A Second Spark Bird???

Do you think it's possible to find another Spark Bird somewhere along your birding journey?

A Spark Bird is that one species that, upon seeing it, ignites an inescapable desire to see more birds - the moment that marks the beginning of your birdwatching era. 

My Spark Bird was the Brown Shrike. Yes, that unpretentious little brown migrant that visits the Philippines each season was the reason I became a birdwatcher. But after years of birding (and yes, aging…), I’ve admittedly slowed down in my pursuit of new species. I even stopped obsessively counting my Lifers - birds you see for the first time - after I breached the 200 mark, and this was waaaaay back in 2012.

Suffice to say, I had grown content. These days, I spend more time volunteering as a guide with the Wild Bird Club of the Philippines (WBCP), helping first-time birdwatchers, and occasionally participating in surveys and giving talks. More often than not, I’ve been speaking for the birds rather than birding for myself. 

Of course, there are still species I really, really want to see—the Chestnut-winged Cuckoo, the Eurasian Hoopoe, and the Beach Stone-curlew among them—but it’s a short list.

So when a Taiga Flycatcher was reported in the Ninoy Aquino Parks and Wildlife Center (NAPWC) in Quezon City, I did not expect myself to rush to the site to see it. 

And I didn't. 

Never mind that the park is only 3.1km away from where I live. Even the photos being posted by my birder friends failed to stir the twitcher in me.

But after a hectic month of deadlines and events—and having just recovered from a nasty virus—I saw my friend Adri's photo of the flyctacher and suddenly felt the urge to bird again.

I now had two choices: try for the Forest Wagtail in La Mesa Eco Park or try for the Taiga Flycatcher in NAPW. Both would be my lifers - IF they showed. After a morning chatting with friends, I finally chose the flycatcher. It was already 3:00 in the afternoon, a full week after the first sighting!

Oh well. If I didn't see it, it would still be a pleasant walk in the park.

A short drive later, I found myself walking towards the spot on the map my friend Sean sent me. I soon spotted two birders kneeling behind a tree, lenses trained on something perched on a rock.

I stopped, raised my binoculars—and there it was.

Lifer.

TAIGA FLYCATCHER
In the words of my friend Jon, Lifer # I-Don't-Know

                            

I walked closer towards my fellow birders and approached them from behind so as not to flush away the bird. It seemed completely unbothered by all the human activity around it - and it was a BUSY day in the park! A group of sub-adult humans was gathered nearby and there was an ongoing photoshoot with a young lady in a poofy dress. Yet the rare migrant stayed calmly on its rocky perch, flicking its tail and occasionally opening its mouth to call - though we could not hear it over the noise.

The little Taiga Flycatcher, utterly unconcerned.

The three of us - Prof Ferdie, Jaymes, and I - settled among the roots of the tree that gave us cover and a clear view. Without warning, it flew away and over to the other side of the vegetation. We chatted a bit - as birders do - before Sir Ferdie decided to relocate it on the other side. A moment later, he gestured—it was there—and we moved in for another look.

On another perch in a shaded portion.

My classmates for this twitch: Prof Ferdie and Jaymes shooting the Taiga Flycatcher

On a shaded perch, it paused just long enough for us to admire it again. Jaymes and I even managed to show a curious passerby the bird and explain what made it special. Soon enough, it was back on the move—returning briefly to its original rocky perch, then flitting up into a tangle of bamboo before disappearing again.

Happy with my successful twitch and amazing open views of the bird, I said my goodbyes. It hadn't even been an hour, but I already felt the familiar pull to keep birding.

I briefly searched for the Philippine Eagle-Owl with Jaymes on his way back to the office, but my birding luck had other plans. The Taiga Flycatcher would be my only highlight of the day. 

Normally, I would just pack up and go home, but I wasn't ready to leave. 

A Spark Bird does that to you. 

Instead of walking back to the parking area, I wandered toward the lagoon. The sun was getting unbearably hot even for the hour but I still saw Collared Kingfishers and Little Herons in the area.

