Fire-breasted Flowerpecker in Sagada

[Tonji Ramos]

We went to Sagada after Mt. Data and stayed in an orange orchard called The Rock Inn. When we arrived we were super happy with the location of the inn. Aside from the many orange trees we were right beside a small pine forest. A nice place to hang out and lucky for us a good place to go birding.

We heard this flowerpecker just as we arrived. We were able to take a juvi the first day then this adult the next day. Another lifer yay.

This adult only showed up once in the three days we were in Sagada. Initially, after a quick glance, I thought what is that bird? Siberian-Ruby...? But it has a yellow belly..a closer look showed us that it was a Fire-breasted Flowerpecker. Thankfully it stayed long enough for some photos.

Fire-breasted Flowerpecker
Dicaeum ignipectus
Sagada



Canon 5Dmk2, 500mm, 1.4x tc, tripod, ISO 160, 1/320, f7.1

[Edu Lorenzo Jr]

incredible again.. Congrats on the lifer Tonji!

[Toto Gamboa]

Wow wow wow! Very beautiful specimen!

[Neon Rosell II]

Wow!!! again excellent capture!! Congrats Tonji and Sylvia for this awesome lifer.

I think cloning out the OOF branch would make these photos even more stunning!!

[Tonji Ramos]

Thanks guys Edu and Toto, glad you liked the colorful guy.

Thanks Neon, I was thinking of doing it... hmmm maybe I will give it a try when I have some time.

Here is another pic showing the side of bird.



ISO 160, 1/250, f6.3

[Lydia Robledo]

Oh Gosh... so beautiful. Your passion shows, Sylvia and Tonj- and we're as greedy as well, more, more! telyds

[Edu Lorenzo Jr]

Wow again! You said you took just a few shots.. looks like you made every shot count!

[Ariel Matias]

Count me in as one of those who liked these pics. Very sharp and colorful.

[steve pryor]

Nice. Not sure I have seen a photo of this race. Perhaps only the apo race from Mindanao.

Tonji, just a tip. You rarely will see a Rubythroat in trees. When you see them, they are almost always on the ground, or in low, ground-hugging shrubs. Of course, the opposite is true for Flowerpeckers. I don't recall having seen ever any photo of a Flowerpecker on the ground.

[mantarey]

Wonderful capture of this tiny bird Tonji, the last pic is the best for me, excellent pose and composition.

[William Lim]

Congratulations on the capture, Tonji. Beautiful colors and really sharp.

[Ely Teehankee]

Once in 3 days. Thats what I call catching the "moment". I can imagine how frisky the bird must have been. Very nice pictures on a very difficult subject. Well done Tonji. Mabuhay.

[Romy Ocon]

What a lifer, congrats Tonji! The drive from Mt. Data to Sagada is quite long and bumpy, but its worth it.

[Jun Osano]

Congratulations Tonj! More..more..

[Mark Itol]

B-E-A-U-tiful! Congratulations, Tonji.

[alainpascua]

Beautiful, Tonji! Really wonderful!

[Bob Kaufman]

Tonji, congratulations on the excellent capture of this lovely bird!

[Ding Carpio]

Wowowowow!

I'd endure the Abortion Road (Halsema) for a shot of that bird.

[Tonji Ramos]

Thanks for the kind comments guys.

For those interested in going, the present road conditions are very good. The landslides from Ondoy are cleared. The 100km road to Mt. Data from Baguio is all paved. A sedan can make it. However the road leading up to Sagada has around 5k of fire/ gravel roads which are well graded. I would take an SUV or pickup because there are other dirt roads within the Sagada area with lots of trees and few people. It took me 8+ hours from Alabang to get to Mt. Data. We left Alabang at 12mn and got to Mt. Data at 8:30am or so. We stayed overnight then went to Sagada the next day. Its around 40+k only to Sagada from Data. Hope this helps.

Neon made this better version. Thanks Neon.

[Renoir Abrea]

very nice bird and equally nice capture, VERY NICE!