Astro and Mt. Palay-palay Birding Weekend 2012-04-01

Sunday morning will be my first time birding at Mt. Palay-palay of southern Luzon. A few days ago, I took some time to clean my favorite birding scope to make sure it performs well. This scope became my favorite due to its' lightness and good light grasp even though the mechanical parts are not good - plastic everywhere. But optically, this scope can perform very well.

I was given a chance to image the planets and the moon again on Saturday night. Even though the sky condition seems crappy at best, it's enough to satisfy the itchy fingers. Here are some of the images.

 Rupes recta, the straight wall on the moon

Alpine valley

At half past 2 in the morning, I got up, do my morning routine and went to the meeting place at Blue Wave in Pasay. I miscalculated my travel time and arrived an hour before the scheduled time but still I was the 2nd one to arrive. It just proves that people who joined are really excited.

When all the members arrived, we set out and head to the destination with a short stopover at Jollibee in Tanza. Our first birding site is along the road after the DENR compound. After seeing the magnificent Luzon Hornbill in flight and other birds in the region, we moved to another site before a road that is under construction. After another wonderful birding session, we moved again to another location outside the Caylabne resort. The view outside was magnificent. When we arrived, some of us, including myself, never even bothered looking for birds. Instead of birding, we just admired the great view. Here are some images.

 Coleto

 Grey streaked flycatcher

 Philippine falconet

Chinese Goshawk

After the landscape photography session, we head to another place for lunch and then called it a day. Here are some of the images I took.

Spiders and other creatures:

Giant wood spider (Nephila sp) - female

Giant wood spider - male

A few hours later, I took a Venus and Jupiter conjunction image to seal the day's event.