Post by Romy Ocon on Jan 14, 2008 9:44:27 GMT
The Cordillera Central is a massive mountain range situated in the northern central part of the island of Luzon, in the Philippines. Several provinces bound it, namely Benguet, Abra, Kalinga, Apayao, Mountain, Ifugao, and a city located entirely within it, which is Baguio City. In the north, it terminates at Pasaleng Bay, Ilocos Norte, where the coastal bridge Patapat Viaduct winds through. It links with the Sierra Madre through the Caraballo mountains in Nueva Vizcaya province. The whole range was formerly termed as Nueva Provincia, or New Province, during the Spanish times. - Wikipedia
In 2006, I made four sorties to these extensive mountains, with Baguio City as the entry point (Baguio is about 260 km north of Manila, or 6-8 hours drive). This article is culled from these four trips.
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Birding the Roof of the Philippines, May 2006 - www.pbase.com/liquidstone/cordillera051806
Just completed an over 700 km swing through Manila-Baguio-Benguet-Mountain Province-Ifugao-Nueva Vizcaya-Manila to check out road conditions, accommodation availability and birding potential in the Cordillera highlands. I carried an altimeter to record elevations, and mine calibrated well (+0.5% variance) vs. the highest highway point marker (7400 ft) at Atok, Benguet.
Birding in the highlands presents a whole new set of challenges - the intermittent fog at elev. 6000 ft and above makes visibility (and hence photography) a very difficult affair. Also, if the camera gear is not allowed to "acclimatize" to the outside temperature, the lenses and camera viewfinder fog up, taking many minutes to clear. Most noticeably, huge (and heavy) lenses seem to acquire more mass in the thin air and up/down terrain of the highlands.
Still, the amazing variety of rarely photographed avian species makes it worthwhile to visit and revisit the high Cordilleras. No serious birding at this point, just a scouting trek, but I managed to capture some interesting birds - Flame-crowned Flowerpecker, Citrine Canary-Flycatcher and Striated Swallow.
Hopefully, I can return to the pin-pointed potential sites before the rainy season starts in earnest.
Citrine Canary-Flycatcher ( Culicicapa helianthea) - 20D + 500 f/4 L IS + Canon 1.4x TC, 700 mm, f/5.6, ISO 400, 1/400 sec, manual exposure, hand held supported by car window:
Flame-crowned Flowerpecker ( Dicaeum anthonyi , female, a Philippine endemic) - 20D + 500 f/4 L IS + Canon 1.4x TC, 700 mm, f/5.6, ISO 400, 1/320 sec, manual exposure, hand held supported by car window, possibly among first photos of the female of this species taken in the wild:
BALD-HEADED SHUTTER-CLICKER (Birdus lunaticus): This specimen enjoys the view of the "8th Wonder of the World," as the fog rolls in over the Banaue Rice Terraces.
Striated Swallow ( Hirundo striolata ) - 1DM2 + 400 5.6L, f/7.1, ISO 400, 1/1600 sec, manual exposure, hand held:
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Mountain White-eye, June 2006 - www.pbase.com/liquidstone/bauko060406
I returned to Mountain Province for a non-birding trip on June 3 and 4, 2006, and brought some birding gear just in case some montane winged creatures present themselves to be photographed. A brief birding-on-the-side added two photo-lifebirds to my list - Mountain White-Eye and Mountain Verditer-Flycatcher. These captures have pushed my number of photo-lifebirds to 200 species...
Mountain White-eye ( Zosterops montanus ) - 20D + 500 f/4 L IS + Canon 1.4x TC, 700 mm, f/5.6, ISO 400, 1/160 sec, manual exposure, tripod/gimbal head:
HIGHEST PHILIPPINE HIGHWAY. As the banged up sign says, this portion of the Halsema Highway at Atok, Benguet Province is the highest point (Elev. 2256 m/7400 feet) of the Philippine Highway System. This is where I stop and calibrate my altimeter.
