QC Bird Race 2026 Leg 3 at UP Diliman: Rain, Long Lenses, and the Final Leg of the Race
It rained. Of course it rained. The third and final leg of the Quezon City Bird Race 2026 was already pushed back a week by weather, and when the new date came on September 5 the sky over UP Diliman still had opinions. Nobody went home. Umbrellas went up, lens hoods went on, and a campus that most people know for its Sunblast and its Oblation turned out to be full of birds. CameraHaus was there as a sponsor for the last leg, as we were for the second. This is how the race ended.
Three legs, three green spaces, one city
The Quezon City Bird Race 2026 is the first bird race ever held inside Metro Manila. WBPP and the Quezon City Government built it around a simple argument: the city's parks and campuses are wilder than people think, and the best way to prove it is to send photographers in with a clock running. Teams get a set number of hours to photograph as many bird species as they can, with points for identification and bonuses for Philippine endemics. Everything gets verified. Nobody is allowed to bait, flush, or chase.
- Leg 1 · April 25La Mesa Ecopark. Over 49 teams recorded 60 species from 35 families, 17 of them found only in the Philippines.
- Leg 2 · June 6Ninoy Aquino Parks and Wildlife Center, during the 28th Philippine Eagle Week. Read the Leg 2 recap.
- Leg 3 · September 5University of the Philippines Diliman, this post. Awarding the next day, September 6.
Race day in the rain
Check-in opened before dawn at the National Institute of Physics. Teams signed in, collected their kits, and heard the briefing on boundaries and rules, then scattered across the campus with the biggest lenses most people will ever see in public. UP Diliman is a strong birding site for a city campus: old acacias, the Academic Oval, the lagoon, and pockets of scrub that hold everything from sunbirds and flowerpeckers to the occasional raptor passing over.
Then the rain came. Bird photography in the rain is a specific kind of stubbornness. You hold an umbrella in one hand and a two-kilo lens in the other, you shelter under whatever roof is nearest, and you wait, because the birds do not stop for weather and neither does the clock. The teams that did well on September 5 were the ones that treated the rain as part of the assignment.
Back at base: talks and gear
Inside the National Institute of Physics, the race had a second life. Between the field sessions, the program brought everyone back for short talks, including one on why photographers chase birds in flight and how to get better at it, and for the part of a bird race that CameraHaus cares most about: the gear tables.
Bird photography is the most gear-intensive branch of the hobby, and a bird race is the one place where you can compare a 600mm prime with a 150-600mm zoom by picking both up, side by side, with people who use them every weekend standing next to you. Canon, Nikon, Sony, Sigma, Tamron, and Lumix each had tables, and the CameraHaus team was on the floor with them for the whole day.
Why CameraHaus sponsors a bird race
Every verified species on a race sheet is a data point that says this park matters. Photography is doing real work here.
Bird photographers buy the longest lenses, the fastest bodies, and the sturdiest tripods. They are also the most demanding testers. We want to be where they are.
Three legs, three green spaces, dozens of species, in the middle of Metro Manila. That is worth telling people about.
The Wild Bird Photographers of the Philippines turned fourteen this September. Leg 3 and the awarding were part of the celebration.
Part two: the awarding
The race finished on September 5. The results, the prizes, and the category winners for best bird photos, birders in action, and bird race reels came the next day at the awarding. That is a post of its own: QC Bird Race 2026 Awarding Night.
Gear for the next race
Start birding
You do not need a 600mm to start. You need a park, a morning, and a camera you can hold steady. Ask any CameraHaus branch about a first birding setup.
Find a branch Follow WBPPFrequently asked questions
What is the Quezon City Bird Race?
A three-leg bird photography competition and conservation initiative organised by the Wild Bird Photographers of the Philippines with the Quezon City Government. Teams photograph as many bird species as they can within a time limit at La Mesa Ecopark, the Ninoy Aquino Parks and Wildlife Center, and UP Diliman. It is the first bird race held in Metro Manila.
When and where was Leg 3?
September 5, 2026 at the National Institute of Physics, University of the Philippines Diliman. It was originally scheduled for August 29 and moved because of weather.
What was CameraHaus's role?
CameraHaus was a sponsor of the QC Bird Race 2026 and was on site at Leg 3 with the camera and lens brands at the gear tables.
What were the competition categories?
Pagandahan for the best bird photos, Pagalingan for birders in action, and Pahusayan for bird race reels. Winners were announced at the awarding on September 6.
Thank you
To the Wild Bird Photographers of the Philippines, happy fourteenth, and thank you for building a race that treats the city like the habitat it is. To the Quezon City Government and its Climate Change and Environmental Sustainability Department for backing it. To UP Diliman for the campus and the birds. To Canon, Nikon, Sony, Sigma, Tamron, and Lumix for the tables. And to every team that got wet on September 5 and kept shooting. See you at the awarding.
CameraHaus on the race: the schedule update and the wrap. Leg 1 coverage: Inquirer. More CameraHaus events: Events.