Collared Kingfisher, a bottle of Coke, and some picnic goers

Spot the Little Herons!

Eventually, the heat and glare - and the groups of people descending the stairs to the lagoon - convinced me to call it a day. Satisfied with my impromptu birding trip in one of my old haunts when I started birding, I made my way to the parking lot. 

I'd like to think the Taiga Flycatcher as my second Spark Bird, reigniting the desire (and the ENERGY!) to go out and bird. After all, it even got me blogging again! Hopefully, more adventures from here on out! 

Taiga Class Picture with Jaymes and Prof Ferdie

Pink Dethrones Silver

For the longest time, the Silvery Kingfisher topped my list of favorite kingfishers. I first saw one in Bohol before the species was split into Northern and Southern types. Between the two, I've always preferred the Southern Silvery Kingfisher. It has been good to me—showing well every time I’ve gotten the chance to see it.

I lifer-ed it in February 2013 during an ocular trip toPasonanca Natural Park in Zamboanga, and again in 2014 during the 9th Philippine Bird Festival at the same site.

My very first Silvery Kingfisher in Pasonanca in 2013

In 2018, I got lucky again in Tacurong during the 12th PBF and Tacurong Bird Festival. At a later event, I was even gifted a beautiful painting by Tang Tuck Hong of the Wild Bird Club of Malaysia because we shared the sighting during that trip. The painting is framed and proudly hangs on my wall.

Thank you again, Tang, for this beautiful painting!

So yes, the Southern Silvery Kingfisher, with its dark palette and mesmerizing silver spots, reigned supreme on my list. Unbothered about being dethroned… until I found the pink one.

I didn’t even consider the possibility of seeing the North Philippine Dwarf Kingfisher anytime soon. Not even when my good friend Sean posted an AMAZING photo of the bird from one of his trips to Infanta in February this year. I just allowed myself to be jealous about it (and yes, maybe a little bitter haha!) but refused to dwell on the fact that I won’t be able to twitch it any time soon.

Post after post of the pretty little pink-and-orange-y Luzon endemic popped up on my Facebook feed from birder friends who have seen and photographed it. I swallowed the intrigue and kept my head down, focused on work, while it gnawed at my periphery. Until... Vinz messaged asking about a possible “twitch and run”, and I was raring to GO!

Surprisingly, no one had booked Francis (a local guide) on the Sunday we went. We picked him up and his son Mark joined us as an extra spotter. As always with a twitch, the nerves kicked in—more so because we had very limited time for this particular bird. We all needed to head back to Manila right after lunch! It was also the first time Vinz and I were forest birding together. We’d soon find out if we made a lucky combo or if we were jinxed.

We soon parked by the roadside and were slowly making our way down to the site the kingfisher has been seen. Thankfully, it was a very short walk and we were soon quietly scanning the trees for the bird. We stood on a ledge overlooking a slope, the air filled with the sound of rushing water, birdsong, and the occasional roar of passing engines.

Our view for the morning!

After fifteen minutes, Mark and Francis signaled to us —it was there! The tiny kingfisher suddenly perched at eye level, partially shadowed and hidden by leaves. I got a good look through my binoculars, snapped a few photos, and stepped aside so Vinz could view it too. It soon flew off and left us marveling at its quick appearance and my ticking off a lifer! Successful twitch! We were not a jinxed twitching combo! Should we go home now?

Of course not.

We waited for another appearance—and it did come back. This time, joined by a second North Philippine Dwarf Kingfisher, bringing food to feed the other one. 

The pair of North Philippine Dwarf Kingfishers - LIFER!

For the next four hours, we stayed in the area, being entertained by the appearances of the two beautifully-colored kingfishers. We were joined by Lau and we all enjoyed one kingfisher bringing food to the other.

The beauty of these kinds of sightings is that it allows you to observe the birds for a prolonged period of time, taking in all their minute field marks: the fine spots on the head, the ultramarine (ULTRAMARINE!) dots on the wings of the individual bringing the food, and their different shades of lilac, pink, and orange. Even their tiny bright red feet clutching the branches they perched on were a treat to observe. 

