Wet at the Candaba wetlands

[JV Noriega]

Just want to share some docu shots of the Blue-tailed Bee-eater getting drenched in the rain. This was the same day i photographed the Little Grebes, but later in the afternoon when heavy rains poured.

Shot these while taking shelter from the rainstorm in a fishpond shack about 50 meters away.

Blue-tailed Bee-eater (Merops philippinus)

All photos taken with
Nikon D300s+500 f4.5 , 055cx/393, manual exposure, available light, major crop

1/1000, f6.3, ISO500

[Toto Gamboa]

Wooohooo! Looks like snow has fallen in the philippines!

[Mark Itol]

Very interesting result, JV. It looks like an impressionist painting.

[JV Noriega]

Thanks Toto! ...it got really cold that afternoon, wish it really snowed though!

[JV Noriega]

Thanks Mark, i had always desired to turn my photographs into paintings someday.. but at this point, building an archive of specimens is a more interesting endeavor... as the saying goes," i hope to find time to do that in the future!" appreciate the comment!

[Ely Teehankee]

Just wondering when was the last time you went to Candaba and is the road still wet and sticky? Romy's description of bird photographers being "Birdnuts" seems very appropriate. Who would ever imagine the lengths and strengths that we have to go thru in the quest to take a picture of a bird. Your pictures depicts such an event. The rain is pouring like cats & dogs as can be seen in your pictures. The bird seems to be enjoying his shower in the rain. There is JV with the shack as his shelter happily capturing the BTBE on his CF card. I bet you had a lot of fun just like a Birdnut. Mabuhay.

[JV Noriega]

Hi Ely, i was in Candaba area August 31. The fishpond location where is shot these were a couple of kilometers away from the Mayor's bird sanctuary. A month a earlier, i had attempted to go to Paralaya (also because i was in the area to film something) but was not able to reach the Mayor's place because the road was unpassable at a certain point (about a 300 meters before the sanctuary), but it was a good spot to shoot flying birds. and yes, Ely, in great light or bad weather, there is always hope of capturing the image of birds somewhere.. thanks and mabuhay!

[Bob Kaufman]

I love the painting-like quality of these photos, JV! Reminds me of Seurat.

I can just imagine you huddled inside the shack firing away at this intrepid bee-eater.

[JV Noriega]

Thanks a lot Bob! i should have taken a behind the scenes shot of the shack, as it was also dripping all over inside! I had a jacket over the camera plus an umbrella over it. I got wet, of course, but saved the camera!

[butchsanjuan]

Yes, very nice painting-like quality and effect tothe photos. Good of you to capture that twisted-neck flight pose in the second photo.

[JV Noriega]

Thanks Butch, every time i shoot this bird in flight, i'd always think they're flying upside down! amazing creatures, these BTBEs...