Striated Grassbird

Striated Grassbird

Most birds are specialists. There are birds that prefer beaches or mountains or forests. There are birds that only eat fish or insects or nectar. The same is true of the birds found in the village. There are the garden birds that have adapted to humans and make their homes in our gardens. These birds sip nectar from our flowering plants, peck at the fruit from our fruiting trees, pick at the insects in the yard, and even build nests in our bushes. They will even visit our birdbaths and become tame enough to be fed. There are the water birds that are usually found along the creeks in the village, and occasionally near a pond or even a swimming pool. These birds will focus most of their attention on hunting for food in the creek.

The Striated Grassbird (Megalurus palustris) is an interesting bird because as its name implies it is usually found in grasslands and rice fields. In the village, the equivalent of the grasslands are the vacant lots. You will not come across a Striated Grassbird in your back yard. Unless of course your back yard is covered in cogon and other wild grasses!

In vacant lots, the Striated Grassbird is an easy bird to see because it is fairly large and usually sits out in the open while calling out loudly. It is around 10 1/2 inches long. Its plumage is rather drab though, similar to a Eurasian Tree Sparrow's or maya's plumage. Its other distinctive features are the dark brown streaks or striations on its creamy white chest and its long tail. It also has streaks on its wings. In Pilipino, it is called turtoriyok or tirturyok. There is another, similar-looking grassbird found in the village. The Tawny Grassbird (Megaluris timoriensis) looks like the Striated Grassbird, except that it has a reddish brown crown and nape and a plain, un-streaked breast. However, it is much less common than the Striated Grassbird. The Tawny Grassbirds in the village were seen at the golf course, in the plantings of wild grasses there.

Vacant lots are not as vacant as they seem! Nor should they be dumping grounds for garbage. A vacant lot can be mini wildlife refuge filled with bird songs and life in the middle of a busy village. The Striated Grassbird is just one of many birds that have found their special niche in the vacant lots of our village.

Top 5 Most Common Birds

      

     Telling birds apart can be confusing. Many of them look alike. A lot of the ones that are often seen in the village are roughly the same size. They also move around a lot and are difficult to observe. They constantly hop from branch to branch and hide within the foliage of the trees. How can a novice birdwatcher tell them apart?

     One way to sort out the confusion is to just choose the top 5 birds that one is most likely to encounter and familiarize yourself with those birds first. Studying and memorizing the features of 5 birds is certainly much easier and less daunting than studying all 60 species found in the village or 500+ species found in the Philippines.

      Birdwatchers use field marks to identify a bird. These are particular features of the bird that the observer looks for to differentiate one species from another. These are details like color of the legs or presence of rings around the eyes. In the early 19^th century, British gentlemen who wanted to study birds went out and shot and skinned them so that they could view them in hand. It was not until binoculars and field guides were created could birds be studied without their being shot.

     The 5 species of birds most likely to be seen in the village are the maya or Eurasian Tree Sparrow, the Yellow Vented Bulbul, the Pied Fantail, the Long Tailed Shrike, and the Olive Backed Sunbird.

     The most common backyard resident is the ubiquitous maya or Eurasian Tree Sparrow (Passer montanus). This is the small brown bird with a short black bill that is usually seen in small flocks. It is the bird that usually gets attracted when people set out bird feeders or scatter birdseed or rice on the ground. The field mark to look for is the white patch on its cheek. 

Eurasian Tree Sparrow by Tonji Ramos

     The Yellow-vented Bulbul (Pycnonotus goiavier) or is bigger than a maya . It is olive-brown with a black forehead, and white chest and belly. The field mark to look for is the white eyebrow and yellow undertail feathers. 

Yellow-vented Bulbul by Tonji Ramos

     The Pied Fantail (Rhipidura javanica) or maria cafra is a black and white bird. Its distinctive features are its long black tail that is edged in white and white eyebrow. It frequently spreads its tail out like a fan, as befits its name. It has white underparts with a black band across its chest.

