Eastern Marsh-Harrier in flight

This medium sized, migratory raptor (wing span - 1.22 meters) is often seen flying low over the ground, searching intently for prey such as small mammals, frogs and birds. With its eyes fixed on ground targets most of the time when in flight, it is tough to photograph with a nice eye contact.

 

I had the good fortune of catching this individual in mid-bank, with the sun behind me, on New Year's Day way back in 2008. I got the much coveted eye-contact, and captured a lot of detail in the underparts. The 1D MII's 8 fps allowed me to shoot a long burst (all frames in good focus), and then  to choose which frame has the most photogenic wing position.

 

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Eastern Marsh-Harrier (Circus spilonotus, migrant, sub-adult male)

Habitat - Uncommon, primarily in wetlands and grasslands.

 

Shooting info - Candaba wetlands, Pampanga, January 1, 2008, Canon 1D MII + EF 500 f4 IS + EF 1.4x TC II,
700 mm, f/7.1, ISO 320, 1/1600 sec, manual exposure in available light, 475B/3421 support, major crop.

 

The rare Siberian Stonechat

Taken at the sprawling Diliman campus of the University of the Philippines over six years ago, this is among the rare local photographs of a species newly added to the Philippine bird list. This bird was not included yet in the Kennedy Guide which was published in the year 2000.

 

Thanks to Prof. Gerry de Villa of UP-Diliman for discovering the individual bird and sharing its location. His digiscoped photos of the bird are the first I've seen from the Philippines. 

 

There is renewed interest lately about this bird among bird experts because of the recent split of the species into two different ones. This photo could shed light on which form was seen in our islands.

 

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Siberian Stonechat (Saxicola maurus, migrant)

 

Habitat - Grasslands and ricefields. 

 



Shooting info - UP-Diliman, Quezon City, Philippines, November 20, 2007, Canon 40D + EF 500 f4 L IS + EF 1.4x TC II, 700 mm, f/7.1, ISO 400, 1/320 sec, manual exposure in available light, hand held, major crop.