Sylvia Ramos

Owl Pellet Project

Owl pellets are pretty fascinating. They are not poop.

Owl pellets are the hard, undigested bits from an owl’s meal that are regurgitated in the form of a pellet. Things like bones and fur that cannot be digested are formed into a pellet in the gizzard. The owl has to cough out this pellet before it can eat again.

They are also not that easy to find at the farm. We have managed to stumble across a total of TWO owl pellets at the sanctuary. Franco found the first one in July 2015 on the ledge of the round pen. We were excited to see an owl pellet! We didn’t really know what to do with it, so we picked it up, broke it apart, and scattered the bits on the ground.

In the US and other countries, they let school children dissect owl pellets as a science activity. I never did anything like that as a child! Too bad I threw away the pellet, at the very least, I could have saved it. I didn’t know that later that year, one my biologist friends would ask me for owl pellets for her college students who were writing a paper on owls!

I also didn’t know that it would be three years until I stumbled across an owl pellet again!

The second owl pellet was found by Momo and Barkley in the middle of the path, near the bamboo fence where we sometimes see Grass Owls perched. There were feathers scattered on the ground.

This time, I bagged the pellet and took it home for further study. I wasn’t going to miss my opportunity to do my very own owl pellet project!

Step 1 – Observe and take notes

This pellet was large, oblong-shaped, and covered in fur. There were also long hairs that looked like whiskers. It clearly contained the remains of a rat or mouse.

Step 2 – Prepare

Owl pellets can contain bacteria and parasites. They can be sterilized by soaking in disinfectant or baking in an oven. I decided to bake the pellet. I wrapped it in two layers of foil and baked at 325F for 30 minutes.

I wanted to make sure the bones inside the pellet didn’t break. I soaked it in water to soften so I could easily remove the bones.

Step 3 Separating the bits

The sterilized, wet pellet smelled very strongly of urine. The fur was especially smelly. I wanted to save bit of the fur, but the smell was too strong and overpowering. It might have been better to soak the pellet in disinfectant after baking it

It felt like the stench was stuck in my nose for days!

Step 4 Reassemble

Next I grouped the bones by shape and glued them on a sheet of paper that I placed inside a box. I put the tiny bits and bone fragments in a small plastic bag.

And here’s the finished owl pellet project!

Crows in the House and on the Horse!

Some birds aren’t that scared of people and will hang out near the house. Like this cute little maya or Eurasian Tree Sparrow.

And then there are crows. I confess that I used to sit around thinking of schemes to get rid of the crows. Crows have a bad reputation. They eat other birds. They steal eggs from nests. Other birds mob them and try to drive them away. They are associated with witches and bad omens.

They are also very intelligent birds. They are part of the corvid family. There are studies that show corvids using all kinds of tools, remembering the faces of researchers at a university and then attacking them when they saw them in the campus, and solving complicated problems such as dropping pebbles into a container of water so they can get a sip of water just like the Aesop’s fable!

Now that I’m not scared of them or trying to drive them away, I can just watch them.

There’s a murder of crows that hangs out at the horse house.

What would happen if Barkley entered the horse paddock? Would they attack Barkley?

Ha! Barkley didn’t even feel threatened.

They are no match for Barkley and just leave him to do his thing in the paddock.

I thought it was so nifty when I saw a crow drinking from the horses’ water trough. I ran back to the house so I could take a photo.

And then the other day I couldn’t believe my eyes. Was the crow really standing ON Takoy’s back?

Yes, he was! And Takoy wasn’t bothered at all!

The crow stayed there for a long time. What was going on? Was he going to groom Takoy? Get a bug from Takoy’s back like those Oxpeckers and Rhinoceros in Africa? Walk behind Takoy waiting for him to unearth bugs from the grass like a Cattle Egret and carabao? Grab some feed from Takoy’s bucket? I didn’t see anything like that, the crow just flew away. But who knows what I’ll see next time!

Farm Bird List as of March 2018

These are all the species we have seen at the sanctuary over the years, with notes on recent sightings.

