Hopeful for Candaba

It was a great morning to go birding. The skies were clear, the sun was up, and a cool breeze was blowing. All that was lacking were the birds.

The Mayor's pond still housed a number of bird species but the vegetation
was so thick, it was almost impossible to see most of the birds

January is Asian Waterbird Census "season" and I was happy that Djop and I were able to volunteer again for this year's Candaba count. The AWC in Candaba last year yielded a total of 6,466 waterbirds counted but things were looking a bit gloomy for the site for the 2018 count. Recent reports from fellow birders described the place as being overgrown, with many parts converted to rice fields which meant birds were few. I personally braced for a dismal count... and that was what we got.

Find the ducks!
This was the most open patch of water in the pond that we spotted that morning

The 2018 AWC in Candaba had a total of 1,449 waterbirds counted, the largest numbers of which were the Black-crowned Night Herons (259) followed by the Purple Herons (226.) The sad numbers of ducks and even species of ducks seen, I guess, are the best evidence of how the place has turned for the worst.

The Black-crowned Herons were one of the most visible birds in the
Mayor's pond that morning

Can you imagine only  120 Garganeys, 40 Northern Shovelers, 12 Wandering Whistling Ducks, 54 Philippine Ducks, and only 1 female Northern Pintail counted? Even the plovers and sandpipers were in very low numbers, the total population counted for that morning not even going over a hundred.

Candaba "bird-scape" January 2018:
A far cry from the hundreds (even thousands!) of ducks
that used to take flight over the Mayor's pond

A lone Wandering Whistling Duck settled in an open spot of water,
the rest were hidden in the vegetation

Our team scanned and scanned for any more birds that could be seen and
counted for the census

I could go on and on about how bad the situation is in Candaba now, especially since I've seen it in better, more birdy-er days BUT it's a new year! And as I spoke briefly to former Candaba Mayor Gerry Pelayo, I saw a faint glimmer of hope and I think things may be looking up for Candaba. It's going to take careful planning, close coordination, and consistent implementation, but the wheels are in place and are ready to start turning, MAYBE there is real hope for Candaba's ecosystem to be restored to it's former health and beauty. We have to wait and see and hope for the best. 

Counting Non-Ducks

The dates for the 2017 Asian Waterbird Census (AWC) were up on the Wild Bird Club of the Philippines e-group and I found just one schedule that I was free to volunteer for: Candaba. I haven't been back to the site since I twitched the Falcated Duck and Baikal Teal last January 2016! Yes, one whole year ago!!! I signed up and was raring to go and count hundreds of birds in the marshland.

I've read the reports of birders who have visited the site last December saying that the ponds were overgrown and you couldn't see the ducks. I was hoping it wasn't THAT bad, but sadly, it was. Here are some photos I took over the years of the Candaba landscape to give you an idea of how much it has changed...

This photo was taken in January 2012

Mayor's pond in January 2015

And this is mostly what the area looks like now...

January 2017 - This used to be the pond behind the Mayor's house
(see the "tower" on the right side of the photo)

The big pond is now choked with vegetation and the surrounding areas converted to rice fields. I looked around at the count site and was saddened by how much it has changed. But, we had a job to do and so we got right down to it. But not before we got distracted by an Eastern Marsh Harrier patrolling the big pond.

Eastern Marsh Harrier (and Purple Swamphen?)

We made our groupings and assigned areas to each group and went our separate ways. The WBCP volunteers were joined by DENR personnel and LGU representatives.

Bob taking the lead before we headed to our different areas =)

I was grouped with Art, Riza, and Patty and we were joined by Ian from DENR. We drove to the back ponds and started scanning our area. There weren't really much birds since the land had been planted with rice already. Through the scope, I spotted some movement on the ground and hoped for waders, but the birds turned out to be Red-turtle Doves which seem to have proliferated in the area.

Art pointed out that there were some ducks near the old hut in the middle of the big pond and since we were done scanning our side of that particular area, we pointed our scopes to the small patches of water peeking from the plants. True enough, the ducks were there but it was very difficult getting any clear views! I saw there almost all of them were Philippine Ducks and I spotted a male Northern Pintail and some Garganey. I was beginning to get dizzy straining my eyes to see more details and spot more ducks so I tore myself away from the scope and we proceeded with our count.