Pied Fantail by Tonji Ramos

     The Long-tailed Shrike (Lanius schach) or tarat is a handsome bird with a long, slender tail. It has a black head, chunky bill, and white underparts. It is cinnamon colored on its back and the lower sides of its torso. The black, white, and cinnamon colors, plus its long tail give it its distinctive look. 

Long-tailed Shrike by Tonji Ramos

     The Olive-backed Sunbird (Nectarinia jugularis) is a small bird with an olive green back and yellow underparts. The males have an iridescent metallic blue throat. Its distinctive feature is its long, thin, pointed and downward curving beak.

Olive Backed Sunbird by Sylvia Ramos

     A surprising benefit this technique is that after taking the time to study the 5 most common birds, all the other birds will seem to easily fall into place. It’s like the roadmap for recognizing birds has been planted in your brain and it will become easier to see the distinctive features and field marks of all the different birds in the village.

White-Breasted Waterhen

White-Breasted Waterhen in Candaba, Pampanga

     The White-breasted Waterhen (Amaurornis phoenicurus) is a chicken-like, 11-inch long bird usually found near   water. In the village, it can be found in the near the creek of San Juanico park and by the water hazards of the golf course. Its back, crown, and wings are dark, its face and underparts are white, and its flanks and undertail are reddish-brown. In birding terminology, this reddish-brown color is usually described as rufous. It has a yellow bill and yellow legs with long yellow toes. The long toes help the White-breasted Waterhen walk on top of water plants.

    Seeing a White-breasted Waterhen often requires a bit of patience. Most people usually imagine that birdwatching involves a lot of sitting around while patiently waiting for a bird to show up. Not all birdwatching is like that though. Sometimes, birdwatchers have to hike and pursue the birds they want to see. With the White-breasted Waterhen however, patience and quiet waiting work well. When they are relaxed and undisturbed, they can be observed walking in the open, feeding, and even frolicking in the water. The sight or sound of anything alarming however will send them running into the bushes for cover.
   
    The creeks of the village and water hazards of the golf course attract all kinds of creatures. My husband and I once observed a huge monitor lizard stalking the White-breasted Waterhens in one of the ponds at the golf course. The White-breasted Waterhens were washing and preening themselves by the edge of the water. They were moving further and further out from the bushes, walking from one big half-submerged stone to another. They were unaware of the huge monitor lizard slowly swimming its way toward them, with only the top of its head showing. Then, just as a Lizard vs Waterhen battle seemed imminent, the Waterhens suddenly noticed the monitor lizard and ran for cover!

    One of the great things about birdwatching is that you can be safe and secure inside your very own village and still have an amazing "Nat Geo" moment. You can witness things that will make you think for a minute that you are in an exciting National Geographic wildlife documentary instead of a cozy suburban village. 
  
See more photos of the White-Breasted Waterhen in this gallery .
See photos of the Monitor Lizard stalking the Waterhens in this album !

Shrikes

Brown Shrike by Sylvia Ramos

     There are two kinds of shrikes found in the village, the Long-tailed Shrike (Lanius schach) and the Brown Shrike (Lanius cristatus). Shrikes are a familiar sight to many villagers. They are known in Pilipino as "tarat". They are bold and striking-looking birds that are often seen perched arrogantly on an exposed branch or perch, as if surveying their own little kingdom. Shrikes are also known as butcher birds (different from butcherbird, another type of bird) because they are expert hunters with an unusual eating habit. Shrikes hunt even when they are full. Then, they save their food to eat later by impaling it on a sharp thorn or the barb of barbed wire. They drive their catch powerfully into the thorn or barbed wire until the tip of the thorn or barb shows through. Shrikes usually prey on insects. But, they are also known to prey on frogs, lizards, rodents, and even other birds!

    Shrikes look like little hawks. They have a powerful, raptor-like, hooked bill and sharp claws for holding down their prey. The Long-tailed Shrike has a black head, grey back bordered in cinnamon, long black tail, white underparts and cinnamon under the tail and at the flanks or the sides of the lower torso. The Brown Shrike looks similar to a Long-tailed Shrike except that it has a grey forehead, greyish-brown head, golden-buff breast and belly, and a shorter tail.

