

more butterflies! maybe next time we can fit in a little butterfly documentation in our schedule!

thanks again to anna g for organizing the our trip and to the anvaya activities staff for their continued promotion of the anvaya bird life!

Monday, July 22

the owls that came to dinner

at the beginning of july i found myself on my favorite birding mountain. it was my long awaited reunion with mt. makiling - i hadn't gone birding its slopes and surrounding fields for more than half a year!

adri and i, joined by alex and tere, had decided to spend the weekend on campus to check out our usual birding sites. after a bit of late morning birding in the botanical garden and afternoon birding at the agricultural fields, we celebrated our reunion with makiling by having our take out dinner al fresco just outside the building where we were staying overnight.

on the menu was food we had brought along as well as food we had bought just outside the gates of the uplb campus: pancit, roast chicken, pork bbq, rice plus some wine, cheese and crackers. we grabbed some plastic chairs and tables from the seminar room and set up our dinner at the end of the driveway, lit by a single yellow lamp. the forest sounds of the night surrounded us, and beyond the driveway, the trees were enveloped in a blanket of inky darkness. above us shone a few stars, a rare sight for a rainy july evening and an occasional commercial plane passed over.

as we were having dinner, we were surprised with a loud hooting! a very special guest had decided to join us for dinner! a quick search with a torch at the leaves of the caimito tree above us quickly revealed our unexpected company: a philippine hawk owl, looking down at us very calmly as we ate our roasted chicken with our fingers.

not wanting to scare away our guest, we hastily turned off the torch and proceeded to eat and exchange stories.

but our guest was not to be ignored! it gave another loud series of hoots as if to say: is your take-out dinner more important than my visit?!?

we trained our lights above us again, and sure enough, even closer, a pair of yellow eyes looked down on us.

not needing to be asked thrice, alex, adri and i all rushed inside the building and ran up to the second floor to our rooms to grab our cameras. upon arriving back at the driveway, it seems we needn't have rushed as the owl was still at the exact same spot.

we clicked away happily. until something else caught the owl's attention and it quietly flew off.

we went back to eating our after dinner cheese and crackers and our guest hung around eating with us. adri and i were awed to see it reach out its talons and grab a big moth in mid flight just behind alex and tere!

every now and then it would call out, just to remind us that it was still somewhere nearby inthe dark. a philippine scops owl let out a loud growl every now and then too, but unlike its cousin, it didn't seem interested in coming to dinner. hmph. mr. sungit forever.

just before we cleared our table, we decided to check in on our dinner companion one last time. he was quite easy to locate perched on the branches regularly calling out. suddenly he dropped his wings and changed his posture. oh no! had we offended our very obliging guest?

a series of hoots nearby answered our question, our guest had invited a friend! it flew in quietly to land beside the first owl, and after some head bumping, looked down at us with huge yellow eyes as well!

usually, it's the food that keeps me a loyal customer of a restaurant. but with dining companions like these, how can i not keep coming back to makiling?

cheers!

Sunday, March 24

grey-faced buzzards on the move

raptorwatch is unlike any other birdwatching activity. it sort of reminds me of the asian waterbird census (i.e. migrants, counting, many birds) but it's a whole different thing too!

"One problem is that hawkwatching requires a different technique from other forms of birdwatching. Most field and woodland birding is stalk and stab. You walk quietly and, when you come upon a bird, snap your binoculars to your eyes for a quick look. The drama is played out in a few moments, and you either get the bird or you don't. Hawkwatching, especially at lookout sites, is more like reeling in a fish. A raptor appears off in the distance, swimming in the sky. You must find the bird in your binocs and hang onto it-- for a long, slow, wrist-trembling, neck-crinking, eye-straining diagnosis. If you're lucky, you may pull in a bird close enough for its field marks to become obvious. More often, the hawk breaks away by dropping below the trees or soaring into the sun."