Maybe if I squint really hard, the ducks will come into focus better!

Sadly, we saw more grassland birds than waders all the way until we came up the concrete highway. We did count some Little Ringed Plovers, some Kentish Plovers, a couple of Long-toed Stints, and some Common Sandpipers.

Let's play "Spot the Plovers"!

There were quite a number of Barred Rails, White-browed Crakes, White-breasted Waterhens, and even a Buff-banded Rail came out to preen. We had good views of Philippine Coucals and a Lesser Coucal while the Chestnut Munias and Striated Grassbirds were in abundance among the tall reeds of grass on both sides of the road.

Riza, Art, and Patty counting egrets far, far away.

Soon, there was nothing left to count. Zero ducks in our site, though we did see a lone Little Grebe on our drive back to the Mayor's house.

A silhouette of a Little Grebe in very harsh light

We drove back to the Mayor's house and waited for the other teams to arrive so we could tally our numbers and get the total count for this year's AWC. Not surprisingly, our counts were quite low given the change in the habitat.

There were some big numbers of non-ducks in our list. Some.

Our total for that morning reached around 2,600. But that isn't the final count as figures from the ponds in the mayor's other property haven't been tallied yet. I'm hoping the number of birds counted this year isn't too low compared to last year's count (around 5,000) but I'm not keeping my hopes up... The highest count I've experienced participating in in Candaba was in 2012 with a high count of 10,456 while the lowest was in 2013 with a count of 1,631. Let's see. I shall bite my nails anxiously awaiting our final total and seeing what becomes of the Candaba bird sanctuary and marshlands.

My team for this year's count: Patty, Riza, and Art =)

Update: The final tally just came in! The total count for the 2017 Candaba AWC is 6,466!

The Lifer Remedy

I ticked off two mega lifers within 30 minutes of arriving at the site and I was struggling to remember their names. I took photos, looked carefully at all their field marks, but as I held my pen to write them down in my notebook... I just couldn't remember their names!

The sun wasn't up yet when I saw my first lifer...

It was just starting to get bright when my second lifer
was spotted! Can you see it in the middle of the photo?

The night before, I got confirmation the trip to Candaba was a go while having dinner and drinks with Mark and Rob. And that was after we finished a Crossfit workout. The workout was intense (and the first time I've tried it) and dinner and drinks lasted the whole night, so... fast forward to the following day in Candaba, my head was cloudy, on the verge of having a headache, and my body ached all over.

But as the sun rose and I got even better views of the birds and the landscape, my head started to clear.

Flocks of ducks would take flight, filling the air with the
sound of their wings. Awesome!

By the time the sun was up, my mind was waking up and I was gaining more movement in my limbs. We met some bird photographers and another group of birdwatchers and showed them the ducks. I FINALLY got to remembering the ducks' names and made sure to write them down immediately so as not to forget! I kept borrowing Christian's field guide earlier to check the names!

The Falcated Duck (my first lifer of the day) was out of sight but the Baikal Teal was preening continuously in the vegetation almost the whole morning.

As the sun fired up the morning, so it did my neurons. I was finally alert and as I watched this duck which found its way to the Philippines for the first time, even the pain in my limbs began to disappear.

Baikal Teal's head popping out of the vegetation.

I was finally functioning 100% mentally by mid-morning and felt only minimal pain in my legs. We shared food and stories in lulls between watching the birds: Philippine Ducks, Garganeys, Northern Pintails, Northern Shovelers, Eurasian Wigeons, Wandering Whistling Ducks, Tufted Ducks, and some Gadwalls.

Duck, duck, teal!

Cereal for breakfast and pasta for lunch!

Aside from ducks, other birds seen include egrets, Purple Herons and Grey Herons, Yellow Bitterns and Cinnamon Bitterns, Common Moorhens, and some Eurasian Coots. A flock of Black-winged Stilts flew back and forth over the pond and Siberian Rubythroats and Middendorff's Grasshopper Warblers sang hidden in the tall grass.

One of the Eurasian Coots came paddling out in a patch of
water near the road.

Both of my lifer-ducks showed even better later on, giving us out in the open views.

In better light, the green sheen on the
Falcated Duck's head is clearly seen.
(That sounded like a Dr. Seuss line!)

