It was Sunday and I decided to go birding at one of my usual birding spots. Unfortunately, I could not disclose the location of the sighting as I was given a heads-up by a veteran birder that the bird's safety is at risk since it is a known predator of rock pigeons. What that means is, well, it just so happens that there are a lot of racing pigeon enthusiasts here in Cebu. And I have been told that falcons were shot to protect their pets whenever they had the chance. Anyway, I found the bird by accident. It was a gloomy day like all days recently, just had a typhoon pass through. It started drizzling and I was about to leave when I saw a swallow like bird but was a little too big to be one. In just a couple of seconds it dawned on me that this was a raptor. And not just any other raptor. I trained my camera and lens and fired, chimped and zoomed to confirm - and yes! I was right! Then took more shots as it flew by. After that I realized I was shooting at 1/500. Argh! Luckily I still had sharp ones good enough for id. After seeing the bird from a distance and getting familiar with its silhouette, I realized that I have seen it twice before my first confirmed sighting. The first one was at Busay, same location as the first confirmed sighting. Same thing - it looked like a big swallow but disappeared as I went for my camera. The second time was at the same location of this sighting. All I saw though was a black bird flying away that didn't look like one of the usual birds I'd find there. I was able to get a photo but was out of focus and just had to delete it. After this second confirmed sighting, I now believe I have seen this bird more than twice. I hope to see more of it there. I'll try not to be conspicuous when observing it for the bird's sake.
No comments:
Post a Comment