Paying It Forward

It was on April 09, 2010 that I joined my first birdwatching trip with the Wild Bird Club of the Philippines (WBCP) in UP Diliman. I remember Mike pointing out my first bird on that trip: a Philippine Pygmy Woodpecker climbing a kapok tree in the NIGS area. The tree is no longer there and a building has taken its place, but I will always remember that afternoon with fondness.

There are other kapok trees on campus,
but I still remember THAT other one

Six years has passed and I found myself with a perfect chance to "pay it forward" as a celebration of my sixth year as a birder: I volunteered to guide (mostly) first-time birdwatchers in UP Diliman!

I met up with the group on the steps of the main library and it was nice seeing familiar faces who've signed up for the activity. We walked to pick up their binoculars and saw Mike gesturing us to look through the scope. There was a nest of a Black-naped Oriole atop a tall tree with a chick peeping out! The parent would perch on the nest to feed the chick before flying off again.

Meeting place

It was a great way to start the morning! We divided the group into two and went our separate ways. Our group made its way to the oval and spent some time there spotting quite a number of birds: Grey-streaked Flycatcher, Collared Kingfisher, Pied Triller, Lowland White-eyes, and another nest! A pair of Golden-bellied Gerygones were flitting in and out of their nest that looked like a hanging clump of dirt!

It's a messy but well-camouflaged nest ;)

We were also treated to a low-flying flock of egrets in v-formation as well as a big flock of Blue-tailed Bee-eaters that flew over our group. We continued our walk and headed to the lagoon. Some of us in the group were able to spot a Yellow Bittern sitting in the grass by the water's edge but it quickly disappeared after a couple of minutes. Moving along, we spotted Brown Shrikes, a Grey Wagtail, and Yellow-vented Bulbuls.

More birds in the lagoon area

We made our way out of the lagoon area and took some time admiring the flowering Salingbobog tree (aka Balai Lamok.) The flowers are now changing from white to yellow!

This native tree only blooms for around two weeks,
once a year!

Beautiful blooms!

We went to the other side of the oval and checked out the usual roosting site of the Philippine Nightjar. The bird was there on its usual tree, seemingly unaffected by the big fire that gutted the building just beside it a little more than a week ago.

Philippine Nightjar, fast asleep

We made a last stop to see the Blue Rock Thrush, which has become a yearly visitor in the campus from since I started birding. The handsome thrush did not disappoint and stood tall on a high branch as the group observed it through the spotting scope.

We walked back to the parking area and ended the activity. It was a good 2 1/2 hours well-spent! I wish I was able to chat with more people but I'm sure I'll be seeing some of them again soon ;)

Group pic!
Photo from Karen O.

After we said goodbye to the group, Fredd, Karen, and I made the birdlist while having a late breakfast of waffles and burgers. The three of us are birding batchmates, having joined the club in 2010. It was such a great way to celebrate and I went home with my heart full and very very happy to have paid it forward (and possibly infecting other people with the highly addictive birding bug!) =)

Me, Karen, and Fredd: 6-year old birders!

Waffles and bird lists

Getting My Birding Juju Back

It has been a while since I last blogged mainly because it has been a while since I was out in the field. I guess the horrible experience of seeing a Colasisi die made me a bit hesitant to go out again. I even feared for the pair of Pied Fantails in our front yard when I saw some of the neighborhood kids pay attention to it. They disappeared that afternoon and I could feel a sense of foreboding creeping in. Thankfully, they returned the next morning =)

I have gone out on short trips with Jops and some of our friends, but there was still a sense of negativity and expectation of something bad to happen. I guess due to that bad juju, I didn't get to see much birds on those trips.

Fast forward to last Sunday. The WBCP partnered with the Philippine Eagle Foundation and the Biodiversity Management Bureau (DENR) to celebrate the 16th Philippine Eagle Week.