We also learned a new word! "Falcate" is an adjective that means "hooked or curved like a sickle" which describes the curved feathers on the Falcated Duck. Unfortunately, they aren't obvious in the photos because the curved feathers aren't so prominent in the individual in Candaba.

We did see the falcations on the duck later through the scope.

The Baikal Teal also kept us under the midday sun when it decided to perch centimeters above the water to preen. Still too far for a great photo (except if you're Mike A. ;) ) but I was really happy we got to see its legs (which was Ruben's request earlier that morning.)

The Baikal Teal sat in the shallows for some time...

... before it inched its way up the vegetation to preen.
Ruben (and the rest of us) got to see legs!!!

The heat intensified after lunch but Rob spotted one more special duck for us that day: Eastern Spot-billed Duck! It wasn't a lifer for me since I've seen it in Taiwan before, but it was a Philippine lifer so it was still very exciting! After some serious discussion on what to do next, our group decided to drive through the back ponds on our way home. 

On the ride home, it was as if the effects of the workout and drinks the night before never existed. I was alert with no headache (yay!) and my body wasn't in pain anymore! Birding with friends and seeing those lifers was the best remedy for a hangover and post-workout pain. 

Too bad the effect has worn off now and the pain is back but... I still got those lifers ;)

Twitch and Run

It was one of those twitches that was decided just the afternoon before. It was one of those twitches that put some pressure on a birder because the target was one of the rarest ducks in the region. It was one of those twitches that was finished before 7AM.

A few days ago, our birder friends Martin, Rob, and Irene spotted a male Baer's Pochard in Candaba. What luck! It was one, just one, individual out of the approximately 150-700 left in the world. The alarming decline of its population classifies it as a critically endangered species. This classification means that the species faces an incredibly high risk of becoming extinct in the wild.

It is a sad fact that this species has become critically endangered and it gives birdwatchers a strong sense of urgency to go see at least one of the few hundred remaining individuals in the wild that may very well become extinct in the near future.

So, on a cold Monday morning, I took the morning off from work to twitch the rare Baer's Pochard that made its way to Candaba.

Day break at Candaba

As soon as the sky started to lighten and our surroundings became clearer, we started scanning the ducks that were in the patches of water in front of us. I immediately saw a dark-headed duck through the scope, preening beside some Philippine Ducks. My heart skipped a beat. Could it be the Baer's Pochard? Could we be so lucky and see it this early? We were =)

In the poor light, you can make out the dark head of the
Baer's Pochard

As the sun rose, the ducks started becoming more active giving us good views of its field marks, we confirmed it: Baer's Pochard = check.

Suddenly, the Philippine Ducks started flying off! I kept my eye through the scope and saw Baer's Pochard look alert, stretch its neck, and take flight.

We transferred locations and tried to spot it again but couldn't find it! I was satisfied with my views but, of course, I wanted a better one. We went through the "collage" of ducks: Garganeys, Northern Shovellers, more Philippine Ducks, Wandering Whistling Ducks, Northern Pintails, Eurasian Teals, Tufted Ducks, some Common Pochards, and a lone Eurasian Coot.

The other Candaba residents were also coming alive in the warm sun: Common Moorhens, Purple Swamphens, Yellow Bitterns, and White-browed Crakes were coming out of the vegetation to forage. Blue-tailed Bee-eaters, Chestnut Munias, and a Common Kingfisher also showed very well. But still no duck.

Our friend Mark Jason arrived with a tour group and, with scopes all lined up, we all scanned for the rare duck. Nada.

I decided to go back to the spot where we first spotted the duck and promised to inform the group if we saw it. They joined us after a few minutes and then we got it on the scope! We trooped to where he was as he asked for confirmation: "White as*, right? White as*?" I nodded and semi-glared at him for his language around guests =P

The Baer's Pochard was sleeping (as you can see in the photo) with its head tucked under its wing, but it would raise its head to preen for a few seconds before tucking its head away again. Behind it, you can see the brown head
of a Common Pochard (plus a Philippine Duck showing off in the background)

I tried my best to get a photo of it with its head up, but unfortunately wasn't able to get one.

Here is a more heavily cropped photo, still with its head tucked under its wing

Happy that we were able to show Mark and his guests the duck, we said our goodbyes and headed back to Manila to go to work. It was only 9AM but as much as we wanted to stay and bird some more, we were already extending our twitch, especially since we saw our target bird before 7AM! It was time to run back to the city.