_______________________________________________
Return to the Cordilleras, November 2006 - www.pbase.com/liquidstone/cordillera110306
Just completed a 3-day birding sortie in the Cordilleras at northern Luzon. For almost six months, my lifelist was frozen at 201 species. This sortie gave me 5 lifers - documentary captures of the Mountain Shrike, Island Thrush, the uncommon Common Buzzard and Mountain Leaf-Warbler, plus near full frame shots of the cute Little Pied Flycatcher. More detailed shots of previously photographed montane birds, as well as some moonshots through the crystal clear dawn sky at 2155 m, capped the sortie...
Little Pied Flycatcher (Ficedula westermanni, male) - 20D + 500 f/4 L IS + Canon 1.4x TC, 700 mm, f/5.6, ISO 400, 1/400 sec, manual exposure, hand held:
Mountain Verditer-Flycatcher (Eumyias panayensis, male) - 20D + 500 f/4 L IS + Canon 1.4x TC, 700 mm, f/5.6, ISO 400, 1/500 sec, manual exposure, hand held:
Chestnut-faced Babbler (Stachyris whiteheadi , a Philippine endemic) - 20D + 500 f/4 L IS + Canon 1.4x TC, 700 mm, f/5.6, ISO 400, 1/320 sec, manual exposure, hand held:
Mountain White-eye (Zosterops montanus) - 20D + 500 f/4 L IS + Canon 1.4x TC, 700 mm, f/5.6, ISO 400, 1/320 sec, manual exposure, hand held:
NICE VIEW, GOOD LIGHT & COOL, REFRESHING AIR. Located within 10 km from Mt. Data, this is one of the places where montane birds abound.
HIGHLAND FULL MOON. The thin mountain-top air at Mt. Data (elev. 2155 m) allowed good seeing conditions for moon shots, letting some of the lunar colors reach the 20D's sensor. I then boosted the saturation and local contrast in post process to exaggerate whatever colors were captured. [20D + 500 f4 L IS + Canon 2x TC, 1000 mm, 1/125 sec, f/11, ISO 100, manual exposure, tripod/gimbal head]
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Shooting at 5 degrees Celsius, December 2006 - www.pbase.com/liquidstone/cordillera122706
Curious on how cold it gets at 7200 feet this time of the year, I made a quick visit to Bauko (Mountain Province) just after Christmas day. As I was shooting the highland half-moon just before midnight of December 27, the mercury fell to 5 degrees Celsius. Seeing conditions at 7200 feet was unusually good that night, without any trace of clouds in the pollution-free sky, nor a hint of fog in the air. I stacked 2.8x worth of TCs on the 500 f4 L IS to squeeze out the maximum amount of detail I can get under these ideal mooning conditions.
I reckon it went down to about 3 degrees Celsius at dawn. The locals tell me that it regularly goes below freezing point at dawn in January, and I certainly have no doubt it does. I'll do another sortie here in a few weeks to experience first hand how to bird with frozen dew cracking under each step in the morning... ;D
Shooting in cold weather has its own set of problems - battery life is drastically shortened, all metal surfaces are a pain to touch, and I had trouble getting up early morning to bird. But all these are worth it, as I got more detailed photos of the Mountain Shrike (not yet aesthetically perfect though), plus documentary captures of a couple of photo lifers: Olive Tree-Pipit and Brown-Headed Thrush.
Mountain Shrike (Lanius validirostris , a Philippine endemic) - 20D + 500 f/4 L IS + Canon 1.4x TC, 700 mm, f/5.6, ISO 400, 1/250 sec, manual exposure, hand held:
Olive Tree-Pipit ( Anthos hodgsoni ) - 20D + 500 f/4 L IS + Canon 1.4x TC, 700 mm, f/5.6, ISO 400, 1/320 sec, manual exposure, hand held:
_______________________________________________
With my busy schedule last year, I was not able to visit this place at all in 2007. I hope I can squeeze in at least a couple of visits this year, as I'm still banging my head against the wall everytime I remember missing the rare Luzon Jungle-Flycatcher in one of these sorties. I already had it in my viewfinder, but it flew off between the confirmatory AF beep and the shutter press!
