WBPP 2022 INFANTA-REAL BIRD RACE
May 28, 2022
The date was May 28, 2022. It was the day of the 2022 WBPP Infanta-Real Bird Photography Race. The challenge for all of us was to photograph as many bird species before the time ran out. I wanted to slow down and focus on quality photographs, but sometimes I can get competitive and up for the challenge! And so it goes; I prepared my things, formally registered at the meeting point, and immediately circled the area looking for birds!
I have to admit that I wasn’t confident with my skills in spotting birds during the race. The twisty and winding roads of Infanta made me feel nauseous the entire ride. Combined with the motion sickness debuff, I wasn’t at my best when I got out of the car surveying the area. However, the thrill of looking for birds pretty much keeps the spirit of birding alive for us bird watchers and photographers, so we go into the woods!
Yellowish White-eye | Zosterops nigrorum| Endemic to Luzon, Catanduanes, Mindoro, Camiguin Norte, Camiguin Sur, Cagayancillo, Western Visayas | IUCN & DENR Least Concern | Quezon | Photographed by Vinz Pascua © Birds In Focus, Inc.
Before we attended the pre-race briefing, we were able to photograph a couple of Yellowish White-eyes waiting for us just outside our hotel! Among all the White-eyes in the Philippines, the Yellowish White-eye is the easiest one to identify because of its all-yellow coloration.
The initial scene for the Yellowish White-eye was quite dark, so I had to remove the teleconverter and shoot wide open at f/4 to let in as much light. At seven meters, the Yellowish White-eye we were photographing was getting particularly close to our vicinity. I had to step back and recompose my shot in order to get the bird in focus and to get an appealing photograph. This is my second encounter with the Yellowish White-eye in Infanta, my first Yellowish White-eye was two years ago, and I wasn't satisfied with the photograph back then. So I'm glad to say that I've redeemed myself with a better Yellowish White-eye photograph two years later!
Southern Cream-bellied Fruit-dove | Ptilinopus merrilli | Endemic to Luzon, Catanduanes, and Polillo | DENR Vulnerable | IUCN Near Threatened | Quezon | Photographed by Vinz Pascua © Birds In Focus, Inc.
Southern Cream-bellied Fruit-dove | Ptilinopus merrilli | Endemic to Luzon, Catanduanes, and Polillo | DENR Vulnerable | IUCN Near Threatened | Quezon | Photographed by Vinz Pascua © Birds In Focus, Inc.
One of the first birds we immediately went to during the race was the Southern Cream-bellied Fruit-dove! Oddly enough, its name in the Cornell Birds of the World Database is Cream-breasted Fruit-dove, despite the cream coloration being more on the belly. My dad and I scouted this area the day we arrived in Quezon because the locals told us, “May Pugad ang Punay.” On the way, we guessed which Dove/Pigeon in the area was the Punay because Punay generally means Pigeon. When we arrived at the place, we realized that the Southern Cream-bellied Fruit-dove blends incredibly well with its environment! Our group took around 5 minutes staring at trees, trying to spot the Southern Cream-bellied Fruit-dove. I remember Kuya Christian telling me once he found the bird, “Ah! Diyan lang pala siya!” We got pretty good photographs of the Southern Cream-bellied Fruit-dove in the nest, and we eventually circled the highway to look for more birds.
Philippine Fairy-bluebird | Irena cyanogastra | Endemic to Greater Luzon, Eastern Visayas, and Greater Mindanao | IUCN Near Threatened | DENR Least Concern | Quezon | Photographed by Vinz Pascua © Birds In Focus, Inc.
After a few minutes of walking around the steep highway, we were able to spot a new set of birds! Among those were the Purple-throated Sunbird, Philippine Bulbul, Grey-backed Tailorbird, and the Guaiabero. But one of the highlights of the Infanta-Real Quezon area goes to the Philippine Fairy-bluebird! On most occasions, they are notoriously skulky. In my previous Infanta sortie, I only managed to get one photograph of the Philippine Fairy-bluebird out in the open! The rest of my old photographs contained only parts of the bird as they were blocked by foliage and branches. Entering the WBPP bird race, I aimed to get better photographs of species I’ve had before, and I’m relieved to say that I now have better photographs of some of the species I’ve seen before, including the Philippine Fairy-bluebird!