Ultramarine spots on the wings!

Such a pretty kingfisher!

Eventually, the kingfishers flew off and, having had our fill of the birds, our group moved on to a Scarlet Minivet nest nearby. 

Female Scarlet Minivet sitting on its nest waaay up high!

We left Lau at the site, dropped Francis and Mark at their house, and made our way back to Manila. We celebrated the kingfishers and our lucky twitching combo with pizza, sisig, and ice-cold Coke in a restaurant along the highway.

Happy twitchers with guide Francis and his son Mark

On the drive home, we reflected on our luck, the sheer beauty of the North Philippine Dwarf Kingfisher, and the feeding behavior we witnessed. It was then that I decided – or maybe realized – that it had dethroned the Southern Silvery Kingfisher from the top spot on my kingfisher list. I thought that wasn’t really partial to pink (most of my clothes are black or some neutral color or with some sparkle) but in this instance, pink trumps silver. Hands down.

Sharing a video of the two North Philippine Dwarf Kingfishers, one bringing the other a nice, big cicada. Enjoy!

Return to Candaba

 I honestly cannot recall the last time I was at Candaba. My last blog post about it was in 2018 when I volunteered for the Asian Waterbird Census that year... then nothing. The count in 2018 was dismal, with only a handful of birds and species seen in the overgrown plants and converted marshland. Gone were the hundreds of ducks taking to the skies. Gone were the rare migrants making their appearance.

But before the end of 2024, we decided to organize a club trip for members of the Wild Bird Club of the Philippines to Candaba to check out what birds can still be seen in the forever-changed landscape. My expectations were low, scared to be disappointed by the urbanization and therefore, demise of natural habitat.

We did not venture into the old birding areas inside Bahay Pare, but instead kept to the road. We were greeting with a big flock of egrets foraging in an empty rice field by the side of the road. 

Hundreds of them against the backdrop of Mt. Arayat! The usual Yellow Bitterns, Brown Shrikes, White-breasted Waterhens, and White-browed Crakes were skulking in the foliage while swallows flew all around us. Beyond the tall grass, we spotted many ducks on water and we decided to investigate the area.

The rest of the group started arriving and we made our way inward through a dirt road - which was usually our exit from the Mayor's property years ago. 

Ducks. Hundreds of them! What a pleasant surprise to find so many Northern Shovelers and Garganeys in a pond so close to the road! 

We also saw Green-winged Teals, Northern Pintails, and a lone Philippine Duck (which was quite sad because... only 1???) Another surprise was the huge number of Eurasian Coots some distance away. It was the most number of Coots I've seen ever!

As we were looking out for more birds, our group spotted two men crouched on the grass on the other side of the pond, carrying what suspiciously looked like rifles. All binocs and scopes were directed at them and we confirmed that they were indeed hunters. 

I guess we weren't very discreet in our observation of them as they became conscious and started walking away from us. We monitored them and saw them raise their rifles a number of times to aim at a group of birds but they did not fire. I sent a quick message to former Candaba Municipal Administrator Ka Leny M. and asked him to relay the photos and report of hunters to the LGU.

We called it a morning shortly after that, refusing to dampen our birding trip with the presence of the hunters. We made our bird list for the trip, took some group photos, and went our separate ways. 

Birding in Candaba now lasts for just a few hours in the morning, instead of the full morning or full day activity it usually was back then. Sad to say that the glory days of Candaba as a premier birding site has now really passed, and birders now tell stories about it in the past tense. 

BUT there is still hope! The Paligue Wetland Center is set to be developed in Brgy. Paligue, the groundbreaking ceremony already conducted in early 2023. With the support of the local government, barangay, and community, partnered with conservation organizations, Candaba may yet return to its former glory as a haven for birds and birders alike.

