SRP - Pre-Sinulog and Sinulog day :D

Saturday, day before Sinulog I had to go home to Tabunok to take care of something.  On my way home I always take time to check on the areas at SRP opposite of Lantaw Restaurant and the water hole adjacent to the exit to the UP SRP campus.  I saw one Philippine duck across Lantaw and then went on. At the water hole I saw a white bird which I found a bit odd. I took it for a domesticated duck but turned out to be a Black-headed gull. This bird must be the same one I keep seeing at the Pasil port. It probably wanted some peace and quiet since this was during the fluvial parade.





I've been seeing more Philippine ducks lately. I usually see three individuals- which I think are residents there. This was also on the same water hole. There were 24 ducks! This is the most number I have seen here so far. I will continue to check on them every week. A couple of days back I saw about 14 birds on the same water hole and 2 across Lantaw.
  

The next day, I just thought I'd make a quick stop at my local patch to see if I find anything new. Not much though but I did get close to a Pacific Golden plover. I consider them rare but I am seeing more of them now but only in few numbers. I saw two of them that day. After an hour, I left and decided to stop by the Peregrine falcon's usual perch. The bird was still there. I only took snap shots for documentation and then went home.

Brown shrike - was very obliging.

White-collared kingfisher - by far the most common kingfisher found here in Cebu. I've only been seeing two species so far. This and the Common.

This individual banked left and landed on the mud flats. 

A couple of minutes later two more came flying in and met up with the one above.

Javan Pond heron - getting more common. The first few months I birded at SRP I would usually just see one or two individuals. Lately, I am seeing more of them by the dikes. This guy stood still for a bit until I raised my camera. Was able to lock on him and managed this bif.

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.

Looking for the 100th....

I was only 1 bird short by the 31st of December. And I wanted to make it to 100 before the new year. I headed back to Cansaga for the 3rd time. Didn't find my 100th bird sadly, but had good views and saw more of the species found there.

Did the usual thing, came early and waited for the tide to subside. However, the tide was scheduled at the lowest by 11:30 that morning, and it was still 7 am when I got there. Still, birds kept coming in. The ones new to me are the Whimbrels, Curlews and Far-eastern Curlews - which I still can't get enough of. They seem to be a staple there now that I have been frequenting there. I used to think that the first time I saw them was just pure luck and the birds just happened to be there. Turns out they do winter here and Cansaga bay was one of their feeding sites.  I wish to find more wader species though. Those Broad-billed sandpipers were a good find. Didn't see them again that day though.

This Curlew flew over head. I managed to get a shot as it came closer. Not too good though since it was really gloomy that day.












Minutes later a mixed flock of Curlews with 3 Far-eastern curlews came in.

Another frame of the same birds.

This seems to be the highlight of the day for me. I've only seen Grey herons twice. One at SRP and another one in Argao. I used to think that maybe I may have seen the same individual. After seeing this, everything changed. I haven't seen so many Grey herons together. I first noticed them soaring just above the mangroves by the Mactan channel - which was just east of the bridge and the general direction I was facing. It looked like they got spooked and took to the air and landed back. I thought they were just back-lit egrets and didn't pay any mind. I even thought they were raptors at one point, that I decided to take a snap and zoomed 100% on my lcd. The silhouettes were of egret/heron but didn't really think to find them interesting since there were a lot of egrets about and they could have been just one of them. It was not until one flew northwards that I realized I was wrong. The bird was already northeast so there's no way it could still be back-lit. I took a snap and chimped - Grey heron!

Minutes later, a couple more took off and went the same direction. Then four followed and then 12! Well, 10 then 2 followed close by. I never thought I'd see this many birds at one time. Then it hit me- they were heading north. It was just the 31st of December. Don't you think it was still too early for them to head north? Perhaps they were just going north but not really all the way north back to their breeding grounds. I'll have to do research on these birds.

Then a little later another mixed flock came in. This time it was 2 Curlews and the rest - Far-eastern curlews.









Unfortunately, I had to leave early. I promised my wife I'd be back by noon. So no 100th bird but still, it was a good birding day for me.

Fell in love with Cansaga bay and the bridge :D

Common Greenshank

I went back to Cansaga bay hoping for new lifers. I was just 4 birds short. On this trip I got lucky. I had 3. The first time was a blast. I got to see and shoot birds in flight. On this trip the sun was a bit shy and the clouds have been hogging the sky. The photos have not been so good but I still had a good time.

I did the same tactic - get on the bridge and just stand there and wait. Normally, you'll see terns fly by along with some and Egrets, and then some swallows beneath the bridge and some swiftlets too (which by the way are still not on my list due to the difficulty of identifying let alone photographing them). 

Every now and then I'd see lone long-billed birds like that of a Whimbrel but was not too sure if they were Whimbrel or Curlew- I took shots anyway. It was exciting for me knowing that the birds I just shot might be a new bird for me. I minimized chimping because almost everytime I did, a bird or a flock of waders would fly past me. I decided to just take shots now, wonder about the identification later.

Black-headed gull

Most of the birds that day flew solo or in two's. I don't know why, but that's what I noticed. There were a flock of sandpipers and Black-headed gulls though.