Kuya Christian and I were stunned once we saw a vivid blue bird pass by our sight and onto, get this, an OPEN PERCH. It was unbelievable for us because this bird resides in thick foliage. So we took the time to photograph this bird once it perched!
Since the Philippine Fairy-bluebird was perched quite far, I utilized the 2x Teleconverter to get more reach. I also used the built-in 1.6x crop feature to get a more frame-filling raw file. As a result, the RAW file was photographed at an equivalent 1920mm! I chose one of my photographs of the Philippine Fairy-bluebird as my entry to the WBPP photo contest during the race because of its natural sharpness, balanced SOOC exposure, and overall pleasing composition. In the end, the photograph wasn’t chosen, so it’s a photo to release at a later date.
Elegant Tit | Periparus elegans elegans | Nominate Subspecies Endemic to East-Central and South Luzon, Mindoro, Catanduanes and Panay | IUCN & DENR Least Concern | Quezon | Photographed by Vinz Pascua © Birds In Focus, Inc.
We stopped at an area filled with pines and decided to walk around if there were any birds surrounding the pines. We were lucky enough to find a couple of Elegant Tits and the Blue-headed Fantail! These birds are regulars in the Quezon area and are mainstays for any Infanta bird checklist. The Elegant Tit and the Blue-headed Fantail are members of mixed flocks, with multiple species traveling together to forage for food. It may be because of the heavy rain, but we weren’t able to see other prominent members of the mixed flock like the Olive-backed Flowerpecker and the elusive Black-crowned Babbler.
Nonetheless, we were happy to photograph these two birds! For me, I’m glad to have a better view of the elegans nominate subspecies. So my current Elegant Tit subspecies tally is now three, including the gilliardi subspecies from Subic and the montigenus subspecies from Ifugao! Only six more elegant tit subspecies to go!
Philippine Serpent Eagle | Spilornis holospilus | Endemic | IUCN & DENR Least Concern | Quezon | Photographed by Vinz Pascua © Birds In Focus, Inc.
One of our most intimate encounters during the bird photography race must be the Serpent King himself: the Philippine Serpent Eagle! We were slowly driving along the pines, but we stopped once we saw this Philippine Serpent Eagle perched 20 meters to our right! Kuya Christian and I definitely had some full-frame keepers with this Philippine Serpent Eagle. This was our closest encounter with a raptor during the entire race, so we cherished and filled our Memory Cards with tons of Philippine Serpent Eagle photos.
Regarding composition, I used the extended 1.6x in-body crop factor to create a portrait of the Philippine Serpent Eagle straight out of the camera. I also cropped it to a 4x5 social media aspect ratio, with the final crop resulting in 3.6 megapixels.
Bicolored Flowerpecker | Dicaeum bicolor inexpectatum | Endemic | IUCN & DENR Least Concern | Quezon | Photographed by Vinz Pascua © Birds In Focus, Inc.
If I would describe the Philippine Serpent Eagle as calm, I have to describe the Bicolored Flowerpecker as hectic, skittish, and all over the place! These guys can’t stay still! They keep flying, hopping, and jumping around several branches in the forest, and photographing this bird in a nice spot took quite some time. I’ve photographed the Bicolored Flowerpecker during my last Infanta sortie, but this encounter gave me more opportunities to step back and compose my shots to get a clean photograph.
Amethyst Brown-dove | Phapitreron amethystinus amethystinus | Nominate Subspecies | Endemic to Luzon, Polillo, Alabat, Catanduanes, Samar, Biliran, Leyte, Bohol, Panaon, Dinagat, Mindanao | DENR Critically Endangered | IUCN Least Concern | Quezon | Photographed by Vinz Pascua © Birds In Focus, Inc.