Mixed Flocks and Last-Minute Hornbills

I literally could not see anything! It was 4AM and we were on the Marilaque Highway, navigating through dark roads and fog, meeting an occasional horse or cow in the middle of the road. Thank goodness for Spotify and birding friends who shared the same taste in music (more or less hehe, my age got in the way), I was not too stressed with the lack of visibility while Djop drove us safely to the meeting point. Signal disappeared completely and Spotify conked out just as the Cranberries were building up to the chorus of Zombie, but by then the sky was lightening up a bit. Whew!

This was a Club Trip of members of the Wild Bird Club of the Philippines (WBCP) and I haven't joined one in years (except Guided Trips, of course!) 

We caught up with the first car of birders by the highway and I finally completely relaxed as I took in the cool air, surrounded by trees and the beginnings of the dawn chorus. The air was still damp with fog and a very light drizzle so birds were scarce when we started scanning the trees, save for the swifts darting through the sky and some early Blue-headed Fantails. 

As the day started heating up, more birds appeared and we were treated to a mixed flock of Flowerpeckers, Elegant Tits, Yellowish White-Eyes, and Philippine Bulbuls. As the weather cleared, we were greeted by Philippine Fairy Bluebird, Guaiabero, Yellow-bellied Whistler, and Philippine Pygmy Woodpecker.

Birding in the fog

After a while, we decided to move to a different spot and try for Rufous Hornbills, which was a most-wanted bird for many of us. We parked alongside the road and were greeted by a friendly old lady manning the sari-sari store, telling us the Kalaws were in the trees just before we arrived. In classic birding fashion, the birds disappeared before any of us could find them and did not show in the area for the rest of the morning. Entertained myself with bugs and butterflies in the area instead 🦋

Luzon Grass Dart

We moved to the small trail and were rewarded by a very active mixed flock! Male and female Scarlet Minivets, lots of Sulphur-billed Nuthatch, more Blue-headed Fantails and Elegant Tits, and even a pair of Yellow-wattled Bulbuls gave the group good views! I also got an unexpected lifer: a female Short-crested Monarch! Ok, maybe half a lifer since I did not see the male 😅

Got my unexpected lifer on this trail!

The Rufous Hornbills called us back to the roadside again but still did not show. By this time, more and more motorcycle riders were also making their way up and down the highway. The group decided to have an early lunch since most of the group needed to head back to the city before lunch. 

Thank you, Karen, for organizing this club trip!

After the mandatory group photo, our group – Djop, Denise, Joshua, Noel, and I said our goodbyes to the rest of the group and decided to head to Palo Alto for a quick side trip since everyone in our car did not need to be back early. 

A quick stop to view the sunbirds at Sidlakan gave us good views of Flaming Sunbirds – male, female, and immature. Suddenly hungry, we decided to have a quick lunch before reaching Palo Alto and Denise treated us to celebratory pizza for her whopping 19 lifers that morning!

Male Flaming Sunbird resting from
actively feeding on the red flowers

The early afternoon heat yielded not too many birds in Palo Alto but we still racked up around 18 birds in our list that afternoon including White-throated Kingfisher, Whiskered Treeswift, Pied Bushchat, Barred Rail, Paddyfield Pipit, Pacific and Striated Swallows, and a Lesser Coucal.

Male Pied Bushchat

Pacific Swallows and a Striated Swallow

While waiting for birds, I was also able to photograph some beautiful butterflies also which I have not done in a while. I was pleasantly surprised to see so many of them flitting around! Was able to ID most of them thanks to the my copy of A Naturalist's Guide to the Butterflies of the Philippines! Yay for field guides!

Brown Pansy

Common Mapwing

Dark-branded Bushbrown

Malayan Cruiser

Riding on Denise’s high and coffee-boost (she added more lifers to her 19!), we celebrated with semi-cold drinks from our cooler while we packed up our gear. Just as we were winding down - all optics already secure in our bags - Luzon Hornbills called loudly from the roadside! We initially did not try to find them, but when they called LOUDLY again – that got us brisk walking back down the road!

Spotting the pair of Luzon Hornbills!

With drinks clasped in our hands instead of binoculars or cameras, the pair of hornbills sat for a while before flying off into the trees. What an ending to a great birding day!

