Sasmuan's Surprise Spoonbills

I am very grateful to have been given the opportunity to participate in two counts for 2019's Asian Waterbird Census (AWC) in sites I've never been to before. As always, the experience of visiting a new place in the Philippines is unforgettable and will forever be shared with the people alongside me.

The first count I volunteered for gave a surprise sighting that even made it to the front page of the Philippine Daily Inquirer! I've joined in a number of bird counts and surveys of Manila Bay with Arne Jensen, the Records Committee Chair of the Wild Bird Club of the Philippines and an associate expert of Wetlands International but I've never been to the count site I was assigned to last January 12. Djop and I were assigned to join the team of Mads and Lu-Ann Bajarias to count in Sasmuan, Pampanga which included Bangkung Malapad.

Boardwalk entrance of SBMCHEA

Our jump-off point was the fish market in Orani, Bataan so our team of four was already on the road before 3:00AM. We arrived in Orani and was met by Freddy, our boatman for the trip. We wanted to be at Bangkung Malapad by sunrise so we boarded our katig-less banca in the dark and headed off to Manila Bay.

As our surroundings became lighter, we were joined by groups of birds skimming the surface of the water around us. It was a such beautiful dawn!

We were soon approaching the entrance to Bangkung Malapad. Bangkung Malapad, also called the Sasmuan Bangkung Malapad Critical Habitat and Ecotourism Area (SBMCHEA) is a small islet in Manila Bay and boasts of mangrove trees and mudflats where migratory birds can be found.

View from our banca as we approached the entrance to SBMCHEA

Walking through the mangroves to the view deck.

As we got to the viewdeck, we all began setting up: scopes, cameras, food... when I saw three heavy-ish birds flying our direction. My heart skipped a beat when I noticed their distinct heavy bills so when I raised my binoculars to confirm what I thought they were, I couldn't contain my excitement and exclaimed loudly to the group: "Spoonbills!!!" In my excitement at this completely unexpected sighting, I struggled finding the "Black-faced" portion of their name, spinning in place as I forced my brain to cooperate. "Black-faced Spoonbills!" I finally managed to say. I looked at my friends and was even more delighted to know that all of them saw the spoonbills and that they were lifers for Djop and Mads (yay!), and a country lifer for Lu-Ann (yay!)!

The trio of Black-faced Spoonbills flying against the pinkish sky

The spoonbills flew around the view deck a number of times, giving us great views and chances for photographs in our slowly brightening surroundings. We thought (and hoped and prayed) that they would land in the mudflats right in front of us, but sadly they did not and instead flew away behind the mangroves and out of sight.

That's the view deck as photographed from the mudflats

Djop scoping out birds out on the mudflats from the view deck

The spoonbills did not make any more appearances the rest of the day but we did get to see quite a big number of other birds: Black-headed Gulls, Great, Intermediate and Little Egrets, Asian Golden Plovers, Gull-billed Terns, Whiskered Terns of course, and some Caspian Terns. We were soon joined by counters from the DENR, DOT, and WBPP and we scanned and counted the further sides of the mudflats which are covered by the mangroves if you stand on the view deck.

That's Mads and Lu-Ann counting by the mangroves

That's me and Djop counting from the mudflats
Thank you, Lu-Ann for the photo! =)

After we counted the area of birds, we said our goodbyes to the rest of the team, boarded our banca and headed off to our other count spots in the area. Sadly, there weren't much to see in the stops we made save for feeding flocks of Whiskered Terns and egrets. We did pass by a small group of Black-winged Stilts but not much other waders.

We made our way back to Orani, stopping by a large expanse of exposed mudflats which held quite a big number of plovers. The mud was too wet and mushy for us to stand on for better views, so we took note of the site (no longer in Bulacan) and went back to the fish port. We collated our data over lunch and drove back to the city with a total of more than 9,000 birds for our count. The number was quite low but not bad, plus we had a mega record sighting of the Black-faced Spoonbills too! Black-faced Spoonbills are globally endangered and our sighting last January was the first in more than 100 years since it was last recorded in Manila Bay.

With more and more birders looking at the birds in different areas in Manila Bay, hopefully the efforts to protect and conserve it will pay off. And hopefully, with sightings such as the Black-faced Spoonbills among other birds, there is more than enough justification for the protection of the habitat, not only for the birds and other wildlife, but also for humans too.

Happy AWC volunteers! =)

Here's a link to the article Lu-Ann wrote for the Philippine Daily Inquirer and republished in WBCP's eBON.

