All these amazing this happened this month!
First photo of a Philippine Duck swimming in one of our ponds!
I’ve taken lots of photos of Philippine Ducks. This one is a first and very special to me because I’ve been dreaming of taking this shot ever since we made our first pond! We know we have Philippine Ducks and we know they use the ponds. We have photos and videos from the wildlife camera of Philippine Ducks swimming in our ponds. I’ve been dreaming of taking my own photograph of one of the ducks while it’s in the water.
In this particular pond, you can stand on the path, peer through the weeds, and check to water for birds. I was so excited when I saw a duck swimming! I tried to move slowly and quietly so I wouldn’t alert the duck or the dogs. Haha, the dogs had no idea that there was a duck close by! I also had to manually focus the camera because of all the weeds.
First time for our Malabulak trees to have lots of flowers!
In 2017 one of our Malabulak trees produced a bud, but the bud didn’t turn into a flower. In 2018 we had a few buds and flowers. This year we have lots of flowers on several trees. These trees attract a lot of birds when they are in flower. We haven’t seen any birds on ours yet, maybe because our trees are not very tall yet.
First time to see the flower of the Alibangbang tree!
We have lots of Alibangbang trees growing wild in our refuge. They produce seeds and sprout all over the place. Yet I never saw a flower. I wanted to see a flower because this would confirm the ID of the tree. I was assuming that the trees we have are Bauhinia malabrica, the native version of Bauhinia. The Bauhinia that is usually found in urban settings is the imported, non-native version Bauhinia purpurea that has big purple flowers. It is a popular ornamental plant. The native Bauhinia has small, yellow flowers. In 2018 I was able to definitely confirm the ID of the tree. It was a bit anti-climactic though because all I saw were unopened buds.
First time to see a Grey-Faced Buzzard Butastur indicus in the refuge!
We now have 101 species on our refuge bird list! This bird is a migrant. I was standing on the veranda of the cottage when I saw it flying by. I hope that it uses our place as a stopover!
We still have two weeks left in February. I’m looking forward to what the next two weeks bring!
Tonji and Sylvia's Wildlife Refuge 
Love reading your blog. It’s so exciting to hear the fruits of your labor of love on the farm. You and Tonji are doing wonders. . As the years go by, I await for new things that will most certainly crop up. Keep us posted!
Thanks Ixi! We have a possible new farm bird that’s a LIFER!! But we have to see it again and take better pics! ID can’t be confirmed with the pics I have now.