The Reluctant Twitcher Strikes Again

 For the Spoon.

I have become, admittedly, a somewhat reluctant twitcher. The past few years have been very slow in terms of birding for me, although I try my best to volunteer and guide for the Wild Bird Club of the Philippines as much as I can. So, one can only imagine the drive I have when it comes to twitching nowadays.

It felt like only a few months ago since I last went out in search of a particular bird - but it turns out that my last twitch was in April LAST YEAR for the Eurasian Oystercatcher. Which was a success, by the way, given that I decided to finally try for it quite late in the season.

After getting permission from the boss to go and spend a Wednesday morning twitching, I was still contemplating if I should really go, up until the night before. Reluctant twitcher indeed! But I pushed all hesitancy aside and repeated my good friend Mark's words about going out to find the rarest bird I will most likely see - For those still trying for it, Believe. Holy Grails can be found.

So off we went to Balanga, Bataan at 3AM on a Wednesday morning. Djop, Prof. Bert, and I chatted nonchalantly about small stuff during the drive and a quick breakfast stop, but deep down inside I was conditioning myself that we might dip on this bird.

We arrived at the entrance of the Balanga Wetland Park at roughly 6:30AM and were greeted by a large flock of egrets busy with their breakfast. We parked, got our stuff ready, and met Jenny and her husband Jason who would be our boatman that morning. Jenny was pushing a stroller which held a cheerful baby Jerson who I believed gave us good juju =)

We boarded our bangka and crossed the river, greeted by a beautiful sky as the sun continued to rise. 

After only a couple of minutes, we found ourselves standing and staring at an expanse of mudflats, silently praying to the birding gods that we find the lone Spoonbilled Sandpiper that made an appearance for the first time ever in the Philippines in this very area.

After a short discussion on our "gameplan", we immediately started scanning the area for the critically endangered species that had me squishing my way in the mud.

It took one hour before Djop found the bird and both him and Prof Bert were whisper-yelling me over to where they were standing - "MAI!" "MAIA!!!" then emphatically pointing to a spot near the water's edge. 

I think my heart stopped beating for a second or two before I started making my way to the guys. At the same time, a noisy bangka ran along the river, parallel to me, towards the bird!!! Noooooo! Would I have to outrun a motorized boat to the bird before the boat flushed it away?! 

Squelch squelch squelch. 

I don't know how I managed to walk that fast on slippery, treacherously soft mud without slipping or falling on my behind! Of course, the bangka reached the bird before I did, successfully flushing it....

towards me! 

It flew past me and banked further away before landing, but since the three of us had eyes on it THE WHOLE TIME we were able to reposition ourselves and put the bird on our scopes, bins, and cameras! 

HUZZAH! Lifer! Mega lifer!

Spoonbilled Sandpiper

This was the first official twitch of my Canon SX70 and what a lucky camera it is! The bird actively fed with a small group of Red-necked Stints, foraging between snails and, sadly, bits of garbage. We "lost" the bird a couple of time but reacquired it after a few minutes of searching.

"Found it!"

"Markers?"

"Just in front of the blue piece of plastic."

"The big one or the small one?

"The small one."

It is quite a sad thing that reference points to find the bird involved differentiating between sizes of trash or between shades of "SM blue" and "Watsons blue" plastic and it actually working - but here we are.

A critically endangered species feeding amidst, well, trash.

The sighting of this bird in Manila Bay should bring to light its importance and the need to protect the habitat. "It also highlights the significance of Manila Bay as a crucial feeding area for migratory waterbirds, including species of international importance." writes our birder friend Lu-Ann Bajarias in an article published on Inquirer.net (Read more: https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1919617/worlds-rarest-most-threatened-migratory-shore-bird-spotted-in-ph#ixzz8V7VAmlZq)

A successful twitch and surrounded by wonderful waders (the Pacific Golden Plovers were transitioning to breeding plumage!!!!), my birder heart was very happy and, yes, much relieved. Mark said to believe, and I did! 