Jack Connor, The Complete Birder

counting waterbirds is done in january and february, where the migrants are presumably at their peak numbers, gathered at various wetlands feeding. counting migratory raptors is done in march and april, when the normally solitary birds gather together as they move up north. they use rising columns of warm air, called thermals, to help them soar up to higher altitudes without having to spend so much energy flapping their wings. many birds are seen at these thermals, and the flocks are called "kettles".

those dots in the sky are actually raptors riding on a thermal, forming a "kettle"

alex has attempted to find good raptorwatching sites (remember our failed dingalan adventure here?) but so far the most reliable site for raptorwatching so far is in tanay, rizal. the view of the sierra madre mountains stretches out all around, and thermals abound. in the past few years, the club has been lucky enough to have been allowed by pag-asa to use their weather station which has a lovely open air deck on its second floor giving a 360 degree view. this is a far cry from when i first joined the bird club and we would spend mornings and afternoons getting burned by the hot sun in an open grass field by the side of the highway!

the pag-asa station in tanay has become our home base for raptorwatching,
thanks to permission for us to use it

a huge shout out to pag-asa for allowing us to use their deck for raptorwatching!

wbcp raptor-boss alex t. had been counting almost daily the past two weeks. among the first migrants to leave are the grey-faced buzzards, or the tikwi. he had counted almost 10,000 birds heading north the past week, and i decided to join the raptorwatch group on palm sunday to enjoy the awesome sight of raptors spiraling up into the heavens.

the grey-faced buzzards are among the earliest raptors to start migrating north

we arrived at the tanay pag-asa station at nearly 8am, and alex and jelaine immediately took down weather info: wind speed and direction, relative humidity, temperature and cloud cover. and we all settled down and waited. the great thing about raptor watching is that you can talk and laugh (and eat) as much as you want, it really doesn't matter much, if the birds are there, you will see them!

raptorwatchers on the lookout for migrating birds of prey

we didn't have to wait long, and raptor-guru-in-the-making jelaine quickly spotted our first kettle of raptors! the grey-faced buzzards were on the move!

can you spot the kettle of grey-faced buzzards?

here, the grey-faced buzzards spiral upward,
rising with the hot air of the thermal, with barely a wing flap

raptor id can be quite tricky, but with practice, the "jizz"
(general impression, size and shape) will help with pinning down the species

sometimes the raptors soar so high they get lost in the cloud cover!

a couple of hours and several kettles later, the wind picked up and we could see the cloud cover thickening over the northern mountains which we were watching closely. it turned out to be a good thing because the raptors, avoiding the rain, made their way to us and began flying over the station!

when they reach a high enough altitude or lose the thermal, the raptors start streaming. if they lose altitude again they can move on to another thermal and begin to form an new kettle. here the grey-faced buzzards are all streaming in one direction, breaking up the more disorderly kettle.

once in a while, we would spot a different species of raptor, a larger oriental honey-buzzard with its long chicken neck, or a resident philippine serpent eagle with its broad wings curled up at the tips. another resident, a rufous-bellied eagle, would skim the top of the a nearby ridge barely in sight. as the morning progressed to noon, we noticed the grey-faced buzzards were being joined by the much smaller chinese goshawks!

most of the raptors we counted were grey-faced buzzards
but there were other raptor species as well...

an oriental honeybuzzard soaring quite near us at eye level

the oriental honeybuzzard joined by grey-faced buzzards
rising on a thermal on a nearby ridge

another honeybuzzrd being mobbed by a much smaller chinese goshawk

a resident philippine serpent eagle taking advantage of the thermals too

we all stood in awe excitedly, as someone would shout out and describe where to spot the rising raptors over the mountainous horizon.

raptorwatchers watching a kettle rising (on the upper right quadrant of the picture)

raptorwatcher award goes to jelaine:
spotter, records-keeper and environment note-taker!

we finally packed up at 3pm, more than a dozen kettles and 2,370 raptors later! hopefully the raptors we counted make their way up north to taiwan and beyond, and will be back again next season!

the rolling hills and mountains of the sierra madre:
a lovely site for raptorwatching

what a great and leisurely way to spend sunday. birding friends, good conversation, lots of food and many, many (big) birds! until the next raptorwatch!