Guided Bird Watching with Wild Bird Club of the Philippines, in LPPCHEA
By: Ramon Q. Gayas Jr. (Ser Montaineer)
 |
| AT THE MARKER OF LPPCHEA |
One year ago, I joined the Wild Bird Club of the Philippines’ (WBCP) Guided Bird Watching trip in U.P Diliman. It was a nice experience that enabled me to see birds like the White-collared Kingfisher and Black-naped oriole for the first time. I’ve made to continue this recreation after, and I would say I am now enjoying it evenly like how I indulge to my other outdoor activities. Sometimes, I do DIY bird watching and practice bird photography in our backyard, nature parks, commercial gardens and some woodlands near to my workplace. As I am getting more interested about birds, I joined the club again on their Guided Bird Watching event last September 09, 2018, at the Las Pinas-Paranaque Critical Habitat and Ecotourism Area (LPPCHEA), a Wetlands Ecosystem situated at the south of Manila Bay. To equip myself for that trip, I brought out some of the Solognac stuff usable for birding from my department, Wild Discovery, Decathlon Philippines. A khaki hat to protect me from sun, green breathable t-shirt to blend myself with the surroundings, waterproof boots for an hour of walking, and 10x42 Binoculars for watching.
 |
| GUIDELINES FOR VISITORS |
Together with my girlfriend Heide Banday, we left home (from Merville, Paranaque) past 5 in the morning to meet the WBCP in Macapagal Blvd. A short registration and carpool briefing after, we headed to our birding venue, where we reached at around 7 in the morning. At this point, the members of the club huddled us, distributed binoculars and gave instructions how to use it, and reminded everyone to be silent not to scare the birds and have a successful birding. They also briefly discussed the Bird Watching opportunity in the country, which impressed me to knew that the Philippines is a home for diverse feathered creatures, owing to have a vast record of 695 avian species consists of resident birds, migrants and 241 endemic (only found in the Philippines). Then, our birding quest begin!
 |
| PARTICIPANTS ON BIRD WATCHING |
The quest initially greeted with birds in flight, which identified by the club members as the Cattle egrets. Thereafter, Jops and some participants took advanced on trails. While, the other joiners goes with Mike - including me and my gf - we stayed and resume to watch the other birds can view at the spot of our first sighting. From there, Mike led us to the bird watching station where we saw the overlooking mangrove swamp showcasing numerous Egrets and Whiskered terns flying and wading. We also contemplated - via spotting scope - some perched Common Sandpiper, and Gray-tailed tattler when we surveyed the other spots in the area.
 |
| WATCHING BIRD VIA SPOTTING SCOPE |
In the continuation of the quest inward the LPPCHEA, there are instances that both group congregated in one location and shares bird encounter along the way. Several birds species appeared onwards such as; Spotted dove, Chestnut munias, and Brown shrike with food in mouth, which repeatedly spanked its prey - a bee as identified by Jops - on a tree branch using its beak. Upon walking the trail leading to the conjoin ponds, we beheld the Black-crowned night herons, from juvenile to adult. The White-collared kingfisher and Philippine Pied fantail which occasionally chirped emerged on the latter part, followed with a Yellow-vented bulbul. I also noticed many Eurasian tree sparrows. Interestingly, speaking of bird’s call, the sounds coming from Zebra dove and Golden-bellied gerygone lingered throughout the quest. While, some members of the club recognised calls of Clamorous reed warbler and Barred rail. Surprisingly, some Gerygone finally revealed themselves during our debrief (almost 10am). Though, it was only few seconds of appearance, these tiny birds flew from somewhere, and jumped over the cable, rewarded us a fun finale.
 |
| SPOTTED DOVE, FRAMED VIA SPOTTING SCOPE |
Overall, I am grateful for the Guided Bird Watching trip I had with the Wild Bird Club of the Philippines in the LPPCHEA. The combination of good weather and accommodating folks made me had a very pleasant birding experience. While, the birds encounter left delights to my birding eyes. No regret if I missed watching the other bird species in the place, as this could be a great reason for me to go back there in the future.
 |
| BIRD WATCHING FIELD GUIDE |
