A month ago, I was contacted by a British birder, Brendan Sloan. He, together with his French friend Mark Thibault, wanted to see the Philippine Eagle-Owl in-person. We scheduled to meet at the domestic airport. While waiting, I saw something unusual - an ETS hopping on and off another bird, probably some mating ritual. It's the first time I encountered this behavior. Here is the image.
After their arrival, we tried to find a cheap hotel as fast as possible to drop their stuffs before going to La Mesa Ecopark. Their goal was to see the shy and elusive Ashy Trush (Zoothera cinerea). After a few minutes in La Mesa, the first bird we saw was a Red-bellied Pita (Pitta erythrogaster). It was a life bird for me as well.
Next, they patiently waited and searched the area. Finally, they saw what they came here for - the Ashy Trush. It even landed near us, as close as 3 meters.
After several encounters with the Ashy Trush, we decided to start searching for the Grey backed tailorbird. Brendan has a recorded bird call he used to lure the bird. It was fun listening to the bird's reply to the playback. They later saw the bird behind some thick foliage. I wasn't able to see it though. Later we decided it's time to leave for the Angono Petroglyphs. When we arrived there, only one owl was visible. Nevertheless, the foreign birders were glad they saw the owl. They ended their birding session with probably hundreds of shots of the owl.
Wow! Congrats on the lifer and for successfully seeing all your target birds! =)
ReplyDeleteIt's their target bird. I just wander around looking for any living creature I can find. :)
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