Happy twitchers who were back to work in Manila after lunch

We returned to the other side of the river and took a celebratory selfie with Jason, Jenny, and Jerson who shared our smiles and happiness from finding the bird.

I also promised to volunteer to guide once a month for the rest of the year if I saw the bird. So, Mike... 😜

Sharing some video clips of this most awesome lifer!! Thank you to Mark, Jas, Mads, and Lu-Ann for the tips and good luck wishes! 💖

A "Late to the Party" Twitch

It was towards mid-February when photos of a Eurasian Oystercatcher began popping up on my Facebook feed. A lone individual had been spotted in the mudflats of Tanza, Navotas. This was the fourth sighting of this Near Threatened bird in the Philippines which is known to spend the winter months in eastern China and along the western coast of Korea.

The oystercatcher, a wader with a bright orange beak, has been on my "wish to see" list of birds ever since I opened the Kennedy guide but never really thought I'd get a chance to see it in the Philippines. So when the days, then the weeks ticked by with me having no extra time to go see the rare bird, I slowly accepted my fate that I was to dip on this extremely rare chance of seeing it.

But then... I couldn't stand it any longer. 

I'm sure many, if not all birders, know the tugging feeling of a possible lifer just waiting for you to come see it. But alongside that feeling comes the silent dread whispering "It may have already left though..."  Call it the Id and Superego of birding.... the tiny angel and devil on each shoulder each whispering in your ear: "Go for it! You deserve it!" cheers the angel, "It's a migrant! It's probably flying away right now!" sneers the devil.

What the heck. I asked Djop to make arrangements with Alfie of DENR-NCR for the following day I got the itch to twitch the Oystercatcher. Thankfully, Alfie was kind enough to update us on the bird (it was still there!!!) and accommodated us the following day. This was already March 22! More than a month after its first sighting!

Lifer! Photo by Djop

Digibinned by me

After a walk and a short boat ride, I was staring at a mega-lifer: Eurasian Oystercatcher! I breathed out a sigh of relief and literally shed some tears at our successful twitch. I honestly thought with my luck, we weren't going to see it. But there it was! I was still deserving of such success in birding!

It was my first time in the site and was amazed at the waders that were there. A flock of Pied Avocets greeted us when we arrived, as well as some Black-headed Gulls, lots of Pacific Golden Plovers, godwits, egrets, terns and many others foraging in the mudflats and shallows.  

Pied Avocets. Photo by Djop.

Our being on a boat piqued the curiosity of some of my birder friends (come on, guys...) So, for everyone's information, THIS was how far we were from the bird while on the boat:

See the bird? I can, I was there. 
I mean, honestly...

This was the closest we went
so as not to flush the object of our twitch away.

The Oystercatcher stayed unperturbed the whole time we were there observing and photographing it. Yes, a birdwatcher and a bird photographer in a boat to see the bird. It stayed there still nonchalant of us while our little banca was paddled back to the mangrove area to disembark, probably wondering why there were birders gawking at it under the broiling midday sun. 

We left after a few minutes as I was starting to get a migraine from the heat... it was a successful twitch already! As we made our way back to Alfie waiting for us by the mangroves, Djop spotted a "biggish" wader in the shallows. I quickly took a look through my bins, the haze making me more dizzy, whispered "Some knot. Let's go PLEASE!" feeling my brain slowly being fried already.

On the ride back to Quezon City, a quick review of the photos showed it was indeed a Great Knot! 

Great Knot posing for the camera. Photo by Djop.

It turned out to be a great twitchy Wednesday morning off from work (of course, I got my boss's blessing first!) and was back in my work-from-home desk (aka dining table) just after lunch. 

Not bad at all for a last minute twitch for a very obliging vagrant that seems to be enjoying its stay in Manila Bay... it's still here!!!

Thank you, Alfie! Will visit again soon and enjoy all the waders the site has to offer!

Me, Alfie, and Djop

I will celebrate this twitching victory as part of my 13th Birding Birthday tomorrow, April 9! 

Hooray for birds!