After practically two days of looking through my September 30 shots, I was getting frustrated that I could not find a single Red Knot. I was already thinking of going back and birding from the shore using a spotting scope that I purchased two years ago (and have never used), plus my camera and binoculars. I knew that Gwen So went to Tanza that day (October 2nd) so I sent her a message asking how it was. She replied, "ang daming ibon!". I also messaged Atty Ramon Quisumbing who I knew was also there that morning. Ramon called back saying that he got 5 to 6 lifers including the Little Gull, a rare migrant. Meanwhile, Gwen was convincing me to go the following day. "May mga curlews din", magic words to my ears!. Still I was undecided so I told her, I will message you later tonight. (Pakipot pa!). She replied that she was retiring early and will message me at 5am if she will push through. I continued working on my computer but I also messaged Alfie of DENR Tanza that I was going the following day.
I woke up a bit later than I intended but still got to Tanza around 6:30am. Unlike our two previous trips, I did not ride the local gondolas but instead went out into the reclaimed area about 100 meters from the boardwalk. I found several birders there namely Gwen So, Ruben Bala (whom I met at LPPCHEA way back in 2012, and have not seen since then), Jelaine Gan, Irene Dy, and Cecil Morella, whom I met for the first time. I quickly set up both my camera and spotting scope on separate tripods.
Double Barrel
While I was setting up, Irene already found the Little Gull and she was gracious enough to let me look through her scope so I could see it. The problem was, I could not find it using my scope (hahaha). I kept trying but the bird was soon gone. But I was so happy to see about nine (9) Curlews and by my count at least two are Eurasian Curlews as distinguished by their cleaner or whiter rumps/bottoms. The rest were Far Eastern Curlews.
Curlews marked with a red arrowhead
After some time, Irene mentioned that she saw a White-winged Tern. Ruben came over to look at her scope. When he acquired in his scope, I looked and found the bird beside a Mountain Dew plastic bottle. Went back to my scope, looked for it (ang daming bote ng Mountain Dew!), found it after a few minutes. Then pointed my camera, cannot find it, looked again through my scope, then my bins, and back to my camera, found it, focus, press the shutter and within a couple of seconds, the birds in that spot flew. I kept my finger on the shutter a little longer for good measure. Thank you Irene and Ruben!
White-winged Tern - the bird beside the Mountain Dew bottle, whose black head looks like it is wearing a headphone. Lifer # 464, Philippine list #324; 2021 #12
White-winged Tern in flight
Speaking of birds-in-flight, the birds would take to the air without warning, fly around a bit and settle back down. We were treated to this spectacle several times that morning.
A spectacular sight that I will never get tired of seeing. Hopefully, the future generations enjoy the same experience.
We were soon joined by Harry Miller and his wife (whose name escapes me at the moment). Mads Bajarias also arrived (it was the first time that I also met him) and set up his scope between me and Gwen. Meanwhile, I kept scanning the birds hoping to find a single Red Knot. But it's akin to trying to find the proverbial needle in a haystack.
Some of the birds at Tanza that morning
But experienced birdwatchers are really good at spotting birds. Mads soon muttered Red Knot... and Ruben and I had a look. I went back to my scope and luckily, was able to find it and take a few docu shots. Thank you Mads!
While waiting for any sighting of the Little Gull, a handful of birds were frolicking nearer to us.
Black-winged Stilt
Little Egret (why couldn't the Curlews be this close, or the Chinese Egrets that we spotted earlier)
An egret landed fairly near our spot and my heart raced when I saw the yellow-green legs, and I let go of my bins, grabbed the camera and started firing away and blurting "Chinese!". Gwen answered, "saan?". To which I replied, "sa harap". I think I heard Mads agreeing with me.
The Chinese Egret landed on the water and started walking towards the shore and soon it was strutting along the trash covered mudflat.
Then without any warning, one of the Little Egrets got aggressive and attacked the Chinese Egret which ran away only to circle back and resume feeding near the beach.
Little Egret chasing away the Chinese Egret
CIF - Chinese Egret in flight
I was very happy with these shots because all my previous photos of this bird are from a distance and are of the docu kind. Among my "bakit" list for this migration season was a decent photo of the Chinese Egret and I had several action shots! Salamat po Lord.
As the morning wore on, I was starting to lose hope of seeing the Little Gull clearly and getting a even just a docu shot. But, luck, (and several sharp-eyed birders) were with me that day because Mads soon muttered, Little Gull. And he generously allowed me to look through his scope and after some effort, I was able to find it in mine. Thank you Mads and Irene for this lifer.
Little Gull, the white bird with a black dot on the side of its head. Lifer #466; Philippine list #326; 2021 #14
A white plumpish bird landed on the shore in front of us. At first I thought it was a Black-headed Gull but Mads corrected me and said that it was a Gull-billed Tern.
Gull-billed Tern
The last bird I photographed that day was an immature Whiskered Tern whose plumage is more interesting than the adult.
Whiskered Tern, immature
I decided to call it a day a little before 10am happy and contented that all my goals for the day were met. Thank you Lord for life's simple pleasures.
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