This is my first time going to Mt. Palay-palay to bird. Actually this is my first time to go there PERIOD :) I was on the road at 4am so I could catch the morning sun, which gives reeeeally nice lighting to any kind of photography. For this day, there is one bird that I am particularly interested in, the Blue and White Flycatcher. Another bird photographer has taken a photo of it a week before. Why this particular bird? Well, to say the truth, it's not really that beautiful, but the prize is, even Wikipedia does not record it as a migrant to the Philippines. It is a very RARE migrant to our islands and having a photo of it would be nice.
About 6am, I arrived and I was greeted by a very nice sight.. raptors. Some brahminy kites were flying around and of course I snapped a few pics. This one is my favorite,
I was surprised when I saw the pic, it was looking straight back at me!!! Cool eh?
This is my second favorite pic of the kite.. they were playing around and I love how this particular bird would make a U-turn in the air without losing sight of its playmate
Then off I went forward into the mountains.
There were a lot of Red-crested Malkohas and there were everywhere. At one spot I think I saw no less than seven of them.
This is the best shot I could manage under the circumstances. I was under the forest canopy early in the morning and it was still dark. But I just absolutely looooove the smell of the forest/nature.
Then I spotted a Philippine Coucal
This one is also very hard to photograph as it always stays behind or under leaves. It is very careful not to expose itself because its color is easy to spot. And there were a lot of raptors flying overhead also.
The raptors really scared me because when they fly around, smaller birds tend to hide really good. And my target, the flycatcher, is a small bird and being blue, it would be easily spotted.
Moving forward, I spotted a flock of Philippine Bulbuls and was able to take a quick snap at one of them perched on a bamboo tree..
I think I nailed this shot. This is why I like to bird early in the morning. There are no white clouds, so I can have a nice blue background and the lighting is nice and soft. Exposing a subject in these lighting conditions is not as easy as 1-2-3 but with this one, I am proud as it is the only snap that I was able to take of this particular bird. I usually take 4-6 photos at a time to make sure I have a good one, but this one only allowed me to take one photo. That is why I kept this.
Onwards higher up in the mountain, I was again worried. As this time.. I saw another raptor, but a different one!
The Philippine Serpent Eagle
Incredible how this Philippine endemic (can be found only in the Phil) really resembles the eagles that I see sculpted by the Mayans.
I was really worried at this point that there would not be any more birds for me to photograph.
Well hopefully there were no more raptors.
Moving downwards now at the other side of the mountain, my birding buddy Ely took us to a place in this mountain that was even more secure. Only members of a tightly knit community could get inside and we were rewarded.
The Blue and White Flycatcher!
believe me this is the best I could do. This bird had a really wide comfort zone. More than fifteen meters! And at our angle, we were taking backlit photos and in case you haven'e noticed.. there is a twig going across the bird in this photo. This flycatcher would perch reeeeeeally high in the trees. This photo is at 100% crop already! but what a catch!
At this point in time of the birding trip I was already grinning from ear to ear! It is very seldom that one would go out and say "Today, I will take a photo of the so-and-so bird" and actually go home accomplishing it!
Even with the flycatcher pic already in hand (memory card actually), I still of course pushed forward. It was early in the day, about 10am and I already have a lot of photos! Most prized is the flycatcher.
Pushing on, I was rewarded with pics of two rare finds.. well at least for me.
A Grey Streaked Flycatcher
(I had to squeeze through the bushes to get near it)
And a Bar-Bellied Cuckoo Shrike
This is one ugly mother.. hahaha! Always looks angry. About the size of a dove (a bit larger) and perches at about 70-100 feet up. This is another 100% crop so my apologies for the quality.
Almost lunch time, I headed home. But before doing so, the mountain rewarded me with two more photos that I kept even if the quality is not very nice.
The Philippine Falconet (another endemic)
This is probably the smallest raptor in the Philippines.
The second reward.. another endemic. And I call this pic my triple-double.
in this picture is the Philippine Falconet and the Philippine Pygmy Woodpecker. Both are first time photos, both are endemics and both of them being on the same tree, makes this photo a keeper.
Mount Palay-palay rewarded me with a lot of lifers and memories. I was so happy and that is why I am blogging about it. Hoping that through reading this, I have shared with you the experience and excitement that I felt. Thank you for reading!
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