Anyway, I got home and started going over the photos. They were pretty bad due to the poor light coupled with the fast shutter speeds which only made them more underexposed.





Bird #97 - Curlew or Common Curlew.
Less barring on the under-wing more white and contrasting underparts.

Bird #98 - Far-eastern Curlew. Under-wing has more barring and less contrast on the underparts.
So far that's the only way I know to tell them apart. The FEC does tend to have a longer bill and is slightly bigger than the Curlew.

100% crops

 Bird #99 - Broad-billed sandpipers. I had help with the id on our Facebook group. These guys were a flock of about 9 or so birds. There was a Red-necked stint that came along, which is bird #3 on the photo - left.













Here's a different shot of them together. The Red-necked stint had a noticeably shorter bill:

Broad-billed sandpipers with Red-necked stint (top-right)

Great egret vs Intermediate egret -identification

I have been one of the folks who have been having trouble differentiating Great egrets vs Intermediate egrets. When I saw my first Intermediate egret I mistook it for a Great egret. I was dismayed finding out it was just an Intermediate but it was a lifer still. Since then I've been looking for Great egrets but have not been successful until I found one by accident. To cut to the chase refer to the photo below. Bird #6 is a Great egret. Taken from the photo of the first one I saw but of another frame. Aside from size and length of neck and shape of head and size of bill in relation to head, one key feature is the gape. Bird #6 shows the gape is past the eye while all other birds in the picture don't. Bird #2 does seem to have a bigger bill and the gape seems to go past the eye but is just a crease in the feathers around the gape area. The head is not too tapered or is rather rounded, which means it is another Intermediate egret. All others show rather shorter bills in relation to the head. Also I have noticed that the eyes are also somewhat larger in proportion to their heads.  Great egrets tend to look to have smaller eyes due to their large bills and head.

Great egret

 Here is a photo of a Great egret taken in Tayud, Consolacion, Cebu, same spot where I had that BIF taken.  Shows the typical tapered head and longer bill, the kink in the neck and the perfect "S" it makes when the bird positions its head like that.

Intermediate egret

In contrast, the Intermediate egret - left, has a rounder head, shorter bill and neck. This is the same as bird#2 in the first photo. The less curvy neck was the biggest hint that this was not a Great egret. Another hint was the habitat.

Here is a size comparison between a Litte egret and a Great egret. The length of the neck is really obvious.

Here is all three species - Little, Intermediate and Great.

Foreground (left to right): Little, Intermediate, then 3 littles and an Intermediate just behind them.

At the back (left to right): Great, Intermediate with muddied bill, Great and a Greenshank and Intermediate.

Cansaga Bay 12/22/14 and Bird #96

I'm 5 birds short for my  "100 birds run", kinda like a big year thing but for 100 birds and restricted to the Cebu main island only. Rules are: 
1. Must be spotted within the main island of Cebu (Made exceptions for Red-necked pharalope and a White-winged tern seen at the Mactan channel).
2. Must be photographed. (but might have to change this to at least a recording of the call or at least really seen the bird and positively identified)

Whimbrel. One of three birds.

So, so far only 95 birds and the year is about to end already. I have 3 birds which I really can't quite put in there yet. First one is the Philippine nightjar. Seen and heard at Cantipla, but since they are nocturnal, taking a photograph will be a problem. Second is the Philippine Hawk-cuckoo. They are loud but I haven't really seen one. Most of the time, they are flying away and all you see is a blur. Third, Hooded pitta. Only a recording of a calling bird in Alcoy. Never heard it anywhere else but there.

In the quest to get the last 5 birds, I decided to go to Cansaga bay where just last February I had a snap shot of 3 long billed waders - I suspected were either Curlews or Whimbrels. But they were already too far away and too small in the frame (not to mention back-lit) to positively identify.  I thought it would be a good idea to go back there but with a strategy. Last time, the birds were already flying back east towards Olango as the tide came in. I thought to myself, if I went there at dawn, well before sunrise and at low-tide I might be able to catch the birds as they fly in towards the bay to feed - while I am on the bridge!  I was right. As the sun came up, birds started flying in from the east, mostly egrets and terns.  It didn't really turn out as productive but I got what I came for...another lifer, bird #96: Whimbrel. I was aiming at some egrets when I noticed three dark colored birds, were flying towards me from the southeast marsh, they were just a few feet from me as they went past and I was lucky to have gotten one good frame!

After a few minutes I went down north end of the bridge, and took a walk on the shore west of the bridge. I was still too far from the birds T_T. Anyway, it was still a great day for me.

Other birds:
Brahminy kite - 1 - adult
Whiskered tern - flocks of them
Yellow wagtails - in twos and three/fours
all three sp. (L/I/G) of egrets in small groups.
Little/Striated Herons - 2 juv.
Common sandpiper - 2
Common greenshank - wasn't able to count- too far but they were there.
Kentish plover - 1
Common Kingfisher - 1
There were Brown Shrikes and Zebra doves and heard a Golden-headed cisticola and Red-keeled flowerpecker and Chestnut munias from a small patch of green right along the shore.

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.