    Long-tailed Shrikes are resident birds and Brown Shrikes are migrants. Being a resident means that Long-tailed Shrikes live and breed in the Philippines the whole year round. They are also found in other countries. Their range extends from Iran to India, China, Taiwan, and Southeast Asia to New Guinea. Birds that breed and live exclusively in the Philippines are called Philippine endemics. Being a migrant means that Brown Shrikes breed in northern Asia and winter in the Philippines. It is amazing to think that the Brown Shrikes in the village flew all the way from China to feed in the gardens of Ayala Alabang.

You can see more pictures of the Brown Shrike and Long Tailed Shrike on my website of Philippine birds.

Pied Triller

Pied Triller in Ayala Alabang

   There are two kinds of black and white birds that are found in the village. One is the Pied Fantail (Rhipidura javanica), a very bold bird known for attacking dogs and cats that stray into its territory. The other black and white bird is the inconspicuous Pied Triller (Lalage nigra). The Pied Triller has a very apt name. In birding terminology, Pied means black and white. Triller refers to the musical, quavering "che-che-che-che" call it makes.

    Male and female Pied Trillers can be told apart by their coloring. The males have all white underparts, while the females have grayish white underparts with fine barring. Both males and females have black heads, white eyebrows, black backs, and black and white wings. Like many other birds, the immature birds have similar coloring to the females.

    Pied Trillers are usually found on tree tops, picking off caterpillars from the branches. Aside from caterpillars, they also eat moths and other kinds of insects. They are found all over the village in different kinds of trees.

      Last summer, there was a Pied Triller nesting in a tree along our street. The tree was in front of or neighbor's house. One day, my husband and I approached the nest and were surprised when the usually low-key Pied Triller attacked us! It buzzed us -- flying straight at our heads as if it intended to hit us. It did this several times, swerving away at the last moment and calling out in alarm the whole time. Of course we shouldn't have been too surprised and should have known better than to approach a nesting bird. This is one of the golden rules of birding: do not disturb nesting birds! We quickly moved away from the nest and did not bother the bird again.

    A few days ago, we were sitting outside our front door enjoying the breeze and noticed a Pied Triller perched on the topmost branch of our neighbor's akasya tree. It was just sitting quietly. Perhaps it was also enjoying the unusually cool breeze. We hope that this summer the Pied Triller returns to nest in our street again.

Click on this link to see more pictures of Pied Trillers by Tonji and Sylvia Ramos

Golden-Bellied Flyeater

Golden-bellied Flyeater by Tonji Ramos

     My daughter and I used to go walking around the village every afternoon. While we were out on our walk one day, we were stopped in our tracks by a very unusual birdcall. The call was a 5-note tune, something like whee-whee-wh-whee-woo, repeated over and over again. It was so loud that we were sure that the bird was very big and very close by. We looked all around, eager to spot this great bird singer. But, we couldn't find it! We kept on hearing the bird calling. Soon it felt like the bird was mocking us. It sounded like it was singing, "you-can-not-seeee-me"! Some weeks later, I was out with some birdwatcher friends and heard the same, familiar call. I asked my friends what bird was making the call. I was expecting them to name some unusual bird. To my surprise, they said it was the Golden-bellied Flyeater.

    The Golden-bellied Flyeater is a very small, unassuming bird. It is only 4 1/2 inches long. From the looks of it, you would not guess that it has such a loud voice. Birds however are especially good at making sounds. They have air sacs all over their body that enable them to breathe very efficiently. Then, they have a very efficient sound box in their throat called a syrinx that can convert almost 100% of the air expelled into sound. The Golden-bellied Flyeater is also a ventriloquist. It can throw its voice so you cannot easily tell where the sound is coming from.

    Another thing that makes the Golden-bellied Flyeater hard to find is that it usually stays in the treetops. Instead of trying to find a tiny bird on top of a tree, it is better to just relax your eyes and try to spot some movement in the leaves. A closer inspection of the moving area with pair of binoculars will often reveal a bird. The Golden-bellied Flyeater is found all over the village.  It is usually found either alone or in pairs. Some good places to see the Golden-bellied Flyeater in the village are along Country CIub Driver, at the parking lot on front of la Salle, and in Narra Park.

