Tale as old as time...

A rare bird appears, birders of all persuasions flock to the site, someone, usually the bird photographer/s is/are accused of wrong doing, a word war on socmed ensues. As usual no specific names are mentioned so the whole "sector" feels alluded to. Past incidents are recalled, old wounds are reopened, and feuds are rekindled. After a week or two, the noise dies down and everyone goes back to their routine, until the next skirmish.

Something like this happened recently. As far as I can piece together, an owl, a Boobook, was seen at the Ninoy Aquino Parks and Wildlife Center (NAPWC), on Monday, June 29th. That in itself would have been enough to lure birders to NAPWC. But the possibility that it is a migrant Northern Boobook (as opposed to a local Chocolate Boobook), made it even more attractive to many birders.

On the afternoon/evening of the third day, Wednesday, July 1st, someone made a written post and a video, calling out photographers who were at the park that morning for allegedly performing actions that created noise to make the owl open its eyes. As expected, those who were present vehemently denied said accusations. And the word war in socmed ensued as commenters chimed. As far as I know, the person who posted was not present at the park that day so whatever was posted was relayed by someone who was there. Said person was also asked (via FB comment) to name the alleged offender but the identity of the alleged offender was never revealed, (as far as I can glean).

Our group, the Pantyhose Gang, had previously set July 2nd as our Boobook day so we were at the park early the following day and as expected the topic was the current "FB war". And as always, in any sortie by photographers, WBPP or non-WBPP, the banter is always light and humurous, and the camarderie is warm, which, in my humble opinion, is how it should be. Birding should be fun and responsible and on the morning of July 2nd, between 630am to 10am, it definitely was.

By my count, there were about fourteen (14) photographers and one (1) watcher, plus the park staff and a couple of joggers, who stopped by to look at what we were shooting. Throughout that time, the owl stayed in one perch, unbothered by all the people gawking, Girlie, and other birds noisily calling, and the street noise of Quezon Ave (approx 100 meters away), which included ambulance sirens, and car horns. It was alternately sleeping, awake, stretching, and preening.

Here is my humble contribution to the Northern Boobook craze. All shots show eyes which opened on their own without anyone creating extraordinary noise or any other disturbance.

Northern Boobook (Ninox japonica), a lifer, for now. Although it could very well be the Chocolate Boobook (Ninox randi) but hopefully not!

We left the park a little after ten and headed to a nearby restaurant to celebrate Ed's recent birthday. It was also a reunion of sorts for PHG (minus Alex Ting).

Hototay for the win! Nice seeing you boys...

All in all, it was a pleasant morning filled with laughter and photos of a rather rare bird who was very accomodating in its perch and poses. Moments like this is why I keep birding. Till the next sortie...

Postscript: Having been a birder since 2012, I have lived through several of this skirmishes and have learned that almost nothing really gets resolved with Facebook quarels. After the noise dies down, the different parties are just as convinced in the justness of their cause. Perhaps if more people put a premium on accuracy and respect, things might be a little better.