We had a rainy but nice last visit to the refuge for 2024. The veranda of the cottage is a great place to see all kinds of things.
Native santan bush that’s starting to look like a small tree.
Small snake skin
And of course, birds!
White-eared Brown Dove in the aratiles tree. We have a lot of these non-native aratiles trees because the birds love their fruits.
Philippine Bulbul
And one of our favorite birds, the Philippine Hanging Parrot or Colasisi. When we hear the call of this bird we already know that we it will be perfectly blended into the leaves and will take a bit of searching before we see it.
Unless it’s perched on the Agoho!
Tonji wanted to try something new at the Big Pond. Instead of using a ghillie cape like the last time, he set up a 2-seater hide by the pond.
He left it by the pond overnight so that the birds could get used to it. Then he snuck inside early the next morning while it was still dark and waited to see what would show up. He thinks that the ducks were wary of it and kept their distance. But he got to see other birds in action!
He was surprised to see a lot of Red Junglefowl Gallus gallus! The domestic native chickens are descended from Red Junglefowl. Tonji was surprised to see them fly across the pond. Unlike domestic chickens, the wild Junglefowl can fly well.
So exciting to be able to observe them!
There were several males and females. Tonji chose a good location for the bird hide. Different kinds of birds were converging at the same bank.
Barred Rail or Tikling.
The Philippine Ducks were also in the area. It was so strange to see Philippine Ducks and Red Junglefowl together! There were probably a lot of bugs in the mud.
The ducks looked like they were digging.
White-Breasted Waterhen
He also saw two Wandering Whistling Ducks.
They were swimming in the Big Pond with the Philippine Ducks.
And that was how we ended 2024 at the refuge! We are looking forward to more visits and more birds in 2025.
Tonji and Sylvia's Wildlife Refuge 