I never thought watching birds up close was more fun than just listening to their chirp in the morning. Yesterday, I went to the still under construction C6 road to see the amazing birds on this northwestern shore of Laguna Lake. This road will connect the Alabang in the south to Taytay, Rizal to the north, an alternative route to decongest the heavy concentration of vehicles in Metro Manila.
Armed with a newly bought 8x40 Hahn binoculars I pedaled to the area which was a mere 3 miles (5km) from my place. Reaching the compacted road of gravel and sand just after the C6 Bridge, the last along the mighty Pasig River almost very close to the mouth, I don't need to go far to get a glimpse of the birds. Right on the table to be feasted on were a handful of Cattle Egrets right next to a group of carabaos in a small patch of land on the edge of the lake teeming with water lilies. They were about 20 meters away almost mixing up with the ubiquitous Eurasian Tree Sparrows hopping from grass to grass. I immediately took my binoculars off my backpack and started to zoom in. It was 7AM and there's an overcast. Almost no wind. On the horizon were a flock of black-feathered birds with white undersides and white beaks flanking to my direction. What a vantage point. At fist I thought they were the beautiful Philippine Falconets but after reviewing the Photographic Guide to Birds of the Philippines of Tim Fisher and Nigel Hicks, it told me they were the White-breasted Woodswallows. Falconets are normally spotted on edges of forests and come in pair, sometimes singularly. Though both birds have the same size between 16 and 19 cm, the book said the latter is more abundant in open grass, coastal areas and are seen in groups. C6 is nowhere near any forest. It is on the shore of Laguna de Bay with the Rizal Mountain Range in the horizon miles away to the northeast and the skycraper of Makati to the west under the billowing smog. And I was looking at a flock of birds.I was convinced they weren't the falconets. My rookie error as a birdwatcher.
Moving my lense panoramicaly I gazed upon birds hidden amongst the lilies. They would make short flights from one location to another as if they knew I wanted to have a better view so I can identify them. They were Great Herons according to my field guidebook and as was confirmed by my later reaseach online. Another cuties on that day were the Chestnut Munias with their noisy eek-eek chirp and an almost burst-stop-burst flying motion. Once considered the National Bird until deposed by the Philippine Eagle, Munias give me a hard time telling which is which against the Eurasian Tree Sparrows. I grew up just like any one of us seeing the Eurasian everywhere. That gave me the impression they were the Mayas until lately books say it was the Munias who are the real mayas.
It was fun for a first time. Well, I'd say it wasn't the first since I've done something like this with a group of Japanese students back in 1997 just outside the Saint Paul Park in Palawan. But I didn't have any gadget then and came there for a different agenda and not really for birdwatching. This time I was on my own with the intention of observing the birds and get to appreciate more these creatures. And I've got my binoculars this time. This is not going to be the last for sure. Unfortunately, my Canon digicam is not capable of shooting images or zoom in to small details like birds as far as 50 meters or so. Lol!
Lately, my rides seemed to be longer and harder. I guess my overall biking was improving. Last Saturday I joined the Philippine Mountain Biking Forum (Philmofo) on a ride to Sta. Inez, in Tanay, Rizal. The route was along Marcos Highway in Lower Antipolo passing the town of Baras and down the trail of Barangay Cayumbay of all the way to Sta. Inez which was already part of the town of Tanay. Trail head was some 30 km from the meet-up are at Jollibee in Marcos Highway in Marikina. It was located at Sitio Batangas which was about 6 km before reaching Sierra Madre Hotel.Going to the meet up area was already a good warm up for my legs since it was some 12 km from my pad in Pasig-Makati-Pateros area. Every biker knew that this route to the hotel was only half of what was called Sierra Madre Loop which was the training grounds for most riders of Metro Manila specially for roadies since it's a long and hard climb. (Photo to the right courtesy of Mountguitars, Philmofo. All other pictures were taken from my Canon PowerShot A470)
The ride was generally fun but I can't understand why most member of this club seemed to enjoy racing against each other. Based on my counting there we crossed Sta. Inez River eight times. After the seventh crossing and more than an hour of pedaling in a valley with beautiful view of the Sierra Madre Range, I and another rider decided to backtrack. Five of us were on the middle group now sipping soda from one of the houses along this riverine trail. The lead pack passed this point about 15 minutes ago according to the store owner. Locals told us that it still some 1 hour and a half to get to the falls. It was getting cloudy up there, I reckon. I didn't want to get stuck in that place if the rains started to pour in the mountain which would flood the river as a result. Some part of the river we crossed earlier had strong currents and about thigh deep. Can't imagine how bad it would be when it rains. Reached home about 8:00 in the evening. My cyclocomp registered 121 km. Was dead tired.
A week ago, I was able to pedal another century via Bugarin Pass in Pililia, Rizal. Obviously by now, Rizal Province is the nearest playground for most bikers in Metro Manila. It offers almost all kind of terrain for biking. I had 114 km this time, matching the miles I made during the Licao Ride five months ago, my very first century ride. A century ride is when a biker covered at least a hundred kilometers. Bugarin Pass is the zigzag portion of the town of Pililia that connects the provinces of Rizal and Laguna. It has the panoramic view of Laguna de Bay. This is a major route for buses and cars going to Laguna and Quezon Provinces.
