A good day at Candaba with Mark Wallbank. We got there just after sunrise on a very sunny and cloudless morning which turned out to be an absolute scorcher. There was a lot of water around, with large expanses of flooded grassland. The ricefields were being prepared for the next crop, and many were in the process of being ploughed leaving large expanses of wet mud. This activity was attracting huge numbers of birds, particularly all the
Egrets (Great, Intermediate, Little and
Cattle), Whiskered Terns and
Barn Swallows all of which were very numerous in the farmed areas. The muddy fields were not as productive for waders, with the only birds present
being
Black-winged Stilt (100+),
Wood Sandpiper, Long-toed Stint (1),
Greenshank (5) and
Snipe sp (10+).
The flooded grassland had a huge flock of ducks. We estimated at least 10,000 birds. The largest proportion were
Garganey (5000+), with
Philippine Duck (4,000+),
Tufted Duck (200+) and
Shoveller (200+) making up the rest. There were only a few individuals of other species, with a dozen or so
Eurasian Teal, 3
Pintail and a lone female
Wigeon.
Other migrants included a pair of
White-shouldered Starlings were near the mayor's house and several
Arctic Warblers in the trees.
Aside from this Candaba was its usual self, with amazing numbers of roosting
Grey Heron, Purple Heron and
Black-crowned Night-Heron around the mayor's pond, and loads of rallids including
Barred Rail, Buff-banded Rail, White-browed Crake, White-breasted Waterhen, Purple Swamp-Hen and
Common Moorhen. Yellow Bitterns were in good numbers, but only one
Cinnamon Bittern.
Male
Red Turtle Dove. Loads of these beautiful doves today.
Oriental Reed Warbler
Juvenile
Lesser Coucal catching the early morning sun
Zebra Doves
Part of a large concentration of
Egrets.
Great, Intermediate and
Little Egrets here in big numbers, with plenty of
Cattle Egrets as well.
(Philippine) Purple Swamp-Hen
Wandering Whistling Duck
Purple Heron
Part of a huge flock of duck. Mostly wintering
Garganey, there was also a large proportion of resident
Philippine Duck, as well as a few other species.
Arctic Warbler
The tail-end of a snake crossing our path on the way out
Great photos! The last time we were there, we were able to see quite a big monitor lizard crossing the road! =)
ReplyDeleteAny sign of any STREAKED REED WARBLERS at Candaba? There have been very few recent sightings anywhere , I believe..... but Candaba is supposedly (formerly at least) a good winter site for this species?
ReplyDeleteThe most recent record was a bird ringed there in April a couple of years ago. The area of suitable habitat has been almost completely destroyed at Candaba, with only very small patches of reeds in scattered locations. It's a bird I have yet to catch up with, and I feel my chances of finding it now are slim to none.
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