Opening Salvo

On January 7th, Joel Dayao messaged me that there was a fruiting Malapapaya tree at our favorite birding spot in Baras, Rizal. And that a dozen Philippine Cuckoo Doves and a couple of Luzon Hornbills were frequenting said tree. Neither bird are lifers but the Cuckoo Dove is a personal favorite and I did not have a frameable shot yet. So early in the morning of January 9th, I was headed to Baras with Queen as my playlist (as per my habit when going birding). But a series of unfortunate events derailed my trip. The first was being flagged down by an MMDA motorcycle cop due to a busted tail light (on a Sunday morning, what are the odds?). After some discussion, I volunteered to just go home so I made a U-turn on the next slot. But instead of going home, I went to McDo, ordered drive-thru, and parked. My plan was to wait until there is daylight so that I won't need lights anymore. The next twenty or so minutes was spent eating my 2-pc hotcake washed down by hot coffee and then playing a couple of puzzle games on my phone. When it was light enough, I turned on the ignition, the starter gave a couple of revolutions and died. Dead batt. Googled Motolite Delivery and the first three numbers were not picking up. The fourth cannot be reached. Finally, the fifth number answered, a shop somewhere in Cainta, and yes they have my battery model in stock. After another 15-18 minutes, the rider arrived, test the old battery, remove, replace, start (one click!). And then we had to look for an ATM because I did not have enough cash. Found one nearby but only one machine was working and the guy ahead of me was taking so long. By the time I was able to withdraw, pay him, get the receipt and the warranty card, it was almost 8am. With my momentum disrupted, I decided to go home.

And due to Omicron, it was not until January 17 before I mustered enough courage to go to Banawe and have my tail lights fixed (the bulb cost P30 each). So on January 18, I was finally able to visit the fruiting Malapapaya tree. I got to the site a little past 6:30am and was joined by fellow birder, Nelson Sibal, (Nel Si in FB). The target birds were already there and before long we were blasting away. Here are some of the images I was able to create.

Philippine Cuckoo Dove

The tree also attracted other birds namely the Philippine Bulbul, Stripe-headed Rhabdornis, and the ever present Yellow-vented Bulbul

Philippine Bulbul

Stripe-headed Rhabdornis

Nel Si left in search of the Luzon Hornbill. I stayed longer hoping that said bird will visit this tree but it never did. At least not that day. When the doves left, I went to the Bridge of Alicante to look for the Savanna Nightjar. Along the way, I saw the usual suspects - Cattle Egret, Paddyfield Pipit, Zebra Dove, Spotted Dove, Pied Buschat, and White-breasted Wood Swallow.

Striated Grassbird

Pied Bushchat, male

Pied Bushchat, male

When I reached the clearing where the Savanna Nightjar has been seen since November, I took out my bins and began scanning the ground but no matter how hard I tried, I could not find it. I did see a couple of Little Ringed Plovers.

Little-ringed Plover

After half an hour with no results, I was ready to give up. In fact I was already walking back to my car when Nel Si arrived and within a couple of minutes, he saw the bird quietly sitting on the ground next to a big rock while pretending to be a rock!

Savanna Nightjar

After getting our fill with the Nightjar, we went to the water tank area but there was a group of people cleaning the street so we did not proceed anymore. I drove around hoping to see any other interesting bird but all I saw were a couple of Brown Shrikes.

Brown Shrike

It was already past 10am at this point and I wanted to go home already. But I made one last pass at the Malapapaya tree just in case the Hornbill was there. It was still a no show but I did find a couple of Coletos.

Coleto

After getting a couple of decent shots, I decided to call it a day and started my trip home. But on the way out, I saw a bunch of Rufous-crowned Bee Eaters so I stopped to snap a few.

Rufous-crowned Bee Eater

And finally I was on the way home. I stopped by a roadside vendor to buy some suman for the house and cashew nuts for me to munch on. Thank you Lord for this productive birding day. And of course very I am grateful to the Lord (and the MMDA cop) that I experienced my dead batt in McDo along Marcos Highway and not some difficult to find street in Baras, which may or may not have cell signal.