Balaring Silay and back to Thailand

Wood Sandpiper

Tringa glareola

Balaring Silay

Negros Occidental, Philippines

15.04.11

On a recommendation received from The Philippine Bird Photography Forum I paid a visit to Balaring Silay, a coastal site a little north of Bacolod City, on Friday 15th April 2011. I saw three Chinese Egrets there feeding together and I was so surprised to see as many as this that I took a long careful look at them. Conditions, light, time and the position of the sun meant digiscoping was impossible but I am sure these were Chinese egrets.

In addition to the Chinese egrets there were enough birds around to make me think this site definitely warrants serious attention in the future. My photographs are an indication of the poor light conditions plus the distance between the camera and the birds.

White-browed Crake

Porzana cinerea

Balaring Silay

Negros Occidental, Philippines

15.04.11

I watched an entertaining territorial dispute in a salt pan between a barred rail and a white-browed crake. Again conditions were far from ideal which is a pity as both birds are highly photogenic. Also present a Little heron. In an adjacent pond a common moorhen, black-winged stills, a wood sandpiper and a number of little egrets. There were other birds including a collared kingfisher but conditions just didn't favour photography.

Little heron

Butorides striata

Balaring Silay

Negros Occidental, Philippines

15.04.11

I am pretty sure I will be back here as it appears to be an extensive area and one which warrants a lot more time. Basically I had about one hour here towards the end of the day. I also had a very decent meal in one of the many sea food restaurants in the area so that is a further attraction.

That ends the Philippine trip, too short really! I touched down back in Bangkok late Saturday 16th April 2011 and headed home from the airport. At about 02:30h as I approached home I took a shortcut to avoid local roadworks near our home and close to the local rice paddy my headlights picked out a Barn Owl near the road. I managed to stop and watched it take off and land nearby on a hoarding board where it perched and we had a good look at each other, my view aided by my car's headlights. What a beautiful bird and lifer ⌗ 301. I never included in my list the poor Barn Owl which died near my house a few months ago.

Sunday 16.04.11 I decided to head to Pak Thale in the afternoon in the hope of catching a final sight of Spoonbill Sandpiper for this "winter". I was encouraged by recent reports of the bird being seen in the area during the last week. Sadly I was in poor form and didn't manage to see SBS and in fact managed to scare off most of the groups of birds I approached! As far as I could see it was largely the case of the usual suspects, most of which were sporting breeding plumage.