One morning in early December 2006, a mobile phone call from fellow birdshooter and close friend Tina M. sounded sweet music to my ears - she just stumbled upon a nesting pair of this rarely seen (and photographed) Philippine endemic at Subic rainforest.
I rushed to the area right away from Metro Manila, almost breaking the sound barrier while driving along the North Luzon Expressway. The prospect of bagging a rare endemic photo-lifer elevated my adrenaline level to record highs.
This tiny bird is found only in the Philippines, where it ranges in Luzon and Mindanao islands. With a total length of just 5-1/4 inches, and given its habit of staying in the crown of trees, it presents a tough subject to fill the frame with. I had to stack two 1.4x TCs on the 500 f4 to get a bit closer. The dark plumage and the contrasting white spot at the forehead likewise didn't make the exposure job any easier.... good that I shot in RAW, I was able to recover later some details in the highlights and shadows.
That so few images of this species are generated when one does a Google image search even now (over six years after this capture) is a testament to how difficult it is to see this bird in the wild.
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White-fronted Tit (Parus semilarvatus , a Philippine endemic)
Habitat - Rare and local in lowland and middle elevation forest and second
growth.
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| Shooting Info - Subic rainforest, Bataan, Philippines, December 3, 2006, Canon 20D + 500 f4 L IS + stacked Canon 1.4x II/Tamron 1.4x, 1000 mm, ISO 800, 1/80 sec, f/9, manual exposure in available light, 475B/3421 support, near full frame. |
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