Philippine Coucal on top of a mango tree

Lesser Coucal sunning itself in an Aroma bush

cute Bee Eaters

Intermediate Egret near the cottage

4 pied birds — Pied Bushchat

Pied Triller

Pied Harrier

Pied Fantail

Pink-necked Green Pigeon in front of the cottage!

Pink-necked Green Pigeon

Pink-necked in a favorite tall perch

Olive-backed Sunbird on Madre de Cacao

	Common Name	Scientific Name	Notes on recent sightings
1	Wandering Whistling Duck	Dendrocygna arcuata
2	Philippine Duck	Anas luzonica	had our highest count in January, 23 birds at one time
3	King Quail	Excalfactoria chinensis
4	Red Junglefowl	Gallus gallus
5	Cinnamon Bittern	Ixobrychus cinnamomeus	was common in 2017
6	Black-crowned Night Heron	Nycticorax nycticorax	not common, first seen in August 2017
7	Striated Heron	Butorides striata
8	Eastern Cattle Egret	Bubulcus coromandus
9	Grey Heron	Ardea cinerea
10	Purple Heron	Ardea purpurea	there’s one individual in the picnic area
11	Great Egret	Ardea alba
12	Intermediate Egret	Ardea intermedia	there was one very close to the cottage in March, might have gotten blown in with the strong wind
13	Little Egret	Egretta garzetta
14	Philippine Serpent Eagle	Spilornis holospilus
15	Japanese Sparrowhawk	Accipiter gularis
16	Pied Harrier	Circus melanoleucos	Tali and Laiya!
17	Brahminy Kite	Haliastur indus	seen frequently
18	Barred Rail	Gallirallus torquatus
19	Buff-banded Rail	Gallirallus philippensis	moved to picnic area, no longer near cottage
20	Plain Bush-hen	Amaurornis olivacea	hear them a lot
21	White-breasted Waterhen	Amaurornis phoenicurus
22	Ruddy-breasted Crake	Porzana fusca	not common, first seen in August 2017
23	Spotted Buttonquail	Turnix ocellatus
24	Barred Buttonquail	Turnix suscitator
25	Swinhoe’s Snipe	Gallinago megala
26	Oriental Pratincole	Glareola maldivarum
27	Rock Dove	Columba livia
28	Island Collared Dove	Streptopelia bitorquata	good views of them perched on a wire on our access road
29	Red Turtle Dove	Streptopelia tranquebarica
30	Spotted Dove	Spilopelia chinensis	seen frequently
31	Philippine Cuckoo-Dove	Macropygia tenuirostris	February, 2 birds
32	Common Emerald Dove	Chalcophaps indica	still haven’t taken a photo
33	Zebra Dove	Geopelia striata
34	Pink-necked Green Pigeon	Treron vernans	they seem to be more common now
35	Philippine Green Pigeon	Treron axillaris	first seen in August 2017
36	Philippine Coucal	Centropus viridis	at the mango farm, on top of the trees
37	Lesser Coucal	Centropus bengalensis	at the picnic area and F.A.
38	Rough-crested Malkoha	Dasylophus superciliosus	February at the sampaloc tree when it was fruiting
39	Asian Koel	Eudynamys scolopaceus	heard only
40	Philippine Hawk-Cuckoo	Hierococcyx pectoralis
41	Eastern Grass Owl	Tyto longimembris	seen frequently
42	Philippine Scops Owl	Otus megalotis	heard only
43	Philippine Nightjar	Caprimulgus manillensis	they used to be on the access road only, now near cottage also
44	Savanna Nightjar	Caprimulgus affinis
45	Grey-rumped Swiftlet	Collocalia marginata
46	Asian Palm Swift	Cypsiurus balasiensis
47	Ruddy Kingfisher	Halcyon coromanda	first seen in September 2017 when we had my cousins over! I didn’t see it!
48	White-throated Kingfisher	Halcyon smyrnensis
49	Collared Kingfisher	Todiramphus chloris	seen frequently
50	Indigo-banded Kingfisher	Ceyx cyanopectus
51	Blue-tailed Bee-eater	Merops philippinus	seen frequently
52	Coppersmith Barbet	Megalaima haemacephala
53	Philippine Pygmy Woodpecker	Dendrocopos maculatus
54	Common Kestrel	Falco tinnunculus
55	Peregrine Falcon	Falco peregrinus
