Same Spots, New Gear

 

After returning from a whirlwind trip to Palawan, Cambodia, and Singapore, I had a few weeks back home in Sorsogon to catch up on work and sleep- but also of course to try out my new lens. I confess that I can get a little bit lazy with birding when I'm back at home, partly because it's usually my only down time between travel for work and birds and partly because I've definitely hit diminishing marginal returns with Sorsogon birding. As I've discussed before on this blog, my home province has much lower bird density and diversity than it does considering how much good bird habitat is left, for reasons that still aren't entirely clear to me, and this is another thing that can keep me from going out. Still, there's no better motivation to get back to my local patch than a new lens that I was itching to put through its paces. And what better way to try it out with some of the most difficult birding in the world? 

I've been using my new 150-400mm lens for about a month and a half now, and I can confirm what most everyone else who owns it has been saying: it really is one of the best wildlife lenses ever created. Certainly the best Olympus has ever come out with, and quite likely almost unmatched by any other brand in terms of reach, versatility, image quality, and portability. And it had better be, considering how much it cost (although, in fairness, it's somehow cheaper than other comparable lenses)! This isn't really a gear blog at all so I won't go into too many details, but the main differences/advantages I've noticed over my old 300mm lens are:

• The reach is obviously a big difference; 400 millimeters is noticeably longer than 300 (800mm versus 600mm in full frame terms), and even better the lens includes a drop-in 1.25x teleconverter that turns it into a 500mm lens with just a flick of a lever. There's a small drop-off in sharpness with the teleconverter engaged, but it's often worth it to get closer to distant birds, which in the Philippines is most birds.
• On the other hand, a zoom means I can go wider if I want, for large or close-by subjects. I don't usually need to zoom out in the Philippines, where most of my photo subjects are small birds far away from me, but I imagine it will be very useful for things like mammals or large birds at some point.
• One of the primary selling points of the 300mm f/4 was the in-lens image stabilization, which complements Olympus' in-body image stabilization for extra steadiness. The 150-400mm is somehow even more powerfully stabilized, allowing me to get sharp pictures as 1/20 of a second or less even at full zoom. If you were to tell a photographer 20 years ago that you were getting sharp pictures handholding a 1000mm lens at 1/20 of a second they would probably accuse you of witchcraft.
• The autofocus is even faster than in the 300mm lens, which was no slouch in that respect. It's even good enough that I can use the bird detection autofocus on my camera, with noticeably better results. It's still not *that* great, and in general the lens does expose some of the weaknesses of my camera body- I made the mistake of buying an E-M1x last year, a month before Olympus came out with the new OM-1, which is apparently both cheaper and far better than the E-M1x. Ah well.
• The new lens also competes with or surpasses the 300mm in most of its other strong points, like sharpness and macro focusing. Obviously it's somewhat larger and heavier, but still by far the smallest and lightest 300-1000mm-equivalent zoom lens you're going to find anywhere. 

Anyway, enough with the boring technical stuff, and on to the pictures.

My first outing after going back was to my usual patch at the Cabid-an Fishponds. I dared to get up early on a workday and get there at sunrise, only to find it was a grey, cloudy day that was dark enough that it forced me to either crank up the ISO or put the image stabilization to the test with slow shutter speeds. I tried out the former on a friendly Paddyfield Pipit that was moving far too fast for a slow shutter, and the latter on a very cute juvenile Brown Shrike that was perched nicely on an exposed stick. There were also lots of the usual waterbirds and a nice selection of ducks including Wandering Whistling Ducks, Philippine Ducks, and to my surprise a pair of Northern Shovelers, a first site record and only my second time seeing that species in Sorsogon. My parting bird on the way out was a nice little Common Kingfisher that perched very obligingly for photos.

Paddyfield Pipit

Brown Shrike- this picture taken at 1/60s at 1000mm equivalent zoom!

Philippine Duck

Northern Shovelers

A very friendly Common Kingfisher

Common Bluetail

The wonderfully-named Darth Maul Bug (Spilostethes hospes)

Wandering Pennant

Trigonodes hyppasia

Chalciope mygdon

Having a new lens also inspired me to take some pictures during my usual daily 10 minutes of birding at our balcony. We don't have any yard to speak of at our house, but the balcony does look out into an unassuming little field that has some of the usual Philippines open country birds. I've managed to record almost 60 species there over the past year, which is pretty respectable for brief periods of birding from a single spot in mediocre-to-bad urban habitat. I've had some surprisingly good birds come through like Philippine Cuckoo-dove and Stripe-headed Rhabdornis, but mostly it's the usual trash birds:

Barred Rails are definitely the most entertaining backyard bird, although they're usually only heard

One of hundreds of Cattle Egrets that fly past the balcony at sunset, along with Intermediate Egrets and Javan Pond Herons

I caught this Brown Shrike impaling a frog on a tree branch once so that's cool

Lowland White-eyes are dirt common in coastal areas, but it's still nice to have a backyard white-eye

Yellow-vented Bulbuls are the epitome of a trash bird, although they might eventually be split to become a Philippine endemic so that's nice

Common Emerald Dove is one of the best-looking backyard birds, although it's usually just a flyby

White-breasted Woodswallows are incredibly cute when they cuddle up next to each other

Ever feel like you're kind of third wheeling?

Zebra Doves are, well, Zebra Doves

My second proper outing was to the Buhatan Fishponds, which are less accessible but have somewhat better habitat and bird diversity than the Cabid-an Fishponds. On the walk in were numerous Scaly-breasted Munias and White-bellied Munias feeding on the budding rice stalks, and inside the fishponds I had a chance to photograph an extremely bold Golden-headed Cisticola. In the mangroves were the usual Golden-bellied Gerygones and Lowland White-eyes, as well as migratory Arctic Warblers and Kamchatka Leaf Warblers, which were nice enough to call and make themselves identifiable. The biggest surprise was a single Black-tailed Godwit hanging out with Pacific Golden Plovers and other shorebirds in a drained fishpond, a very uncommon migrant bird here and a new year bird for me. I ended the morning with 58 species, a respectable total although much lower than it should be considering how much good bird habitat is in the fishponds.

