The joys of La Mesa Ecopark

First piece of advice is go early, obviously as that is the best time, but the Ecopark does not charge for entry until much later, so you can get in and out before, if you chose.

So, finding an Ashy Thrush it seems is harder than expected, another visit yesterday resulted in two bursts of song, but no views.

It is also vital one goes to the right part of the park, which is beyond the Petron Amphitheatre and orchidarium, in an area called the mini forest. If you are anything like me you will want to be away from the nearby Petron Fitness Trail as many Philippinas will be there from long before sun up chatting loudly as they train. Try the link below and maybe print a copy for your visit;

http://www.metromaniladirections.com/2010/05/how-to-get-to-la-mesa-eco-park.html

Here I had a crake flush from under my feet hear and am told Slaty Legged is here, but the little critter bolted away so quick I didn't even get a chance to raise my bins.

I did see flocks of noisy Lowland White Eye and a Cuckoo, which I initially thought was Brush, but further reading and reflecting on the fact it was somewhat bigger than a Black-naped Oriole, I have to conclude it was a hepatic plumage female Oriental Cuckoo.....but I could be wrong of course. I had to read up on the term 'Hepatic' too.

I saw Arctic Warblers with 2 wing bars, their sharp ticking calls all around, I read that there are 5 sub species that visit the Philippines. This form is pale undereath, has a strong eye stripe and huge pale supercillium that wraps around towards the nape.

Again there were 4-5 calls and songs where I could not get onto the bird, a rising warble from I think a small bird, but not a Golden Bellied Flyeater, not that they are easy to see either. No sign of any calls of Pittas, Tailorbirds, or Flycatchers. Asian Mapie Robin song is a rather sweet sound, I'll try and get a picture of one of them too.

I delayed and delayed leaving to hope for the thrush, then struggled with other ticking calls, which were probably all Arctic Warblers and Flowerpeckers, briefly seeing one of the latter, could it have been an Olive Backed?

On a loop via what they call the fishing wharf the Lowland White Eyes were much more visible in the low trees there, then I noticed a life just walking around, Common Emerald Dove and nice they are;

It is impossible to search for a finite list of birds seen at La Mesa, no one seems to have compiled one, perhaps I should trawl Facebook, plenty of people talk about the place on there.

To prepare anyone who has not visited Manila before, it takes some getting used to how many people are out and about making a lot of darn noise at 05:30, jogging, cycling, you name it and even the karaoke starts around 07:00. Shopping malls are insanely noisy, but one must buy water and supllies, so no avoiding it.


Final piece of advice, if you are white and ask a taxi driver how much to go anywhere, I suggest offering half anything they say, or just opt for the meter, which might just be easier than haggling, unless you like to.