Missing Tit

Early Saturday (March 4) morning I got a Facebook PM from birding friend Bim Quemado. "If you're interested, the White-fronted Tit is easy here at Subic" was his message. A couple of weeks earlier, our friends from the Baguio-Benguet Birding Group also posted photos of this species. The White-fronted Tit was my nemesis bird. Cynthia and I never saw it despite our many attempts.

Sunday afternoon we drove to Subic and proceeded right away to the place Bim said he saw the Tit. Three hours of searching and nada. Early the following day we went back. Again, three hours of waiting and staring at the trees with red flowers and still no Tit. I thought I saw it fly across the road but somehow never found the place where it landed. Or was it just my imagination playing tricks on me.

Although not seeing our target was a heart-breaker, birding wasn't that bad at all. This is the time of year when the Blue-throated Bee-eaters start their nesting period. There were dozens of them congregating on the electric wires waiting for their turn to visit their respective holes on the ground.

Some even displaying a unique posture.

Having spent most of our time looking for the imaginary bird with a white forehead, we were not able to photograph much of the avian denizens of Subic. Here are some that we got:

Blue-naped Parrot

Large-billed Crow

Coppersmith Barbet

Coleto

Luzon Flameback

Oriental Dollarbird

Stripe-headed Rhabdronis

White-bellied Woodpecker