Kuya Christian and I had already finished lunch, and we were panicking from the heavy rain, so we resorted to the place of Kamote! Multiple members of the WBPP assembled in a single area to have their lunch, and we were there just waiting for any birds to appear. We couldn’t explore the site if it is wet and foggy, so this will do for now. Kamote and Sir Loel told us they spotted an Amethyst Brown-dove, Philippine Trogon, and Spotted Wood Kingfishers in the area before we came. So we rested, hung out with the other WBPP members, and patiently waited for those species. We did spot Philippine Fairy-bluebirds, Philippine Bulbuls, White-eared Brown-doves, and Cream-bellied Fruit-doves! But the highlight of the day had to be when, out of nowhere, an Amethyst Brown-dove flew directly above all of us! It hopped around many branches, even beside a Coppersmith Barbet at one moment! While we were stunned that this uncommon bird flew directly into our space, it became a challenge for us to photograph in the end. I'm pretty sure everyone had a tricky composition and processing challenge after taking those photos! Patchy light and dark weather are complex elements to work with in the editing room.
Orange-bellied Flowerpecker | Dicaeum trigonostigma xanthopygium | Endemic Subspecies | IUCN & DENR Least Concern | Quezon | Photographed by Vinz Pascua © Birds In Focus, Inc.
Orange-bellied Flowerpecker | Dicaeum trigonostigma xanthopygium | Endemic Subspecies | IUCN & DENR Least Concern | Quezon | Photographed by Vinz Pascua © Birds In Focus, Inc.
The last bird Kuya Christian and I photographed during the WBPP Infanta-Real bird race was the Orange-bellied Flowerpecker, a vibrant dimorphic Flowerpecker species found almost everywhere in the Philippines except for Palawan. We had a fascinating encounter because we spotted a breeding pair carrying nesting material to build a nest. The rain was the most intense during this encounter, so we had to take cover under a tree. The stormy weather didn’t faze the Orange-bellied Flowerpeckers because their nest was under thick foliage, providing natural shelter.
Grand Rhabdornis | Rhabdornis grandis | Endemic | IUCN & DENR Least Concern | Quezon | Photographed by Vinz Pascua © Birds In Focus, Inc.
However, among all the birds that I photographed during the 2022 WBPP Infanta-Real Bird Race, the one that stood out to me the most has to go to the Grand Rhabdornis! The name alone, Grand Rhabdornis, attracts bird watchers and bird photographers to this species. I remember the experience vividly because Kuya Christian told me he had already seen the bird and that it was much closer to my spot. I didn’t know what he was talking about until the Grand Rhabdornis decided to make an entrance by popping out of the dense foliage! I immediately pressed the shutter button of my camera because this was one of my main target birds in Infanta.
A part of my Grand Rhabdornis experience stems in Subic. I’ve gotten used to seeing the Stripe-headed Rhabdornis on a semi-regular basis, and I wanted to photograph another member of the Rhabdornis genus soon! We also saw the Stripe-headed Rhabdornis, but the Grand Rhabdornis gave us better, perhaps GRANDER, photo opportunities for us during the bird race.
To differentiate the Grand Rhabdornis from the Stripe-headed Rhabdornis, the Grand Rhabdornis is slightly bulkier with a reddish-brown back, a mottled grey cap, and brown flank streaks.
Left to Right: WBPP External Vice President Chin Fernandez, WBPP President Wins Paler, Birds in Focus Christian Benavidez, Birds in Focus Vinz Pascua, and WBPP Board Secretary Bert Madrigal | Photographed by Djop Tabaranza © Birds In Focus, Inc.
In the end, we saw around 35 species! Only 32 were qualified because of the scoring system, but we did get an extra 6 points for finding a “3-headed winged creature” and a “Red Pepe,” quite the odd bonus points, but it was hilarious finding out what they were!
Many thanks to my teammate, Kuya Extian Go Benavidez, for being a great teammate and active spotter to spot birds even in the most difficult of situations. And a special thanks to Tito Ferdinand Bustamante Espanol for fearlessly driving us around the Infanta birding area to photograph as many birds as possible.
Of course, the whole WBPP Bird Race couldn't have been possible without the determination, planning, and foresight of the WBPP Bird Photography Race Organizers: Tito Wins Tornado, Tito Djop Tabaranza, Tito Bert Madrigal, Sir Loel Lamela, and Sir Chin Fernandez. They made the WBPP 2022 Infanta-Real Bird Photography Race fun and fruitful for everyone, not only for the experienced veterans but also for first-timers like myself!
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