Bird Watching

Ahhh, this morning, I struck out bright and early to head on my 1st Bird Watch with the Wild Bird Club of the Philippines-Davao. It was wonderful to be in the forest and the group collectively spotted 40 different species....4 being raptors: Brahminy Kite, Philippine Serpent Eagle, Chinese Goshawk & a few people even had the treat of seeing a Peregrine Falcon! 

Philippine Serpent Eagle

There were a few types of King Fisher (one of my favorites, I was able to photograph one and only observed the collared kingfisher through the scope), plenty of sunbirds,  flower peckers, drongo cuckoos, beeaters...you get the idea. I will not list them all and I am not sure I could even identify them?? Makes me want to study! Of course, I enjoy the very colorful birds and I was not disappointed. 

Brown Breasted King fisher

One of the varieties of Sunbirds we saw, sorry can't remember the specific type.

Olive Backed Sunbird

My only regret of the day was not having a super high tech lens to take extra close ups to study now. Other surprises were a Sailfin Lizard, a skink and plenty of Flying Foxes! 

Sailfin lizard

Check out the Sailfin lizard's tail. 

skink

Flying Fox

I was refreshed by the beauty around me and the excellence of the people leading, such a wealth of knowledge!  My brain is on overload, they were able to identify so many birds. The groups leader, Pete Simpson is kind and well equipped. It was fun to watch his excitement as well. He brought along scopes, recorded bird calls and his group was well coordinated with binoculars to share.  I saw some of the BIGGEST camera lenses ever!!  If you live in Davao, this is an enriching activity, well worth the time.  Oh, did I mention the lilies?? Maybe they are worth their own blog?? Stunning....

I think that birds are some quite wonderful!  But, I have to admit, I love finding and photographing other treasures as well. Like this guy.....

• He looked feathered...check out his feet!