The tent area for the event

Jops and I signed up to be volunteer guides for the bird walks in the Ninoy Aquino Parks and Wildlife Center and for the first time in a long while, I was excited to bird. =)

Spotting some Philippine Pied Fantails

It wasn't as birdy as we would have wanted it to be but I really enjoyed the morning bird walk. Even if we didn't see many species, it was refreshing to see the delighted expressions of the brand new birders as they discover new birds in the city. And since birds were few and far between, even the Yellow-vented Bulbuls were a source of excitement when they did finally show.

After the bird walk, we were able to attend the morning lectures and listen to friends share their experience seeing the Philippine Eagle. It was very nice to hear them reliving their experiences, as if they were bringing us back with them to the time they saw the eagle.

Ixi shared her Philippine Eagle experience in Davao

Arnel shared his Philippine Eagle experience in Zamboanga

Listening to their amazing stories made me think when will Jops and I get to have our own Philippine Eagle experience. Soon, hopefully. GAME! =)

After the lectures, we went outside to help in the activity booths. There was coloring, sticker tattoos, and origami for the kids who dropped by the tents while a tree walk and a tour of the rescue center was ongoing.

Bird origami

The coloring booth with naughty boys and
prim and proper girls =P

As always, I enjoyed chatting with the kids, answering their questions and trying to teach them about caring for birds and the environment. And then it was time for lunch!

The birders had a fun picnic lunch under the trees, chatting and laughing and getting distracted by a Philippine Pygmy Woodpecker who decided to perch low and very near us while we were all eating.

Picnic time!
Photo by Jops

The afternoon was also filled with activities: lectures, a raptor tour, and another bird walk. While waiting for the 4pm bird walk, I sat again at the coloring booth and spent some time with a group of kids.

The afternoon bird walk wasn't any birdier than the morning walk but we did see a different set of birds. The Striated Herons and Common Moorhens were out in the pond giving even the kids good views through the scope.

As we ended the day, I was tired but at the same time recharged. It wasn't a hard core birding trip, but it was more than enough to get my birding juju back! On to the next adventure!

Birding in Baguio

Everything fell into place that weekend in Baguio: we got vouchers for a weekend stay at The Forest Lodge, we could hitch a ride with Jops's parents on the way back to Manila, and we had participants signed up for the guided trip we planned for our last morning in Baguio. Yay! Not a bad plan for our first time to bird in Baguio!

We took the 12:15AM Victory Liner deluxe bus and arrived at their Baguio City station in four hours! I slept through almost the whole ride and didn't even get to check out the on-board comfort room. It was 750pesos well-spent: it included a bottle of mineral water, a piece of bread, a stick of macapuno candy, plus power outlets for each seat, recliner seats, and wifi.

So, we took a cab to our hotel which was inside Camp John Hay, got lucky with an early check-in, and were on our way by sunrise! Large-billed Crows and Crested Mynas were up very early and along the way to the trail, Elegant Tits and Mountain White-eyes were stirring and starting to sing and fly around.

Elegant Tit
They would be our constant companion throughout our stay =)

Crested Myna
We even heard one imitate the sound of a siren!

We had a wonderfully filling breakfast at the Le Monet hotel which was in front of the entrance to the Eco Trail. We highly recommend their ala carte breakfast! It will last you 'til noon!

We entered the trail and almost immediately saw a Blue-headed Fantail perched close to the path! There were also more Elegant Tits and Mountain White-eyes flitting among the high branches.

Blue-headed Fantail

We walked further into the trail and crossed a small wooden bridge. As the day got hotter, the birds grew more active. Here we saw a number of Citrine Canary Flycatchers singing on bare branches high above us. Sadly, I wasn't able to get one decent shot of these cute yellow birds. The Sulfur-billed Nuthatches were also starting to arrive in our area when we saw a very unexpected bird to show: a Siberian Rubythroat!

A surprise Rubythroat in Baguio!

As we were waiting for the handsome Rubythroat to come out to a more open perch, the Nuthatches started "descending" on us, creeping down the tree trunks. Distracted by the creepers, we turned our attention on them, losing the Rubythroat in the process...

