2nd sighting of a Peregrine Falcon

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.

Bird #95 12/21/14

Osprey

The next day I decided to head out again but this time I decided to go for SRP (South Reclamation Project). But on my way there, something came up and changed my mind - made a turn and went to Tayud (near Co Jordan Resto), Lilo-an instead. Took pictures of the birds and saw what I thought at first were a different species of terns which turned out to be just Whiskered sp - pretty common here. Then took a few snaps at a flying egret which was headed towards my general direction - not realizing what it really was until I got home.  Then from quite a distance I saw something not quite like an egret and had some black on it. I trained my camera towards it and woah! Osprey!
my second one! (first sighting was in San Remegio, northwestern cebu) I hoped it would turn round and head towards me but to my dismay - it kept flying northeast - oh well...still great to have seen one. I've only been seeing birds like it on tv when I was still a kid. And to see it in person and in the wild is a real treat!

Black-headed gull

After that I headed back south and went to my usual birding spot at SRP. Nothing unusual except for the large flock of Whiskered terns that day.  The usual migrants were there, Little Ringed plovers, Yellow Wagtails, Black-winged stilts, Common greenshanks, Wood sandpipers and - oh yes! I just remembered, a flock of Black-headed gulls came flying by! I managed to snap a few of the lead bird. This was my second sighting. First time was mid January `14, there were a lot of them that time.

Great egret

Ever since I started birding all the yellow billed egrets with black legs turned out to be Intermediate egrets. I've been looking for Great egrets since then and was disappointed every time since they all turned out to be Intermediate.  I had the impression that Great egrets were noticeably larger compared to Intermediates. That wasn't the case. So, this whole time I may have mistaken them for Intermediates since I just didn't bother to take a closer look - since they'll just turn out to be Intermediates anyway. That was my biggest mistake. It's funny now that this bird ended up as bird #95 when it could have been easily one of my first 20 birds in my Cebu life list.


As it turns out, they were more common than I expected. But can only be found in Cansaga and Tayud (for me so far). When I got home and went over the photos in Lightroom, I saw that the bird had a rather bigger wingspan than the usual egrets I take BIFs with. I then took a closer look at the head and I was able to confirm it. Bill was bigger in proportion to head, gape extends past eye, tapered head compared to Intermediate. 

My first Peregrine Falcon...

One of the "Ok" photos I got that day.

12/20/14 - Saturday. It was my wife's day off and a chance to go out and bird. I quit my job just recently since we no longer had the luxury of being able to choose our work shifts. My wife and I used to work for the same company under the same department and we could request to have our shifts set alternately. When she goes to work, I should be at home watching over our little 2 yr. old and vice versa. Recently, she got hired at another company and this posed a big problem for us. We no longer had control over our shifts. Anyway, I had to quit and be a full time "house-band". It was my first day out birding since I quit my job - which I don't necessarily miss except for the fact that I do need to earn a living. I could get a home-based job though, but I guess we weren't ready for that since I could barely get my hands on my laptop, not when you have a 2 yr. old who would throw a tantrum whenever you try to get your hands on it because he's watching cartoons on youtube. The only time I could use it undisturbed is when he's napping or already asleep for the night.  Anyway, I had to go out since I have not been out for a while. I decided to go to Mountain view Nature's park. It's the closest place I could go to bird whenever I didn't have the luxury of time to travel farther. All was well, until I got there. I didn't realize that it was Saturday until I noticed that there were a lot of people already. One section of the park even got closed for a private party. This meant that I will probably not have good views.

Peregrine Falcon - ernesti sp.

It was already mid morning when I thought it was going to be a dull day until I saw a young Brahminy kite flying low as I was ascending one of the stairs that lead to the top part of the park. I ran to get a better look but was too late. The bird already had its, well, vents when I got it on my view finder and it disappeared among the trees as it kept circling north. Then, just a little over a minute, I saw a shadow just where I saw the previous bird. I thought it was the same one, however, something was odd about it.  The wings didn't have the pale patches that Brahminy kites have and were narrower. I aimed and got it in frame, but was under exposed and backlit against a bright white overcast sky. But I was glad it was in focus when I chimped at my lcd. I was able to discern a black hood over the bird's head which told me that it was a Peregine!! It was too soon to celebrate but I was hopeful.

 I spent the rest of the morning with some Elegant tits and a pair of rather pesky Pied fantails which kept driving the tits away just when I had a good shot. The weather started to get worse as it began to drizzle. Sun came out a bit and went to make a few stops before I headed home. I was able to confirm the id of the bird and yes! Peregrine Falcon!

Everette's Whiteye

Other birds that day:
Everett's Whiteye -a lot but usually in the canopy and/or flying by
Philippine Bulbul -I lost interest in counting
Olive-backed Sunbirds - quite a number of them there
Brahminy Kite - one juvenile
Elegant Tits -about 3 birds, feeding.
Magnificent Sunbird - one male driven away by Pied fantails
Pied Fantails - a pair
Philippine Coucal - heard
Grey-streaked Flycatcher - one individual
Brown shrikes - about 4 to 5.
Yellow-vented Bulbul - 3
Pied Triller - one female/juvenile
And some swiftlets that I really really really still need to identify.