Best regards from our islands,
Romy Ocon
In 2006, I made four sorties to these extensive mountains, with Baguio City as the entry point (Baguio is about 260 km north of Manila, or 6-8 hours drive). This article is culled from these four trips.
_______________________________________________
Birding the Roof of the Philippines, May 2006 - www.pbase.com/liquidstone/cordillera051806
Just completed an over 700 km swing through Manila-Baguio-Benguet-Mountain Province-Ifugao-Nueva Vizcaya-Manila to check out road conditions, accommodation availability and birding potential in the Cordillera highlands. I carried an altimeter to record elevations, and mine calibrated well (+0.5% variance) vs. the highest highway point marker (7400 ft) at Atok, Benguet.
Birding in the highlands presents a whole new set of challenges - the intermittent fog at elev. 6000 ft and above makes visibility (and hence photography) a very difficult affair. Also, if the camera gear is not allowed to "acclimatize" to the outside temperature, the lenses and camera viewfinder fog up, taking many minutes to clear. Most noticeably, huge (and heavy) lenses seem to acquire more mass in the thin air and up/down terrain of the highlands.
Still, the amazing variety of rarely photographed avian species makes it worthwhile to visit and revisit the high Cordilleras. No serious birding at this point, just a scouting trek, but I managed to capture some interesting birds - Flame-crowned Flowerpecker, Citrine Canary-Flycatcher and Striated Swallow.
Hopefully, I can return to the pin-pointed potential sites before the rainy season starts in earnest.
Citrine Canary-Flycatcher ( Culicicapa helianthea) - 20D + 500 f/4 L IS + Canon 1.4x TC, 700 mm, f/5.6, ISO 400, 1/400 sec, manual exposure, hand held supported by car window:
Flame-crowned Flowerpecker ( Dicaeum anthonyi , female, a Philippine endemic) - 20D + 500 f/4 L IS + Canon 1.4x TC, 700 mm, f/5.6, ISO 400, 1/320 sec, manual exposure, hand held supported by car window, possibly among first photos of the female of this species taken in the wild:
BALD-HEADED SHUTTER-CLICKER (Birdus lunaticus): This specimen enjoys the view of the "8th Wonder of the World," as the fog rolls in over the Banaue Rice Terraces.
Striated Swallow ( Hirundo striolata ) - 1DM2 + 400 5.6L, f/7.1, ISO 400, 1/1600 sec, manual exposure, hand held:
_______________________________________________
Mountain White-eye, June 2006 - www.pbase.com/liquidstone/bauko060406
I returned to Mountain Province for a non-birding trip on June 3 and 4, 2006, and brought some birding gear just in case some montane winged creatures present themselves to be photographed. A brief birding-on-the-side added two photo-lifebirds to my list - Mountain White-Eye and Mountain Verditer-Flycatcher. These captures have pushed my number of photo-lifebirds to 200 species...
Mountain White-eye ( Zosterops montanus ) - 20D + 500 f/4 L IS + Canon 1.4x TC, 700 mm, f/5.6, ISO 400, 1/160 sec, manual exposure, tripod/gimbal head:
HIGHEST PHILIPPINE HIGHWAY. As the banged up sign says, this portion of the Halsema Highway at Atok, Benguet Province is the highest point (Elev. 2256 m/7400 feet) of the Philippine Highway System. This is where I stop and calibrate my altimeter.
_______________________________________________
Return to the Cordilleras, November 2006 - www.pbase.com/liquidstone/cordillera110306
Just completed a 3-day birding sortie in the Cordilleras at northern Luzon. For almost six months, my lifelist was frozen at 201 species. This sortie gave me 5 lifers - documentary captures of the Mountain Shrike, Island Thrush, the uncommon Common Buzzard and Mountain Leaf-Warbler, plus near full frame shots of the cute Little Pied Flycatcher. More detailed shots of previously photographed montane birds, as well as some moonshots through the crystal clear dawn sky at 2155 m, capped the sortie...
