Rainy Season Birds of Los Banos

[Tirso Paris]

It's so frustrating when you're itching to do some birding but the incessant rains prevent you from doing so. Instead, I tried birding from my files for local birds which I have been able to photograph whenever the weather allowed it during the past month and early part of this month.

So here's a mixed bag of selected birds in various habitats taken during the months July and August 2012 in UP Los Banos, Laguna.


All pictures were taken using a Canon EOS 5D3, EF100-400 mm, Kenco 1.4 TC, mostly car window support and in natural light.



Zitting Cisticola (Cisticola juncidis)
2012-08-11 07:49, 1/1000 sec, Shutter priority, F 9, ISO 800, 560 mm



Purple-throated Sunbird (Nectarinia sperata)
2012-07-08 17:12, 1/60 sec, Shutter priority, F5.6, ISO 125, 400 mm, tripod



Barred Buttonquail (Turnix suscitator) - Juvenile?
2012-08-11 16:37, 1/1600 sec, Shutter priority, F 8, ISO 4000, 518 mm



Cinnamon Bittern (Ixobrychus cinnamomeus) - Female
2012-08-12 08:08, 1/2500 sec, Shutter priority, F 8, ISO 1000, 560 mm



Chestnut Munias (Lonchura atricapilla)
2012-07-24 14:29, 1/1000 sec, Shutter priority, F 8, ISO 2000, 560 mm



Crested Myna (Acridotheres cristatelllus)
2012-08-11 16:18, 1/400 sec, Shutter priority, F 8, ISO 500, 560 mm



Coppersmith Barbets (Megalaima haemacephala)
2012-07-10 07:17, 1/500 sec, Shutter priority, F 8, ISO 320, 560 mm



Greater Painted-Snipes (Rostratula benghalensis)
2012-07-10 11:02, 1/400 sec, Shutter priority, F 8, ISO 125, 560 mm



Lesser Coucal (Centropus bengalensis)
2012-08-11 08:30, 1/1000 sec, Shutter priority, F 8, ISO 1600, 560 mm



Lowland White-eye (Zosterops meyeni)
2012-08-11 16:41, 1/1600 sec, Shutter priority, F 8, ISO 5000, 518 mm



Paddyfield Pipit (Anthuis rufulus)
2012-07-17 07:32, 1/1000 sec, Shutter priority, F 9, ISO 500, 560 mm



Striated Grassbird (Megalurus palustris) - Juvenile
2012-07-19 09:00, 1/1000 sec, Shutter priority, F 9, ISO 1250, 560 mm



White-browed Crake (Porzana cinerea)
2012-08-12 08:23, 1/1000 sec, Shutter priority, F 8, ISO 400, 560 mm



White Collared Kingfisher (Todiramphus chloris)
2012-07-16 08:18, 1/640 sec, Shutter priority, F 9, ISO 200, 560 mm



Wood Sandpiper (Tringa glareola)
2012-08-12 07:37, 1/800 sec, Shutter priority, F 8, ISO 320, 546 mm



Yellow Bittern (Ixobrychus sinensis)
2012-07-27 06:22, 1/800 sec, Shutter priority, F 8, ISO 2500, 560 mm



Zitting Cisticola (Cisticola juncidis)
2012-08-12 08:21, 1/1000 sec, Shutter priority, F 9, ISO 250, 560 mm

[tina mallari]

Another awesome set !!!! Maybe I should do the same thing... go birding inside my computer. These terrible rains have been ruining our planned birding trips over at your side.

[Tirso Paris]

Thanks a lot Tina! Looks like we will be rained out again!

[Ramon Quisumbing]

Excellent harvest, Prof. Tirso! Loads of details.

[Ely Teehankee]

That is quite a variety of birds. My favorite is the Purple-throated Sunbird on the Torch Ginger. Well done Tirso & Mabuhay.

[Tirso Paris]

Aug 15, 2012 23:20:55 GMT Ramon Quisumbing said:

Excellent harvest, Prof. Tirso! Loads of details.

Thanks a lot Ramon. When the rains are over, I hope to "bio"-diversify my collection, including those birds of BK Valley.

[Tirso Paris]

Aug 16, 2012 0:21:44 GMT Ely Teehankee said:

That is quite a variety of birds. My favorite is the Purple-throated Sunbird on the Torch Ginger. Well done Tirso & Mabuhay.

Thanks Ely. That sunbird visited my backyard but that was the only time I saw it. Thanks to post-processing, a severely underexposed shot was salvaged.

[Juan Manuel C. Del Prado]

Small birds ,like the Sunbird, White-eyes, Citrine Canary-flycatchers, are my favorites. Very nice photos, Tirso.

[Tirso Paris]

Thanks a lot Tito Poch.

[Ariel Matias]

Nice captures! I'm impressed with the clean images of 5D3 in high ISO!

[Tirso Paris]

Thanks Ariel. I think its larger sensor and use of Digic5 help. It certainly is a lot less noiser than my 7D. Of course I still use some noise reduction using Adobe Camera Raw or Topaz.

[Renoir Abrea]

very nice images

[Tirso Paris]

Thanks Renoir.

[Burr Patterson, Jr.]

You did great, WoW.

[Bob Kaufman]

Incredible set, Prof. Tirso!

The Purple-throated shot is to die for! And the details of the Buttonquail photo - wow!

[Tirso Paris]

Aug 18, 2012 11:31:53 GMT Burr Patterson, Jr. said:

You did great, WoW.

Thanks a lot Burr.

[Tirso Paris]

Aug 19, 2012 11:56:19 GMT Bob Kaufman said:

Incredible set, Prof. Tirso!

The Purple-throated shot is to die for! And the details of the Buttonquail photo - wow!

Thank you very much Bob!