Tonji and Sylvia's Wildlife Refuge

October 2026 – Lots of Visitors and Birthday Birds

We rarely have people come over to the farm/refuge. In October we had TWO sets of visitors! It was nice to have people over who appreciate and understand what the farm/refuge is all about and who get excited about nature, especially birds!

Migrant Birds

A flock of Ashy Minivets! At first they were far up in the Agoho trees. Then they moved closer to the cottage and we got better views.

Common Kingfisher with something in its beak. Could it be a guppy? We did release a bunch of guppies into the pond when we first built it. We only did it once because I never saw them again and wasn’t sure if they could survive in the pond.

Brown Shrike in an Agoho tree.

Tonji has pictures of Garganey also! Will add them when I get them.

Resident Birds

Clamorous Reed Warbler with a big green caterpillar in its beak!

These are my nicest photos of Wandering Whistling Ducks at the farm/refuge so far!

Philippine Ducks

I love the expression on this duck’s face.

Special Birthday Birds!

I celebrated my birthday at the farm/refuge. Of course I was wishing that I would see a special bird on my special day. When the flock of Ashy Minivets flew in, I thought that maybe those were my birthday birds. And then three Coletos flew into the trees in front of the cottage! We all had great views of them. They stayed for a long time, hopping around the branches!

Our previous views of Coletos at the farm/refuge have been either very quick or very far. This was a very satisfying view of them!

July and Sept 2026 – Hybrids and goats

We saw two kinds of hybrid ducks at the farm refuge. One was white and looked very much a domestic duck.

It’s much larger than the Wandering Whistling Ducks. It looks like a mother duck swimming with her babies!

The other hybrid dark. It looked black from a distance but was actually brown. It has a ring of white feathers on its neck.

And we also had a family of goats go down to the Big Pond!

And here’s a nice photo of all the plants growing in the Big Pond.

Gotcha! Camera Trap Highlights

We installed two camera traps in the Big Pond and one in the Water Lily Pond just to see what we would get. We also put one by the swimming pool, but unfortunately I forgot to turn it on!

We are using a very simple camera. We like that it works on AA batteries. Note: get the Energizer batteries! They really outlast the non-branded ones. This camera doesn’t connect to wifi. You just leave it in place, then go back and physically remove the cards and then go through all the photos! There were thousands of photos!

This is what we got:

Ducks feeding

There are two kinds of ducks when it comes to the way they get their food. The dabblers and the divers. Philippine Ducks are dabbling ducks. We have a lot of photos of Philippine Ducks feeding in the same exact spot!

Bayawak!

It was just swimming. I don’t know if they can eat ducks. We also saw it sunning itself on the spillway when we visited.

Two kinds of Kingfishers

The first picture is a Common Kingfisher, the second is a Buff Throated Kingfisher.

Close up of the brown hybrid duck

We saw this duck in September. I thought it was a black duck. It turns out to be brown with very nice markings!

Purple Heron close ups

We think this is is our one and only Purple Heron that has been around since the early days of the farm refuge.

Little Grebe!

Very nice to see a Little Grebe in the Big Pond. We didn’t see it when we visited and inspected the ponds, so it’s nice to know that it’s there!

Next time I will try to set up the camera at the Water Lily Pond closer to the water. The photos come out much better if the camera is nearer to the subject. Otherwise, even the colors of the birds don’t come out clearly.

Fruits! Flowers! New Bird! May 2026

The Big Pond has yielded another new bird for the farm refuge!

Bird #122 is White-browed Crake Porzana cinerea. It was walking on top of the lotus leaves, just like the illustration in the Kennedy field guide!

During our visit we also saw:

One Little Grebe. It’s probably a resident now!

8 Black-winged Stilts.

Egrets.

Buff-throated Kingfisher.

Barred Rails. There were two!

Swallows. I think this is a Pacific Swallow.

A lot of Philippine Ducks.

And Wandering Whistling Ducks! When I visited the Big Pond in the afternoon, at first all the ducks flew away. Then they came back and started grooming and settling in for the night. The Wandering Whistling Ducks and Philippine Ducks were mixed togther. It seems that they are now a mixed flock. Later in the evening, I saw the Wandering Whistling Ducks flying around in a V formation while calling out.

I got a nice photo of a Tawny Grassbird. I tend to have a hard time photographing them. This time I didn’t give up and after many shots of leaves and branches and bird bits, I got a good photo!

The Water Lily pond is ready for the upcoming rainy season! Tonji finished widening and deepening the pond.

Tubby climbing out of the Water Lily Pond. He’s a 4×4 puppy!

He also widened the channel that connects the left and right sides of the Water Lily pond.

We are enjoying the fruits and flowers of summer. The grass is all dried up and and looks like straw. But when you look at the trees, they are green and bursting with flowers!

Narra trees in flower beside the paddock

Balai Lamok with Narra in the background

The guava trees that grow wild all over the farm have small and delicious fruit. I am always on the lookout for ripe fruit. Oftentimes the birds beat me to the fruit. This time there were a lot of hantik (big red ants) making nests in the guava trees and crawling all over the fruit. I was able to get a few though!

I also ate a few aratiles. So sweet!

And here’s a cute video of Tubby bounding down to the grass like a little rabbit.