Twitching Some "Spoons" and "Rubies"

T'was six days before Christmas when our fellow birders Brian E. and Linda G. reported a pair of Black-faced Spoonbills in Candaba, Pampanga. Alas, it was a Thursday and as much as Jops and I wanted to twitch the birds, we had to wait for the weekend to do so. I was very excited to get a chance to see them especially since our birder friend Nilo A. spotted and photographed a single Black-faced Spoonbill in Olango Island in Cebu just a few weeks ago!

Come Saturday, Jops, Jon V., and I headed to Candaba early morning to try our luck with the spoonbills. We made it to the area and immediately saw our birder friends Peter, Tito Bob, and Tita Cynthia. They had spotted the birds and Tito Bob had already gotten a photo! The birds were still there!

Under a pretty Candaba sky, birders old and new, spent part of their
morning birdwatching

We immediately got the scopes out and started scanning the scattered group of egrets, herons, and waders on the ponds in front of us. After a few seconds, Jops said quietly, "I got them on the scope." After he got good views, Jon and I took turns looking at our awesome lifer, making sure to see their black faces and spoon-like bills. Lifer!

We followed the birds as they walked towards the left, then towards the right, busily foraging for food with their heads down. It was challenging enough getting photos with the birds so far away, and their constant movement and foraging made it even more difficult to get a decent picture of their heads!

Here's a shot of the spoonbills preening in between furious foraging

Here's the best shot I got of our awesome lifer!
Grainy, but it shows the features of the bird well enough =)

While trying my luck getting a documentary shot of my awesome lifer, some locals came over curious as to what we were all excited about. Joggers, bikers, and kids, all got to see the pair of Black-faced Spoonbills having breakfast. I guess they didn't realize it, but we tried our best to explain the significance of having the birds in Candaba.

The pair of birds we were looking at were part of the small global population of Black-faced Spoonbills. Listed as endangered, there is an estimated population of more or less 2,000 birds left in the wild. There is a recorded historical population of 10,000 birds but their numbers plunged to 288 individuals in 1988. But with conservation efforts, the population was able to slowly recover to 2,693 birds in 2012.*

After a while, our group decided to move to the area near the Mayor's ponds and try for the Siberian Rubythroat. It would be another lifer for me and Jops, and we were hoping our lucky streak would continue.

The roads to the Mayor's house were dry but there were some portions with very deep potholes. We stopped beside an area with pretty vegetation which also head a small number of waders: Wood Sandpipers, Long-toed Stints, and quite a number of snipes were seen.

Long-toed Stint

We then moved on to the huge pond and saw that it was almost completely covered with vegetation! Lots of Wandering Whistling Ducks could be seen landing on the water and disappearing in the plants. A lot of them were perched out in the open too.

Two very handsome-looking Wandering Whistling Ducks

Jon, Jops, and I pushed forward to the Mayor's house but didn't see the Rubythroat after several tries calling it out from the brush. We got some replies but the bird never came out. We regrouped with Tito Bob and getting a helpful tip from Mike A., we positioned ourselves in the area where they saw it last week. After several attempts at calling the bird out, we heard one answer loud and clear. Jon then saw some movement in the brush and there it was, our second amazing lifer for the day: a gorgeous male Siberian Rubythroat.

At first, it had its back turned to us.
Who would have thought this brown bird would have a ruby-red throat?

We think there were at least two individuals in the area we were in but the birds never came out in the open. We did get good views, obstructed here and there by thin twigs and dried leaves. I didn't get a clear photo but these blurry pictures are enough souvenirs of another memorable lifer.

I am still amazed at this perfectly-named bird!
The red on its throat is a deep ruby shade lined with black.

The white stripes add a different accent to an otherwise
all-brown bird.

The bird would skulk in and out of view, making it very hard to get a photo. I was lucky enough to see it calling half-hidden in the dry brambles at one point before it disappeared quickly from view.

It was midday all too soon and we all had to go. Good byes and Merry Christmases were exchanged and we all drove out of Candaba happy. In the car and over lunch, Jon, Jops, and I were still ecstatic over our successful twitch, overwhelmingly happy that we got to see both the Black-faced Spoonbill and the Siberian Rubythroat in one morning. From the looks of our successful Christmas twitch ticking off the "Spoons" and "Rubies", 2014 is having a pretty good start. =)

* Data from BirdLife International's Fact Sheet about the Black-faced Spoonbill.

Post-script: The sighting of the Spoonbills has been featured in an article in local news!