You can see more pictures of Golden-bellied Flyeaters in my website

Happy Birding!

Pied Fantail

     The Pied Fantail (Rhipidura javanica) is a bird that has caught the attention of even non-birdwatchers. A lot of villagers have already noticed the antics and animated behavior of the Pied Fantail. This is the bird that attacks cats and dogs as they go into the garden to do their business or just walk down the street. This feisty bird even attacks its own reflection in a car mirror or house window! When it is not defending its territory from perceived threats, it can be seen hopping through the tree branches, holding its long tail spread out just like beautiful black and white fan.

      In birding terminology, the word “pied” means black and white. The Pied Fantail is a black bird with a white eyebrow, white throat and underparts, and black band across its chest. Its long black tail is edged in white. In Pilipino, this bird is known as maria cafra. It is about 7 ½ inches long.  It has a many different metallic, chime-like calls.

Pied Fantail with its tail folded. Photo by Tonji Ramos

     Pied Fantails usually frequent the same areas day in and day out. In the village, they are frequently found on mango trees and also near garbage cans. Pied Fantails are territorial. However, they have their own concept of a territory that does not follow manmade walls or borders. A Pied Fantail can nest in the mango tree of one house and still consider the yard of the neighboring house part of his territory. 

     Pied Fantails are interesting and amusing birds to observe. They are very active and noisy and constantly fan out and display their beautiful tails. They are one of the birds most likely to be nesting in a typical garden in the village.

Two Pied Fantail links:

View the photo essay "Bird Attacks Cat! And More!"

More Pied Fantail pictures from from our backyard and around the village on our website

What's In a Name?

     One of the things I really love about being a birdwatcher is knowing the names of the birds. I love having each bird's exact name lodged somewhere in my brain. And the names! Birds have such wonderfully descriptive names. Sometimes though, it isn't clear exactly what is being described. Like with a name like "Elegant Tit". But a lot of the time the name fits just right and is simple and to the point, like with "Cattle Egret".

Cattle + Egret = Cattle Egret

     Cattle Egrets (Bubulcus ibis) are commonly associated with cattle. They follow behind cows and carabaos, snatching up the insects that are stirred up by the cattle. This ability to exploit man-made feeding opportunities  has allowed the Cattle Egret to expand their range as people have spread cattle farming throughout the world. They are found in every continent except Antartica.

     Cattle Egrets are around 19" long. When they are not breeding, Cattle Egrets are entirely white. During breeding season, they come into their breeding plumage.  The white on the head, neck and chest are replaced with long golden-buff feathers. They also acquire long plumes on their backs.

     The first time I saw a Cattle Egret was in December 2008. We were in the car on the way to Caylabne when we saw them in the fields by the side of the road. At first, I didn't even want to stop the car to look at them. I thought they were domestic ducks! They looked so tame, walking alongside the cows. That, plus their thick bills and white feathers convinced me they were "just" ducks. I was still a newbie birder at the time, and new to the idea that if you look, you'll find wildlife everywhere.  Even in a field of cattle!
  

Hello 2011!

Today I decided to start writing in this blog again. Even if I'm having problems getting my articles published in the AAVA News. So, here goes.

      I have been walking the 3 dogs every afternoon. I don't usually bring my binoculars with me, but I do look and listen for birds. The usual birds I see are Eurasian Tree Sparrows, Yellow Vented Bulbuls, Long Tailed Shrikes, Brown Shrikes, Olive-backed Sunbirds, and Pied Fantails. Starting about a week ago though, I've been seeing other birds!

     Last week, I saw a Crow on the street behind my house. This was just the second time I've seen a crow outside the Club. In the past week, I've also seen a Crested Myna, Bee-eater, and 2 Coppersmith Barbets. Then, there was also the strange sighting of a chicken-like bird in one of the empty lots near my block. It was strange since the bird looked like a domestic chicken, yet there was no sign of a chicken coop or cage. And the vacant lot where I saw the "alleged chicken" was very overgrown with weeds and even a mango tree that is leaning on its side with its branches almost touching the ground. It's a very wild looking vacant lot and its back wall is along Daang Hari. So, perhaps my eyes were deceiving me and the chicken is actually a wild bird. Worth further investigation.