The future of the Baer's Pochard does seem bleak with the continuing loss of habitat in its breeding grounds. Add to that the conversion of its wintering grounds, just like what we witnessed in Candaba. As we were birding, a man was already plowing the area behind the water where the ducks were. He was converting it into a rice field. But who knows? If we make enough "noise" for this duck, and for the environment in general, a champion might emerge to forward our cause and maybe save this duck from extinction. Who knows?

Duck, Duck, Gadwall!

January for members of the Wild Bird Club of the Philippines means AWC season. AWC stands for the Asian Waterbird Census which is a count of waterbirds in wetlands covering Asia and Australasia. The counts are done for a specified period in January so we get, more or less, a good idea of the current numbers of waterbirds in the region.

I have been volunteering for the AWC for the past years and we've consistently counted in Candaba. So this year, we were off to count again in the Candaba marshlands and see if the numbers improved or have dropped.

Good news is that the numbers actually improved! From last year's count of 5,177 this year's count is now 7,186. Still a far cry from the high count of 2012, but still an improvement from the past two years. Here's a simple graph I made to show the trend from the past years.

But I skipped all the exciting birding parts! Let's go back to the very start of our day in Candaba. Our convoy arrived at the former mayor's property before sunrise and after assigning people to teams and specific areas to count it, we were off!

My team was assigned to the large ponds in front of the mayor's house. It was quite overgrown with lilies and hyacinths but there were patches of water where the ducks were. The first bird we saw were some Little Grebes and Common Moorhens. Soon, the Purple Swamphens started coming out and they dotted the landscape like the chunky birds they are.

Purple Swamphen

We started counting the Purple and Grey Herons as well as the Wandering Whistling Ducks and Philippine Ducks that started to come out into the open as the sun rose.

Our team starting to count as the day lightened

I was pleasantly surprised to see two Javan Pond Herons fly in to roost with the Black-crowned Night Herons.

Javan Pond Herons

Our new birder friend JC pointed out this Black-crowned Night Heron
to me which was perched quite near!

As we rounded the bend, the sun came out bathing us and the landscape in a warm glow. It was such great weather for birding! It was nice and cool and made for no sweat birding.

The picturesque landscape of Candaba with Mt. Arayat in the background

I was tasked to count the duck species in the pond which I didn't mind since it was a good time to practice duck id skills. I scanned and scanned until my right eye got blurry from being closed too long.

We also checked out some empty rice paddies down the road. I was hoping for LOTS of waders but sadly, we only got a handful of Little Ringed Plovers and a couple of Common Sandpipers. We headed back to the ponds to complete our round. We got a better vantage point of the ducks and I continued my count and my scanning and we added Eurasian Teal and Northern Shovellers to our list.

We bumped into birder couple Tina and Wency and they generously shared some yummy hopia to our group =)

Thank you for the hopia, Tina and Wency!

After that yummy and re-energizing snack, I resumed my scan and found myself looking for ducks with orange bills. Our friends previously spotted a Mallard in the same area last month and I was hoping it was still there. Suddenly, I spotted orange bills! Three ducks among the Philippine and Wandering Whistling Ducks had orange bills! Not only that, I saw white speculums (colored patch on the wings) on them!

I called JC to check out the ducks on my scope and asked him to describe what he saw: orange lower bill, darker on the top bill; brown eyestripe; white patch on the wing, wings slightly raised from the body. I stared at my field guide as he was telling me the field marks he saw, and we both checked the plate and confirmed we were seeing female Gadwalls. Lifer! High five!!!

We called the rest of our team and we all got good looks at our shared lifer!

Enjoying the views of the Gadwalls

Later on, I reviewed my pictures and video and discovered that there was a male Gadwall too!

The male Gadwall with the grey head, darker on the top, with a
black tail was following the female with an orange lower bill!

We moved along the road and Riza pointed out something hanging from a low branch. It was wings! Only the wings... and an already eaten head. We guessed it was the leftovers of the Harrier which has been frequenting the area.

Harrier leftovers?

Soon we were on the path towards the mayor's house. We joined Mike's team as they were headed back as well. Their count wasn't so good as their area, which was supposed to be ponds, have been converted to rice fields, yielding very little birds.

This area used to be a pond, but is now a rice field...

