Oystercatchup

 

In general I'm very, very happy to be living as far away from Manila as I possibly can; life in the provinces is better on just about every level, and Manila is just a terrible city. The one downside, however, is that the disproportionate number of birders based there (probably at least 90% of the Philippines birding community) means that rare birds are also much more likely to be found there. I go through Manila a fair amount, but it's almost never around the time that other people have found good birds I need for my Philippines list. 

One very annoying miss for me was the Eurasian Oystercatcher that showed up on the Tanza mudflats in February of this year, and proceeded to stick around for much longer than expected. It was only the third record for the Philippines, and one I needed both for my Philippines list and for my overall life list. I tried for it once in March, but managed to show up at a period of tide when the birds were all hidden in the scrubby mangrove forest, and completely dipped on it. Improbably, it somehow stuck around all the way into May, meaning that I had another chance later in the year when I happened to be passing through Manila once again, following Nikki on a work trip. Once it had been confirmed to be still present, I started making plans to visit on April 25. As it turned out Ens had also never seen it, so we joined forces and headed out early in the morning to look for it. 

The oystercatcher had, of course, shown up in the Tanza mudflats, which is by far the best shorebirding place in Manila despite being also one of the most depressing places I've ever birded in. I complained about this last time I visited, but it's deeply annoying that such a huge concentration of shorebirds shows up in what's essentially a giant puddle filled with sewage and toxic waste when there's so much better habitat elsewhere in the country, but the birds want what they want. Even if it means hanging out in front of the heavy machinery in the process of filling in Manila Bay to create land for even more malls, casinos and airports. 

It took us a bit to find the entrance to the bike trail that the oystercatcher had last been seen from, and it meant driving Ens' truck down a dodgy dirt road in a shanty town before we could find a parking spot. Manila has bike trails, but they make them as difficult to access as possible because of course they do. The bike trail went along a dike on the eastern end of the inlet at Tanza, and with my scope we could see across to the mangrove area. The tide was rising by the time we got there, and we scanned for quite a while with no sign of our target. Just as we were about to give up, I checked a tiny sandbar a bit away from the largest group of waders and there it was- Eurasian Oystercatcher! 

Eurasian Oystercatcher hanging out with Black-winged Stilts

It was a relief for both of us to finally catch up with it, but it also wasn't exactly the most satisfying views ever. Thankfully, it's good to be connected to the right people in the Manila birding community: a few messages in a Facebook group chat (thanks Gwen), and 15 minutes later we got a call saying there was a boat waiting for us on the other side of the mudflats that could get us closer to the oystercatcher. We headed back to the car at the beginning of the bike path, enjoying the Whiskered Terns and Gull-billed Terns along the way.

Gull-billed Tern

We drove to the other side of the mudflats, where a public housing development gives way to a lifeless wasteland of infilled sand, trash, and construction equipment. Inexplicably the DENR has an encampment on a small mangrove-filled barrier island on the other side of the infill. I'm not sure what they're doing there as it clearly doesn't involve stopping the ongoing destruction of the last coastal habitats in Manila, but it does mean that one of the birders in the DENR (thanks Justin!) knows a local fisherman who takes birders out in the lagoon for better looks at the waders. As it turns out, the "boat" was in fact a tiny, rickety wooden canoe that could barely fit the two of us along with the fisherman. 

Our fancy ride

We gingerly got into the boat, and found that the Eurasian Oystercatcher was, in fact, perched just nearby on a quickly-disappearing sandbar along with some Black-winged Stilts. We got a little bit closer, but we were only able to get a few pictures before the oystercatcher took off, probably because its perch was now submerged. We instead entertained ourselves with pictures of the Black-headed Gulls and Little Egrets. As we boated out into the middle of the lagoon the oystercatcher flew by us, giving a chance for some (distant) flight shots.

Eurasian Oystercatcher

Black-headed Gull

Little Egret

Eurasian Oystercatcher

Our fisherman friend took us across the lagoon until we got to the area of scrubby mangrove saplings (possibly the remnants of one of many misguided mangrove planting initiatives) where the waders were hanging out. It took us a little bit to find the Eurasian Oystercatcher chilling by the side of the water, and we were able to get closer for much better picture. Along with the oystercatcher, a bonus rarity was the flock of Pied Avocets wintering there- the third or fourth year they've showed up in Manila despite being officially considered a rarity in the Philippines. A nice year tick for me was an Asian Dowitcher transitioning into summer plumage hanging out with the more-common Black-winged Stilt. The Pacific Golden-Plovers were also starting to molt into breeding plumage, and we even caught a few Great Knots and Red Knots, though most had migrated north toward Siberia by that point. Unfortunately there were no small birds, as a Little Stint had recently been reported from there.

Eurasian Oystercatcher

Pied Avocet

Pacific Golden Plovers (with a Great Knot and a couple of Lesser Sand Plovers)

Asian Dowitcher

Black-winged Stilt

It was cool getting closer than usual to the shorebirds for pictures, especially since they seem not to be nearly as spooked by boats as they are by people on foot. It was also a challenge, as the boat was very narrow and tippy and we had to move very carefully to avoid capsizing it. Eventually we decided we had enough pictures (and enough sunburns) to head back to the car. We got a couple of pictures of Whiskered Terns on the way back, and then Ens needed to return home for a family lunch and I had to go back to my hotel for a nap. It was a great way to add another bird to my Philippines list, and I do always enjoy shorebirding even when it's in the most depressing surroundings imaginable.

Whiskered Tern