Rain, Mud, and Birds

Clothes, gear, and food were all set early Friday evening for our trip to Candaba the following day. The Asian Waterbird Census was scheduled for Saturday morning with a number of birders volunteering to count the waterfowl that have made their way to Candaba.

But at 4:21AM, I received a text message from Mike saying that the census was cancelled due to the bad weather and impassable roads going to the site. My heart sank... but only a little. Because I was 100% sure that we would still bird that day -- either in Candaba or some other site.

True enough, when Jops, Jun, and I arrived at the Shell gas station along NLEX, most of the AWC volunteers were there discussing "Plan B." After a while, it was decided that most of us will be checking out Barangay Paralaya, which is all concrete roads (so no danger of the non-4x4 vehicles getting stuck) while Christian in his 4x4 SUV would try to go the usual route through the rice fields all the way to the Mayor's house. They would then inform us whether the roads were passable or not.

So, our convoy drove through rain and dark to Paralaya to find all the fields planted with rice, meaning: no birds. Save for egrets that flew in when the drizzle let up, we saw just a handful of the usual suspects in the area.

Blue-tinted landscape matched the chilly weather in Paralaya.

We contacted Christian's group and they advised us that the roads were passable, muddy but firm. So, we turned our convoy around to drive towards the Mayor's property. We had to take a detour since the shorter route was impassable to vehicles according to the locals. We arrived at the area and found the road's surface slick with mud, but the road itself wasn't mushy and soft. With tires slipping, our convoy managed to navigate all the way to the house.

Slippery and thick mud clung to the tires, and later on to our shoes!

Breathing a sigh of relief that we didn't get stuck, we started to bird. Most of us joined the group to find the warblers that have been recently seen and photographed in the area: Dusky Warbler and Middendorff's Grasshopper Warbler. I was able to see the Dusky Warbler and am very happy I was able to compare it with an Arctic Warbler which was flitting in the same tree. Warbler's are tricky to ID!

Looking for the skulking warblers

Some of us went looking for the Middendorff's Grasshopper Warbler but I wanted to test out the new camera Jops gave me: a kick-ass Canon SX50 HS!!! =) So I stayed in the vicinity of the Mayor's house with some friends and was able to practice with a pretty Common Kingfisher, who very kindly perched quite a while allowing me lots of shots.

Other species seen were Purple Herons standing still among the reeds, the usual colony of roosting Black-crowned Night Herons, Wandering Whistling Ducks that would take flight noisily only to land completely hidden in the grass, lots of Common Moorhens, easily flushed Yellow Bitterns, and plump Purple Swamphens. There were also some Whiskered Terns and Blue-tailed Bee-eaters flying around looking for food.

Towards noon, the skies began to darken again and a soft rain fell prompting us birders to pack up, pose for a quick group pic, and drive home lest we get stuck in the muddy road. Even though there weren't much birds and I didn't get to take as much photos as I wanted, I did get a lifer and some awesome photos of the kingfisher =)

A Couple of Candaba Lifers

Jops and I weren't able to see waders while we were in Taiwan, our trip to the North Coast was cancelled as the migrants have passed through already. So the weekend after we arrived, we texted our friend Jun and the three of us went on a Sunday morning trip to Candaba to check out the waders.

After a few wrong turns, we finally saw the empty rice fields of Barangay Paralaya. At first, the muddy plots of land looked empty but upon closer inspection, we could see stints, plovers and sandpipers aplenty!

There were lots of cute Little Ringed Plovers in the dry mud.

Lots of Long-toed Stints wading in the shallow water.

While scanning the waders, Jops was able to spot a couple of them with distinct bills curved downward. They would probe the water with their bills, sinking them quite deep. Jun, Jops, and I deliberated and suspected them to be Curlew Sandpipers which was later confirmed when we consulted with other birders. We just got an unexpected Candaba lifer!

A pair of Curlew Sandpipers wading the water.

Along with the waders were other grassland birds that would come out from the plants now and then to forage in the open. 

There were LOTS of Buff-banded Rails, some staying out
in the open. We even saw a couple walking beside a cat!

In the corner of the nearest paddy field, a Buff-banded Rail would keep popping out of the vegetation and would be closely followed by a darker rail. We got excited at the possibility of it being a Brown-banded Rail - a bird that would be a lifer for us three. Unfortunately, it turned out the bird was a juvenile Slaty-breasted Rail, still a nice bird to see and observe.

Slaty-breasted Rail (juvenile) coming out of the grass.

When the rail stayed out of view, we turned our attention to the other fields. More and more birds were flying in and it was exciting spotting and identifying them. We saw Marsh Sandpipers, Wood Sandpipers, and Kentish Plovers. Other birds we saw were Yellow Bitterns, Pied Bushchats, and a Common Kingfisher. Jops was at his "spotting best" and saw a snipe in plain view!

We were thrilled to see a snipe out in the open, foraging for food
and preening by the water's edge.

All around us, birds were coming out: White-breasted Waterhens kept crossing the road and Blue-tailed Bee-eaters glided above us calling "Pirik! Pirik!" A flock of Chestnut Munias hopped along the dirt road and tiny Zitting Cisticolas would fly in and land among the tall grass. Lots of egrets also flew in and landed in the pond in front of us and we were able to study the differences between a Great Egret and an Intermediate Egret. In the inner paddy fields, terns flew as a huge white flock and pipits ran around the edge of the road.

Jops was the only one of us diligent enough to count the birds, and his efforts paid off. He spotted a couple of birds in the water, probing the shallows with their long, two-toned beaks. Jun also noticed them earlier and we concentrated our efforts documenting the birds and trying to identify them. Our best guess was that they were Black-tailed Godwits but we needed confirmation. And confirmation we got! After emailing birder friends Desmond and Felix, we got the same ID: Black-tailed Godwits. 

The pair of Black-tailed Godwits.

With two unexpected lifers for me and Jops to add to our list (one for Jun), we drove back to Manila with growling stomachs for a well-deserved lunch. =)