Little Pied Flycatcher (Ficedula westermanni, male) - 20D + 500 f/4 L IS + Canon 1.4x TC, 700 mm, f/5.6, ISO 400, 1/400 sec, manual exposure, hand held:
Mountain Verditer-Flycatcher (Eumyias panayensis, male) - 20D + 500 f/4 L IS + Canon 1.4x TC, 700 mm, f/5.6, ISO 400, 1/500 sec, manual exposure, hand held:
Chestnut-faced Babbler (Stachyris whiteheadi , a Philippine endemic) - 20D + 500 f/4 L IS + Canon 1.4x TC, 700 mm, f/5.6, ISO 400, 1/320 sec, manual exposure, hand held:
Mountain White-eye (Zosterops montanus) - 20D + 500 f/4 L IS + Canon 1.4x TC, 700 mm, f/5.6, ISO 400, 1/320 sec, manual exposure, hand held:
NICE VIEW, GOOD LIGHT & COOL, REFRESHING AIR. Located within 10 km from Mt. Data, this is one of the places where montane birds abound.
HIGHLAND FULL MOON. The thin mountain-top air at Mt. Data (elev. 2155 m) allowed good seeing conditions for moon shots, letting some of the lunar colors reach the 20D's sensor. I then boosted the saturation and local contrast in post process to exaggerate whatever colors were captured. [20D + 500 f4 L IS + Canon 2x TC, 1000 mm, 1/125 sec, f/11, ISO 100, manual exposure, tripod/gimbal head]
_______________________________________________
Shooting at 5 degrees Celsius, December 2006 - www.pbase.com/liquidstone/cordillera122706
Curious on how cold it gets at 7200 feet this time of the year, I made a quick visit to Bauko (Mountain Province) just after Christmas day. As I was shooting the highland half-moon just before midnight of December 27, the mercury fell to 5 degrees Celsius. Seeing conditions at 7200 feet was unusually good that night, without any trace of clouds in the pollution-free sky, nor a hint of fog in the air. I stacked 2.8x worth of TCs on the 500 f4 L IS to squeeze out the maximum amount of detail I can get under these ideal mooning conditions.
I reckon it went down to about 3 degrees Celsius at dawn. The locals tell me that it regularly goes below freezing point at dawn in January, and I certainly have no doubt it does. I'll do another sortie here in a few weeks to experience first hand how to bird with frozen dew cracking under each step in the morning... ;D
Shooting in cold weather has its own set of problems - battery life is drastically shortened, all metal surfaces are a pain to touch, and I had trouble getting up early morning to bird. But all these are worth it, as I got more detailed photos of the Mountain Shrike (not yet aesthetically perfect though), plus documentary captures of a couple of photo lifers: Olive Tree-Pipit and Brown-Headed Thrush.
Mountain Shrike (Lanius validirostris , a Philippine endemic) - 20D + 500 f/4 L IS + Canon 1.4x TC, 700 mm, f/5.6, ISO 400, 1/250 sec, manual exposure, hand held:
Olive Tree-Pipit ( Anthos hodgsoni ) - 20D + 500 f/4 L IS + Canon 1.4x TC, 700 mm, f/5.6, ISO 400, 1/320 sec, manual exposure, hand held:
_______________________________________________
With my busy schedule last year, I was not able to visit this place at all in 2007. I hope I can squeeze in at least a couple of visits this year, as I'm still banging my head against the wall everytime I remember missing the rare Luzon Jungle-Flycatcher in one of these sorties. I already had it in my viewfinder, but it flew off between the confirmatory AF beep and the shutter press!
Best regards from our islands,
Romy Ocon