Birding at La Mesa Ecopark 2012-05-13

Armed with a superzoom digicam and a binocular, I went to La Mesa Ecopark in Quezon City early to catch some birds with my new toy. A few meters from the entrance gate, I saw a black naped oriole landed on a nearby tree. I wasn't prepared at that time, so I quickly unzipped my backpack, took out my camera bag, and then the camera itself. Then I started taking test shots and making adjustment to the exposure, fortunately the bird stayed a bit longer than my previous encounters with a BNO. I was able to take only one decent shot though because my cam keeps focusing on the wrong target. Before I could set to manual focus, it flew away.

While outside the Drillon orchidarium, I saw a raptor outside the park circling the Manila Water Reservoir. I also took some shots of it.It was an Osprey.

I proceed to the trail where we saw the red bellied pita last time I was here with other birders. At the first intersection, I meet a group of birders whom I knew - Alex, Tere and an American birder. Walking together we saw a Mangrove blue flycatcher - another life bird for me. This time, I managed to capture a few dozen pictures and some turned out quite good, well at least to my low standard.

After observing some very active birds (white eyes, gerygone, faintails, orioles and some woodpeckers), we went our separate ways. They came earlier than me and were prepared to leave when we met. After they left, I decided to try looking for the pita by following its' call (Tere told me that the strange sound I was hearing was the pita's call). I failed after maybe half an hour of searching. When the sky started to turn dark due to some rain clouds forming in the area, I decided to call it a day.

Golden bellied gerygone

Yellow vented bulbul

I didn't see a lot of birds and failed to see my target, but I was glad that I managed to add another entry to my life bird list.