We gathered at the mayor's house to have some snacks and also to tally our counts. Our total for the year was 7,186 which was a bit higher than last year. It was a good count, but can definitely be better.

Team Candaba 2015!
Photo from Becky Santos

After the official count, most of us went back to twitch the Gadwalls. It was already noon and most of the ducks were sleeping and had their heads tucked behind the wings making it difficult to find them. After patiently searching, everyone in the group got to see them!

Scopes all in a row, finding one target: the Gadwall

Here's a slow motion video of the male and female Gadwall we saw. They are the one's swimming on the upper part of the frame. Another female Gadwall pops into view while it is preening on the left side. Enjoy!

Post-Christmas Spoonbills

It was the day after Christmas and Jops and I decided to invite some birder friends to go to Candaba and help them find the Black-faced Spoonbills we twitched last weekend.

We arrived in the site and scanned the rice paddies which were dotted with egrets, stints, and  herons. It was an overcast morning and there weren't as many birds in the spot where we saw the spoonbills last time. There were a lot of Black-winged Stilts clustered together in one area but no spoonbills in sight.

Big group of Black-winged Stilts!

We waited for a couple of hours, entertained by some Yellow Bitterns flying from one clump of vegetation to another, some Pied Bushchats perching on tall grasses, while White-browed Crakes, White-breasted Waterhens, and Barred Rails came to the roadside to feed. While scanning the waders, Jops spotted four Black-tailed Godwits busy probing the shallow water for food. We also saw a Ruff among the many Long-toed Stints. Still no spoonbills.

This young male Pied Bushchat posed handsomely for us =)

Jops and the others decided to check out an inner pond, while Bob N., Leni, and I stayed behind to study the Ruff. Unfortunately, someone lit a firecracker and all the birds in the rice paddy in front of us took flight and left us bird-less. My phone suddenly started ringing and it was Jops calling! We looked at him through our bins and he was gesturing for us to go over to where they were! I answered his call and we knew it: he found the spoonbills!

We trooped over to where the rest of our group were standing and there they were, three sleeping Black-faced Spoonbills, standing together with Grey Herons in a dry pond. When everyone in the group had seen them through the scope, we decided to trek through the tall grasses to get a better vantage point and a closer view of these awesome birds.

We had to walk through tall grasses on very
uneven ground!

The final "challenge" before getting closer looks at
the Black-faced Spoonbills

After the short but challenging trek, we found our places near a hut and started to view the spoonbills when another firecracker startled the birds and they took to the air. They started flying away from us but the birds doubled back and flew back towards us. They flew above us and settled out of sight with a large group of egrets. We made our way back to the cars, happy with seeing the birds although without good photos.

I managed one shot of one spoonbill in flight!

We then decided to head to the mayor's property and try for the Siberian Rubythroats. In the huge pond before the mayor's house, we saw quite a number of Purple Swamphens by the edge of the thigh vegetation. They were very easily flushed though, disappearing quickly into the plants when we stopped for closer looks.

I was lucky this Swamphen turned back for a last look
before disappearing into the greenery.

There were a lot of Zebra Doves and Red Turtle Doves, as usual, and I saw two White-shouldered Starlings fly-by. We tried for the Siberian Rubythroat but unfortunately only heard snippets of the bird's call from deep within the brush. Some of us were able to see the Dusky Warbler too. The pond near the house had lots of (noisy!) Wandering Whistling Ducks in it.

Lots of Wandering Whistling Ducks

We bumped into Brian E. and his wife who came from the other side of the property and he told us he saw loads of ducks in the far ponds. We drove to the area and stopped by the first group of ducks we saw. There weren't that many but we did see lots of Tufted Ducks, Philippine Ducks, and even two Eurasian Coots! I love the coots with their chalk-like bills! Unfortunately they were too far to photograph.

We checked out the next ponds and there were the loads of ducks Brian was referring to! We saw lots of Philippine Ducks, some Garganey, and also Northern Shovellers (just one male though.)

Can you spot the lone male Northern Shoveller?

Northern Shoveller, Philippine Ducks, and a Garganey

It was already noon and the light was getting very harsh, making spotting very difficult. We packed our stuff and said our goodbyes, but of course posed for a group picture to remember another awesome trip to Candaba, especially since everyone in our group (except for me and Jops) got lifers! Merry Christmas everyone!