White-bellied Munia

Scaly-breasted Munia

Golden-headed Cisticola

Golden-bellied Gerygone

Arctic Warbler, the most common migrant phylloscopus in the Philippines

Kamchatka Leaf Warbler, distinguishable from Arctic Warbler only by call

Black-tailed Godwit with a Pacific Golden Plover

Pacific Golden Plover

Female Olive-backed Sunbird

Common Moorhen

Some kind of red bug (dysdercus sp. maybe)

Another Wandering Pennant

On November 13 I finally got the chance to go up to my usual spot on the Pocdol Mountains, which I had been neglecting for months. The morning started with a noisy Brown-breasted Kingfisher, a hungry Guaiabero, and a foraging Scale-feathered Malkoha from one of my usual forest lookouts. A little bit afterwards I had a responsive Kamchatka Leaf Warbler and a Balicassiao that refused to be photographed. I decided to explore a little side trail I'd visited only once before, and was rewarded with a rare-for-the-area mixed flock with Blue-headed Fantail, Lemon-throated Leaf Warbler, Sulphur-billed Nuthatch, and a surprise Black-crowned Babbler, none of which I could photograph. I saw a passing Rough-crested Malkoha and yet another Scale-feathered Malkoha, suggesting that this trail was actually very good indeed for birds. On the way back down the road I had a preening female Philippine Pygmy Woodpecker and a typically noisy family group of Philippine Serpent Eagles.

Brown-breasted Kingfisher

Guaiaberos are much less cute when they unhinge their beaks to take a really big bite

Scale-feathered Malkoha

Kamchatka Leaf Warbler

Record shot of a Rough-crested Malkoha

Yet another Scale-feathered Malkoha

Philippine Pygmy Woodpecker

Philippine Serpent Eagle

Common Swift (Borbo cinnara)

Some kind of cool moth (Mocis sp. I think)

Pyrops lautus, an extremely cool endemic lanternfly

Moduza urdaneta, my first time seeing this species in the Pocdol Mountains

I made a return trip to the same spot the next weekend, and was rewarded with one of the best mornings of birding I've had in Sorsogon. The main road was fairly quiet so I headed up quickly to the trail I had explored the previous day. That proved to be an excellent idea, as it was full of bird activity. There were lots of Philippine Bulbuls and Balicassiaos shrieking up a storm, along with more distant Coletos and Luzon Hornbills. A small group of birds proved to be a trio of male Flaming Sunbirds chasing each other through the shrubbery, while Buzzing Flowerpeckers were feeding nearby. A flash of red going up a tree alerted me to a new bird, and what a new bird it was: a Luzon Flameback, a scarce endemic woodpecker and a first record for Sorsogon! I hadn't seen a Luzon Flameback since 2017, so this practically felt like a lifer to me. It turned out to be a pair of birds, which I spent the next half hour trying to photograph as they hopped from one tree trunk to another right in front of me. It was easily my favorite bird of the month, and one of the best endemic woodpeckers in general.

Balicassiao

Philippine Bulbul

Flaming Sunbird

Buzzing Flowerpecker

Luzon Flameback!

Cuming's Sphenomorphus (Otosaurus cumingi)

Philippine Flying Dragon (Draco spilopterus)

On November 24 I made another visit to the Cabid-an Fishponds, this time in the late afternoon. It was much better light for photography, so I was much better able to take advantage of the new lens. I hoped to find the resident Little Ringed Plovers on the stretch of road they had been hanging out in, but alas only had a flyover from one bird. Asian Palm Swifts and Barn Swallows were also doing lots of flyovers, and several presumed Swinhoe's Snipe flushed from the tall grass. At the fishponds themselves there were lots of photo ops for Whiskered Terns and Common Sandpiper.

Asian Palm Swift

Little Ringed Plover

Common Sandpiper

Whiskered Tern

The local fishpond puppy is not a bird, but still very cute

On November 27 I finally managed to convince Nikki to join me for another trip to BacMan, our last birding outing before heading out on another birding adventure out of the province. Along the main road we had Luzon Hornbills, Elegant Tits, Blue-headed Fantails, and Lemon-throated Leaf Warblers, none of which wanted to pose for pictures. Down on the little path, my favorite birding spot, both Yellow-breasted Fruit Dove and Cream-bellied Fruit Dove were calling, and the former was nice enough to pose for a picture. The most interesting bird of the day was actually an enthusiastically singing Lemon-throated Leaf Warbler, who I was able to finally record. I say interesting for two reasons: first, the Bicol-endemic sorsogonensis subspecies has never really been photographed well, and second because this bird's song seemed noticeably different from the songs of birds further north in Luzon, where most of the recordings come from. Unfortunately there's very few recordings of this species from anywhere, but I'm beginning to suspect there may be some subspecific variation in vocalizations, which would of course be very interesting.... Hopefully other birders can record songs from the subspecies in Cebu and on Negros, which as far as I know have never been recorded.

Elegant Tit

Yellow-breasted Fruit Dove

The rarely-observed sorsogonensis subspecies of Lemon-throated Leaf Warbler

Some kind of little weevil (Coptorhynchus sp. I think)

Luzon Striped Ringlets

Decorative Vleispider

And with that it was off to Manila, where Nikki had a work event and then we had a road trip through Northern Luzon planned. But that definitely can wait for the next blog post.