Went to La Mesa Watershed, one of the water reservoirs and wildlife protected areas to take bird photos with two other birdnuts, one of them has exclusive access to this secured location. Secured meaning.. not open to the public!
Before sunrise we were already on the boat.. the smell of freshwater air and the morning mist greeting us with a gentle hug from the breeze. The location is a freshwater reservoir with several tributaries. This habitat is very attractive to a lot of species of waterbirds and raptors. And today, we were with them.
We were greeted by a huge Purple Heron who was alerted by our presence and flew away to a farther perch. Probably it was still weary of the boat's engine sound, which is not dissimilar to a gentle roar from a predator. When we got near its perch..
Then we spotted and took pics of an Osprey (also called the Fish-hawk)
The yellow cast on this photo is due to the early morning sun still being diffused by clouds and mist. I must have taken 8 photos of this particular osprey, all of them showing that it was looking straight at us the whole time!
Then we went inside one of the tributaries and found some resting (or just awakening) Barn Swallows. They look so nice basking in the morning sun. Perfect chance to take a picture..
These birds are reeeeeally fast fliers so seeing them perched makes me exciting because when they start flying, their speed and agility makes it almost impossible to photograph them. So we came closer to be able to take more detailed shots.
I have this:
And I am very happy with it. The details are okay, and the color is also okay since at this time, the sun was shining less yellowish light.
Then at another tree, there was another species of swallows, the White-breasted Woodswallow. Easily distinguished from afar as the barn swallows would perch with about a foot distance from each other like this
while the Woodswallows perch well.. differently :)
I guess it gets kinda cold in the morning there :)
Again and again we were spotting the osprey and I would always snap a shot at it in flight..
As if posing for us and enjoying its newly found celebrity status.
While entering another branch of the tributary, we spotted this pair of Pink-necked Green Pigeons
I am keeping this photo as it is rare to find both the male (right) and the female (left) together this close(except during breeding).
Onwards we push and still we keep seeing an osprey, there must be a pair of them in each corner. This one's perch was soooo nice that I could not resist taking a photo but just before I hit the shutter, it prepared for flight, giving me this:
Which is better :)
Then when it flew away..
I followed it with my camera :)
All the while we were there, we would always spot a Little Heron flying away, so easily spooked by the boat. But I guess luck was on our side and we were given a few seconds to take some shots
The Osprey kept coming back for more pics, so I obliged with this shot of it perched
I hope I did it justice with this photo.
Then just when we were heading back to the dock.. I was gifted with my "photo of the day"..
A blue-tailed bee-eater
And this is a first for me. This is the first time I have taken a photo of this bird on a natural perch. All my other photos had it perched on something manmade like wires or something.
Other birds we saw were:
Common Moorhen, Yellow Bittern, Cinnamon Bittern, Grey-headed Fish Eagle, Oriental Magpie Robin, Common Kingfisher, White Collared Kingfisher
The ones I heard but did not see were:
Olive-backed sunbird, gerygones and others.
Ahhh.. what a day. nice people, nice scenery and even nicer still.. the knowledge that even this near to the city, our avian friends have found habitat where they can safely thrive.
