BLUE-WINGED PITTA Pitta moluccensis
Photo by Christian Perez
Valencia, Negros Oriental
July 2018
“Just back from a long birding trip abroad, and looking forward to some quiet days at home, I heard on July 29 that a Blue-winged Pitta has been sighted just outside Rene Vendiola’s house in Liptong Woodlands, Bakong near Dumaguete, Negros Oriental. That was too tempting. A Blue-winged Pitta, a bird that is listed in the Kennedy guide but has not been recorded in the Philippines since 1907! So on July 31 I flew to Dumaguete for a day with Rob, Sylvia and Tonji, joining Forest who was already there. And the bird was there, walking quietly around a wooded area just a few meters from the road, sometimes disappearing for a few minutes, then coming back in sight, seemingly undisturbed by our presence. The bird was seen by a few other birders during the following days, but had disappeared by the end of that week. It has since become a bit of a celebrity, making it to the cover page of the Philippine Daily Inquirer with a huge picture by Forest and a nice article by Mads in the inside pages. That was an awesome twitch!” – Christian
Click HERE to read the article published in the Philippine Daily Inquirer.