      Another area to check out is the vacant lot beside the polo field. There were very loud and unusual sounds coming from some of the trees.  Summer is a busy time for birds. It is breeding season for a lot of them, and they are more active and visible than usual.

Barkley and Momo in the vacant lot beside the Polo field

NESTS and YELLOW-VENTED BULBULS

     The Yellow-vented Bulbul (Pycnonotus goiavier) is one of the most common birds in Ayala Alabang. Yellow-vented Bulbuls can be seen perched on branches of trees in most gardens and parks all over the village. They are bold birds and are not easily frightened by people or other birds. They are relatively easy to observe. Sometimes they flock together in one tree in a boisterous group of up to 20 individuals. A close inspection of a noisy tree or shrub will often yield a group of Yellow-vented Bulbuls making a variety of musical “chup-chup-chup” calls.

     

     The Yellow-vented Bulbul is bigger than a Eurasian Tree Sparrow or maya. It is about 7 ½ inches long. When seen from behind, the Yellow-vented Bulbul looks very non-descript and it can be mistaken for many other bird species. The back of its head, tail, and throat are an undistinguished looking olive-brown color that is common to many other birds. In birding terminology, the distinguishing features that help identify a bird are called field marks. The field marks of the Yellow-vented Bulbul are the black stripe on the top of its head, broad white eyebrow, black mask-like rings around its eyes, white breast and belly, and yellow below the belly, right before the tail. This is the yellow vent that gives it its name.

     photo by Tonji Ramos

     Yellow-vented Bulbuls nest at this time of the year. They make cup-shaped nests in dense bushes usually 3-5 feet off the ground. Like many small birds, the male and female bird both share in parenting duties. They take turns sitting on the eggs and later feeding the young. They parents keep the nest clean by carrying out the fecal sac of the nestlings. The fecal sac is the feces of the nestlings that are neatly wrapped in membrane. The parents continue feeding and caring for the baby birds even when they have fledged or left the nest. The fledglings stay in the area of their nest, taking short flights from branch to branch under the watch of the parents.

     

     Unfortunately, despite all the care and attention parents give to their young, some nests fail. When people approach a nest to do gardening or just out of curiosity, the nestlings can get so frightened that they jump out of the nest. Once they do this, it is impossible to return them to the nest. When parent birds feel threatened by people or predators that are approaching their nest, they will stay away from it to keep it from being discovered.

     

     Seeing birds nest in the village is a good sign that Ayala Alabang truly is a bird-friendly village. Sadly though, there are still incidents of bird cruelty in the village. A few weeks ago, a resident of Saranggani St. saw several maintenance men running in a suspicious manner towards a Black Naped Oriole nest. They were carrying a long bamboo pole, presumably to rob the nest. The men were maintenance workers of the Ayala Alabang Country Club. Thankfully, the resident was able to stop the men and report them to the club.

     

     It is likely though that most people in the village do not want to intentionally harm or disturb a nest. The best thing to do when you come across nest is to simply leave it alone. If there is some gardening work that needs to be done in the area where the nest is, it is best to just put it off temporarily until the nest has been abandoned. This will not take too long, not more than 3 weeks for small birds like the Yellow Vented Bulbul. Areas that are known to be popular nesting sites should not be altered to encourage the birds to nest there again. If you want to observe a nest, it is best to do so from a distance or a place where the birds cannot see you so that the bird family will continue with their natural behavior.

     

a fledgling, photo by Tonji Ramos

     Just a little care and consideration will go a long way in making Ayala Alabang a place where all kinds of families, including Yellow-vented Bulbul families, can grow and be nurtured. 

Check out my links to more pictures:

• More pictures of Yellow-vented Bulbuls
• Other types of bulbuls found in the Philippines
• Tonji and Sylvia's website of Philippine birds
• Photo List of Alabang Birds