September 13, 2026

QC Bird Race 2026 Awarding Night: The Birds on the Big Screen and the Photographers Behind Them

A bird race ends twice. Once when the clock stops in the field, and again the next evening when the photographs go up on a screen the size of a wall and a room full of people who were standing in the same rain finally sees what everyone else got. The Quezon City Bird Race 2026 ended for the second time on September 6, at an awarding night that doubled as the fourteenth anniversary of the Wild Bird Photographers of the Philippines. CameraHaus, a sponsor of the race, was in the room. This is part two of the final leg. Part one, the race itself at UP Diliman, is here.

EventQuezon City Bird Race 2026 Awarding Night

DateSeptember 6, 2026, the day after Leg 3

VenueQuezon City

OrganizersWild Bird Photographers of the Philippines (WBPP) and the Quezon City Government

OccasionWBPP 14th anniversary

CameraHaus roleSponsor

Dinner, then the envelopes

The evening opened the way WBPP evenings do, with a room that already knew each other. Teams that had spent the previous morning under umbrellas at UP Diliman arrived in dry clothes, found their tables, and started comparing what they had and had not managed to photograph. The stage carried the Quezon City Bird Race 2026 backdrop, flanked by the sponsor flags, with the gear tables at the entrance for anyone who wanted one more look at a lens before sitting down.

The QC Bird Race 2026 awarding night stage with the race backdrop and Sony, CameraHaus, and Pentax flags, guests seated at dinner tables — The stage before the program. Backdrop up, flags out, tables filling.

Quezon City Bird Race 2026 poster standing among plants at the entrance of the awarding venue — The race poster at the door. Three legs, one night to close them.

Canon and Sony gear tables set up at the entrance of the QC Bird Race 2026 awarding venue — Gear tables at the entrance. One more look at the long lenses on the way in.

The program started with everyone on their feet, then the hosts took the podium and the evening moved quickly: the story of the three legs, the thank-yous to the city and the sponsors, and then the part everyone came for.

Bird photographers standing at their tables at the start of the QC Bird Race 2026 awarding program — On their feet to open the night.

Host speaking at the podium in front of the Sony Alpha backdrop at the QC Bird Race 2026 awarding night — At the podium. The program gets moving.

Speaker addressing the audience from the podium at the QC Bird Race 2026 awarding night — Three legs, three green spaces, one thank-you.

Three categories, one screen

The Quezon City Bird Race gives awards in three categories, and each one rewards a different thing a camera can do.

PagandahanBest bird photographsThe frames that stopped the room

PagalinganBirders in actionThe people behind the lenses, photographed by each other

PahusayanBird race reelsThe race as video, cut for the phone

For each award the winning photograph went up on the screen behind the stage first, full width, before the name was read. That order matters. For a few seconds the whole room looked at a bird, a kingfisher on a branch, a sunbird in red flowers, a raptor against a sky over the campus, and reacted to the picture before it reacted to the person. Then the name, then the walk to the stage, then the certificate, the prize, and the photo with the sponsors. Then the next bird.

Award winners on stage at the QC Bird Race 2026 awarding with their winning bird photograph of a barbet displayed on the large screen behind them — The bird first, then the name. A winning frame on the big screen.

Awardees on stage in front of a winning photograph of a bird in red flowers at the QC Bird Race 2026 awarding night — Red flowers, one bird, and the team that waited for it.

Category winners receiving their awards on stage with organizers and sponsors at the QC Bird Race 2026 awarding night — Certificates, prizes, and the sponsor photo. Repeat for every category.

Awardees on stage beside the CameraHaus and Pentax flags at the QC Bird Race 2026 awarding night — Winners with the CameraHaus flag in frame.

The prizes were real. Cash awards from the sponsors for the placers in each category, gear and gift packs, and a few things that only make sense to birders, like a stay at a partner bird lodge. The certificates listed the category, the leg, the placing, and the species. Winners were photographing their own certificates before they had left the stage.

Close-up of a Leg 3 Pagandahan category runner-up prize certificate being photographed with a phone at the QC Bird Race 2026 awarding — A Pagandahan runner-up certificate, photographed before it left the stage.

A winner at her table holding up her prize and smiling at the QC Bird Race 2026 awarding night — Back at the table with the prize.

"Full of laughter, learning, and a whole lot of birdwatching joy."CameraHaus, after the awarding night.

Fourteen years of WBPP

The awarding was also a birthday. The Wild Bird Photographers of the Philippines was founded on September 1, 2012, and the night doubled as its fourteenth anniversary and the report of its outgoing 2023 to 2026 officers. There was a term report on the screen, a lot of names read out, and the kind of applause a volunteer organisation earns by running three bird races in one city in a single year while also running everything else it does.

WBPP officer presenting the 2023 to 2026 term report on screen at the awarding night, marking the club's fourteenth anniversary — The 2023 to 2026 term report. Fourteen years, three bird races, one city.

What CameraHaus took from the season

The city is a habitat

Three legs across La Mesa, the Wildlife Center, and UP Diliman produced species lists most people would not believe came from inside Metro Manila.

Photographs change minds

A verified species list is data. A kingfisher on a wall-sized screen is an argument. The race produced both.

Birders test everything

Nobody puts a lens through more than a bird photographer. Being on the floor for all three legs taught us more than any spec sheet.

See you in 2027

WBPP has said this is the first Quezon City Bird Race, not the only one. CameraHaus will be back.

Ready for the next race?

Long lenses, fast bodies, steady tripods, and the binoculars to find the bird before the camera does. Every CameraHaus branch can put a birding kit together.

Telephoto lenses Binoculars and scopes Find a branch

Frequently asked questions

When was the QC Bird Race 2026 awarding?

September 6, 2026, the day after the third and final leg at UP Diliman.

What were the award categories?

Pagandahan for the best bird photographs, Pagalingan for photos of birders in action, and Pahusayan for bird race reels. Awards were given per leg and for the race.

Who organised the QC Bird Race?

The Wild Bird Photographers of the Philippines with the Quezon City Government, through its Climate Change and Environmental Sustainability Department. CameraHaus was a sponsor.

Where can I see the other legs?

Read the Leg 3 recap at UP Diliman and the Leg 2 recap at the Ninoy Aquino Parks and Wildlife Center.

Thank you

To the Wild Bird Photographers of the Philippines, congratulations on fourteen years and on pulling off the first bird race in Metro Manila. To the Quezon City Government for treating its parks and campuses as the habitats they are. To every winner, and to every team that did not place but came anyway, with wet gear and a full memory card. And to the birds of Quezon City, who did not know they were in a race and turned up regardless. See you at the next one.

CameraHaus on the race: Instagram. Follow WBPP on Facebook for the next race. More CameraHaus events: Events.

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