Oh I do like to bird beside the seaside…

Again, this blog was meant to be posted yesterday but could not be due to lack of internet in my room. Sorry, just pretend it was May 1st…

What is this? I hear you ask, a proper blog from the middle of the week and not a Rice-bite, what is going on? Well let me tell you…

Today is May the first and here in the Philippines it is Labour Day. Traditionally Labour Day is a celebration of the work carried out by everyone, everyday. Labour you might call them. To celebrate this most people get a day off. As I work to my own timetable, and Paul has today off also, it was decided that we shall go birding. This will hopefully make up for the lack of birding when I was ill last weekend.

The alarm went off at 4am, a time which is becoming more and more familiar to me and my long suffering girlfriend. As always I was quick out of bed and busying myself getting ready, whilst Clare tried to squeeze every last bit of sleep out of the time in bed that she could before joining me getting ready*. We hurried downstairs and met Paul at the usual place. Over text message last night we had decided to visit San Juan again, the place he took me on my first birding trip in the Philippines, about 15 weeks ago. I had mentioned that we had seen a lot of mountain birds recently so the coast would give us a chance to see a different type of bird.

One of reasons that I have had to get up earlier recently has been for my data collection within the IRRI fields. Like the UK, the sun has been rising earlier each time I have been out, so as we set off this morning we were already in the early phase of twilight. It is by far my favourite time for bird watching. It is cool at this time and the sun isn’t as harsh. But we had a distance to travel, so away we went into the morning.

We arrived at the site at 6:30 and didn’t even have to leave the car before we saw some amazing birds. As we drove the last leg before we parked the car, there are a number of reservoirs to the left. Last time these were shallow with a lot of land exposed. Today, however, was different. The water was much deeper so the type of birds spotted was different. Last time it was egrets but this time it was waterfowl. There was a good number of Philippine duck there today joined by a larger number of black-winged stilts. We parked up and grabbed our gear. Paul mentioned that the second we poked our head over the top, by the fence, the birds will see us and disappear. So we snuck up as slowly as we could, getting views of as much as we could as we went, knowing that at any moment they could all disappear.

We got extremely close before the ducks had had enough and disappeared leaving us nothing but a view of their ‘V’ in the sky as they flew away. The stilts were more trusting though, staying in the water so we could get some great views. Stilts are another bird that I have come across a number of times in the past but never really given much thought to. Most captive bird collections have them but I have never stopped to really look at them. Here, today, I did. They are really interesting in your bins, or scope, and I loved watching small flocks of them fly around over my head. Getting a full view I have never seen in captivity before. Their black and white bodies are all you see moving as they forage through the water. With thin colourful legs constantly moving below, hardly looking as if they can support the bird’s weight. Any day a stilt is spotted is a good day for me.

Whilst viewing a number of them, an individual stilt stood out from the crowd. Oppose to having a white head, like the others, this had a very dark black head and neck. We stared for a long time, convinced that it was also slightly larger than the other stilts. Paul took pictures for further investigation and we also consulted the bird guide. It seems that this might be another race of black-winged stilts, considered a separate species by some. So that is what this individual could have been. Especially noticeable as they stood together and comparisons could be made.

We turned around to investigate the ponds behind us. More stilts seemed to have been randomly distributed throughout the waterways, so during scanning you were never too far from seeing one. Then, upon a small island, on the other side, we were given full views of Asian Golden Plovers in a combination of breeding and non-breeding plumage. A truly stunning bird in either colour phase.

Just then Paul picked something up in his scope, announcing that he had a new lifer for me…it was a Grey-Tailed Tattler. It was foraging around the plovers on the other side of the water but the scopes picked up this wader. Similar to sandpipers, these birds have a uniformly grey back and feathers with colourful yellow legs. This individual would not hold still for too long and kept disappearing from view, but fun to watch. We decided to head around to try and get a better look, a little closer, but also to try and snap some pictures.

We reached the point to turn onto a separate path to try and get closer but it had been fenced off and even though there was a working gate on one fence, the next (about 3 meters away) was not gated. So we decided to try and go around in the other direction. However, where we were was very close to the mangroves, so we stopped to look at the mangrove crabs and mud-skippers before trying the other route.

It had gotten very hot by now. Whilst walking between the ponds we were fully exposed to the suns rays. I had, sensibly, decided on wearing a black t-shirt today…not a smart move. I was hot. There was also no breeze to cool us down, so as we walked or looked at birds, I could feel sweat on my arms collecting. May is the hottest month out here and I think that I might suffer a little in the coming months.

We walked around the pools of water, accidently scaring away the Tattler that seemed to have made its way over to us as we were looking at the crabs. So we saw which direction it had travelled in and followed.

We walked down to a dead end which was where I saw many herons and bitterns last time, but the only birds present this time were green-backed herons and stilts. So we returned to the path to try and find where the tattler had gone. As Paul walked he seemed to have disturbed it and noticed it flew up but then lost it in the air. I was at the back of the three of us now and though I did not see it take off, I did see a wader fly into my field of view and land on another bund. So I investigated this bird. I told Paul what I was looking at, but had lost it as it had walked around foraging. He had a look and within moments had found it. It was the Tattler again. This time a lot closer, so the scopes could get a really good view. Still too far for a photo mind.

By now we had reached the plantation which separates the fish ponds from the beach. We had previously tried flushing Scandinavian Nightjars here before, and with three of us, we could spread out further. So in a line, the three of us walked through the plantation, trying to spot this bird. But unfortunately we were unsuccessful. Before we tried again, we went out onto the beach and watched the sea. It was calm today and flatter than a pancake. The sea was in this time (unlike last time where it was heading out and we got some good views of Kentish Plovers) so there was no bird life around. So we got back into a line and tried to find the Nightjars again….and again were unsuccessful. Maybe next time.

We returned to the path and decided to walk back around, connecting back up with the road and returning to the car that way. On the return we saw a bamboo walkway but was informed that it was broken and we could not walk on it. So we walked back and got to the road a lot quicker than I thought we would. Whilst travelling back to the car, Paul pointed out a plant that was growing on the side of the road. It had segmented leaves and wasn’t at all very big. He explained that this little plant (a name of which escapes me now) had a great defence mechanism. When it is disturbed, say by a hungry goat, the leaves curl up. Their undersides are dark in colour and when they are all curled up they look dead. This then confuses the goat, that doesn’t want to eat a dead plant, and it leaves it alone. Paul was there on the side of the road gently pulling at all of them to show us. Very interesting and something I found interesting with regards to plants, a new for me!

We returned to the car and then made our way home. It was only 9:15 but in the sun and heat it had felt longer and much more exhausting. Today has been a great short break away at the seaside looking at birds. It also made up for the weekend birding trip, which I had to dip because I was ill. I must remember my bucket and spade next time.

* I believe she will also be blogging about today’s trip. However, she never tells me what she is writing about so who knows?? You can check this out at http://anaturaliststail.wordpress.com