We saw A LOT of Sulfur-billed Nuthatches!

Along with the Nuthatches came our first lifer for the trip: Olive-backed Pipits! They would fly in and perch on branches and would proceed to walk the length of the branch. They looked to me like versions of Pechora Pipits who preferred tree tops rather than the ground.

Olive-backed Pipit
Challenging to photograph as they kept walking around!

There were lots of them crawling around the tree tops, picking food as they went along. When the wave of birds finally moved on, we tried spotting the Rubythroat but it was gone. We did see another unexpected lifer just a few meters from where we saw the Rubythroat: three Mugimaki Flycatchers! The birds were flitting around in the brush but they soon flew off, leaving me with just one good shot. But I was definitely more than happy getting that one good shot of my second Baguio lifer =)

Mugimaki Flycatcher
I feel very lucky to have seen this one =)

We pushed forward and saw more Elegant Tits, Mountain White-eyes, and Sulfur-billed Nuthatches. A number of Large-billed Crows called noisily as they flew through the trees. We stopped after the second wooden bridge and decided to go back to the hotel to rest as we didn't really have much sleep from the road trip.

We resumed birding in the afternoon, checking out the trail in the Tree Top Adventure. The trail was very quiet compared to the morning but the friendly staff shared about the birds they have observed there. After a while, we called it a day and rested early for day 2.

We decided to bird in the Yellow Trail for our second day in Baguio. The entrance we took was through the Tree Top Adventure and we walked the entire trail for the whole morning. It wasn't as birdy as the Eco Trail... BUT I did get to see one of my most awaited lifers: Turquoise Flycatcher! I prefer the sound of its former name though: Mountain Verditer Flycatcher =) 

I was so happy to finally see this bird! I waited almost 4 years!

We saw a lot of the usual suspects in the Yellow Trail and met some hikers and bikers along the way. I also got to see lots of the pretty dark brown butterflies fluttering along the trail. And I got really curious about the pinkish rocks that poked out from the ground.

Pretty pinkish rocks

A kind of Mycalesis butterfly
Thank you Tita Lyds for the ID =)

We exited the trail to the calls of a White-throated Kingfisher and found ourselves in the horseback riding area. After running some errands for Jops's mom, we went back to the Eco Trail for some afternoon birding. It was still a bit slow compared to the morning, but the Blue-headed Fantails were entertaining enough. =)

Part of the Yellow Trail
It was a very easy and pleasant walk that took us almost
the whole morning to complete

Our last morning in Baguio was dedicated to a WBCP guided birdwatching trip. We had 8 participants who were very very lucky that morning! The first bird they saw was an Oriental Cuckoo! The bird seemed to follow our group for the rest of the morning.

Oriental Cuckoo

At the start of the trail, we were already treated to good, close-up views of Sulfur-billed Nuthatches, Elegant Tits, and Mountain White-eyes. Further down the trail, we head a distinct call: Scale-feathered Malkoha! Everyone was amazed at seeing this bird as it skulked around low trees. Such an awesome lifer for them!

Got lucky with this shot when Jops and I returned
to the Eco Trail that afternoon =)

Still high from the Malkoha, we moved forward and spotted some Olive-backed Pipits doing their usual tree-walk. An Elegant Tit busily gathered nesting material in front of us and a Blue-headed Fantail made a brief appearance.

The Tit had its beak so full before flying off =)

The group had seen almost all there was to see in an hour's time! Our friends from Tree Top Adventure who joined us that morning had to go ahead and soon, so did the others. It was a wonderful guided trip with great company, plus the birds showed really, really well! We are definitely looking forward to the next out-of-town guided trip we get to conduct (and maybe get some lifers along the way!) =)

New birders from Tree Top Adventure with Jops

The rest of the group who joined the WBCP Baguio guided trip

Baguio is a great place for relaxed birding. The climate is nice and cool, and the trails are very easy. The birds are also super friendly, same with all the people we encountered during our stay. =)