We were scheduled to visit LPPCHEA on Thursday, October 21 and Tanza on Friday, October 22. But the sudden appearance of a rare migrant on Wednesday afternoon changed all that. Homer Pialda and Steve Albano were unavailable for Thursday while Conrad Olayres' visa covered only LPPCHEA :-). Thus only Ed Santos and I were able to twitch this rare migrant.
I first woke up at 3am but for some reason I dozed off again and when I next opened by eyes it was already 4:45am. Took a quick shower, shaved, brush teeth, attach contact lens, etc etc. I arrived at Tanza 6:25 and was met by Cheta Chua who promptly informed me that the target birds (there were four of them), had already left. We waited until 10am but they never returned. Aarrrrgh!!!! On the plus side, I met some birding friends that I have not seen for some time namely Prof Bert Madrigal, Djop Tabaranza, Roy Daantos, Gwen So, Bambi Martinez, Dius de Jesus, Mark Villa, and Jasmin Meren. I also met Justin de Ramos, OIC of DENR Tanza Marine Tree Park, for the first time.
That night, I went to bed 9ish and when I was already lying down, I remembered that I had to do a letter to our Mayor regarding regarding Coron's reopening protocols. But getting up would mean sleeping late again so I decided to go ahead and sleep. Woke up at 1:30am, did my computer work and was off to Tanza by 4am. Met Alfie of DENR and Loel Lamela at the SMC gate by 5am and were in place and set-up by 5:10. A grey pick-up arrived carrying Prof Bert and Roy who also missed the bird the previous day. By 5:40am, I received a message from Bambi, asking if the ducks were already present (they also missed it and were on the way). After about five minutes, I heard a muted cheer from Alfie and he was behind me pointing to where a single duck was. I saw it on the opposite bank in the shadows. Fire away!
I fumbled for my phone and messaged Bambi that the duck was already here! Five minutes later, I saw their van arrive and they wisely stopped some distance and probably scanned the area and took insurance shots. I appreciated this gesture because rushing in might have spooked the bird. They slowly proceeded after a few minutes.
Distance, low light, and shooting against the sun are always photographic challenges. But this is a rare lifer so I will take any shot I can get. Common Shelduck, female, a rare migrant to the Philippines. This is only the 6th recorded sighting in the country. Credit goes to Justin de Ramos of DENR who first saw four Common Shelducks in the afternoon of October 20.
All the birders present - Loel, Bert, Roy, Bambi, Moleen, Mark Villa, were now sporting silly grins and feeling giddy at bagging a rare lifer. High fives and fist bumps were exchanged. Then a relatively short time, about 15-20 minutes from its first appearance, the duck flew and landed maybe another 30m away where it stayed for about 45-50 minutes. Then some kids on the opposite bank arrived and must have spooked the duck because it suddenly looked up from its feeding and flew towards the water. I tried capturing it in flight but I already had my TC attached so focusing was a bit slower. I did manage a backlit shot as it landed.
Silhouette of a rare migrant
Common Shelduck, female
It must have stayed another 10 minutes or so at the far end of the pond. Loel and I were already contemplating moving to another vantage point with better light but the duck flew and did not return. (Before noon, it was spotted by Bambi's group at the mudflat near the shore and the ruins).
With not much birds to shoot, Loel and I decided to call it a day and left a little after 8am. Salamat sa lifer Lord!
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