Reuniting with Ruddy and friends
- chiwitchronicles
- 22 hours ago
- 2 min read
The construction and soft openning of Kusina Leticia meant I had to stay in Coron for a longer time but it also meant very little time for birding. The two-day bird tour last April 12 & 13 coupled with our in-house guide being on extended leave, gave me the perfect excuse to go birding. I had previously written in a previous post (the one about the Taiga Flycatcher), how apprehensive I was because our guests already came from Puerto Princessa but my worries gave way when I saw the Ruddy Kingfisher perched along the creek as if waiting to greet us. This bird has been scarce for the past few months so seeing it as the first bird of the day was a good omen. Sharing some images of Ruddy and friends...
After taking photos of the Ruddy, we went to Erwin's house to shoot the Blue Paradise Flycatcher.
Gping back to the kingfisher hide, I saw the resident Hooded Pitta hopping about and it was kind enough to perch on a rock and stay put a few seconds.
After the pitta left, we saw the Rufous-backed Kingfisher patiently waiting for some fish.
What a way to start the day, good looks on four major birds, and it was not yet even 9am! Throughout the day, there were two Ruddy Kingfishers that stayed on opposite sides of the hide.
One of them even showed off it's skyblue patch on its back...
Then it showed us its hunting skills...photos show two different instances
Aside from the Ruddy, the other Capayas regulars were also present...
Not to be outdone, the smaller kingfisher also showed off its hunting prowess.
Other birds that showed up included the Palawan Flowerpecker, Palawan Bulbul, Yellow-throated Leafbird, Ashy Drongo, Palawan Drongo, White-bellied Munia, Palawan Fairy Bluebird, Common Emerald Dove, and the Rufous-tailed Tailordbird,
Sometime around 230pm, we left the main hide and rode Erwin's tricycle to look for birds in the areas adjacent to Capayas. At Sitio Lamud, near the Municipal Slaughter House, we chanced upon a rare migrant, a Taiga Flycatcher. I am almost sure that this is a first record for the Calamianes and perhaps a fourth sighting in the Philippines (to be confirmed). Sharing only one photo here since said bird was already the subject of a separate post here (https://chiwitchronicles.wixsite.com/website/post/an-unexpected-mega-lifer)
We got back to the main hide a little past 3pm and celebrated our rare catch with delicious and ice cold halo-halo (part of the My Blue Backpack treat to its valued guests!).
The rest of the afternoon was spent watching the two kingfishers go about their business.
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