Movatterモバイル変換

Malasi Lake is a very small body of water (circa 40 hectares) situated in a vast expanse of grasslands in Cabagan, Isabela (Northern Luzon, Philippines). It's about 500 km north of Manila and it took us (myself, fellow Philippine Bird Photography member Neon Rosell and my brother Jeff) about 10 hours of spirited driving to reach it. We had to cross the mighty Cagayan river aboard a makeshift raft to get to the site, but the lake can also be accessed by land via a circuitous route.

This body of water may be relatively tiny but it is teeming with many interesting water and grass birds. I had so much fun shooting the avian creatures that I didn't notice I was being burned to a crisp by the blazing sun. Sunburned to just past well-done, I got home aching all over but with 5 new lifebirds from this productive trip - Wandering Whistling-Duck, Common Pochard, Black-shouldered Kite (a couple building a nest), Singing Bushlark and Oriental Skylark.

I wish to thank our hosts, Aloy Duya and Glen Bueser of Conservational International Philippines, for the warm welcome, for the logistics support and for tirelessly sticking with us throughout the scorching sortie. Special thanks are also due to Neon's sister - Grace - for arranging the successful trip.

On the way back to Manila, we detoured via the newly opened Aritao-Baguio road to check out potential birding opportunities. The road is half-finished, with the section nearer Baguio still being paved. The diversion added another 6 hours to the already long drive back home, but I captured another lifebird - House Swift - at Ambuklao, Benguet.

All in all, the harvest of 6 new birds brings my lifelist to 220 species...:)