56	Philippine Hanging Parrot/Colasisi	Loriculus philippensis
57	Philippine Pitta	Erythropitta erythrogaster	haven’t been hearing them
58	Hooded Pitta	Pitta sordida	haven’t been hearing them
59	Golden-bellied Gerygone	Gerygone sulphurea	seen frequently
60	White-breasted Woodswallow	Artamus leucorynchus	seen frequently
61	Pied Triller	Lalage nigra	not near the cottage
62	Brown Shrike	Lanius cristatus	seen frequently
63	Long-tailed Shrike	Lanius schach	seen frequently
64	Black-naped Oriole	Oriolus chinensis	seen frequently
65	Philippine Pied Fantail	Rhipidura nigritorquis	seen frequently
66	Black-naped Monarch	Hypothymis azurea	takes effort to see
67	Large-billed Crow	Corvus macrorhynchos	seen frequently
68	Oriental Skylark	Alauda gulgula
69	Yellow-wattled Bulbul	Pycnonotus urostictus
70	Yellow-vented Bulbul	Pycnonotus goiavier	seen frequently
71	Philippine Bulbul	Hypsipetes philippinus	seen more frequently and closer to the cottage than before, I think there are more of them now
72	Barn Swallow	Hirundo rustica
73	Pacific Swallow	Hirundo tahitica
74	Striated Swallow	Cecropis striolata
75	Kamchatka Leaf Warbler	Phylloscopus examinandus
76	Japanese Leaf Warbler	Phylloscopus xanthodryas
77	Clamorous Reed Warbler	Acrocephalus stentoreus	not common, first seen in August 2017
78	Striated Grassbird	Megalurus palustris	seen frequently
79	Tawny Grassbird	Megalurus timoriensis
80	Golden-headed Cisticola	Cisticola exilis
81	Grey-backed Tailorbird	Orthotomus derbianus
82	Lowland White-eye	Zosterops meyeni
83	Asian Glossy Starling	Aplonis panayensis
84	Stripe-headed Rhabdornis	Rhabdornis mystacalis
85	Philippine Magpie-Robin	Copsychus mindanensis
86	White-browed Shama	Copsychus luzoniensis	heard at cement bridge
87	Mangrove Blue Flycatcher	Cyornis rufigastra
88	Siberian Rubythroat	Calliope calliope
89	Pied Bush Chat	Saxicola caprata	seen frequently
90	Red-keeled Flowerpecker	Dicaeum australe
91	Pygmy Flowerpecker	Dicaeum pygmaeum
92	Olive-backed Sunbird	Cinnyris jugularis	seen frequently in groups in the flowering madre de cacao
93	Eurasian Tree Sparrow	Passer montanus	seen frequently
94	Scaly-breasted Munia	Lonchura punctulata
95	White-bellied Munia	Lonchura leucogastra	not common, first seen in August 2017
96	Chestnut Munia	Lonchura atricapilla	seen frequently
97	Grey Wagtail	Motacilla cinerea
98	Paddyfield Pipit	Anthus rufulus

Let There Be Ponds!

We are harnessing the power of water to restore, rehabilitate, and rejuvenate our property and make it more attractive to wildlife. One way to do this is to make a lot of ponds! The ponds catch and store rainwater so it can be used by plants and animals instead of just running off the land. We don’t use pond liners so that the water can eventually sink into the water table to recharge it.

We are making all sorts of ponds and trying different pond building techniques.

Our very first pond was built in February 2015. It’s our biggest and deepest pond. It was build by hand by 6 people. We wanted Pond No. 1 to be deep so it would hold more water for a longer time The deepest section is two meters deep.

The workers also built two smaller ponds near Pond No. 1. We learned from these smaller ponds that even smaller ponds can hold water for a long time. It’s not that necessary to make the ponds very deep.

In 2016 Tonji decided that he wanted to build the ponds himself. We bought a small backhoe. He built Pond #4 in March 2016. This pond has a small island in the center. It was very popular with the ducks last year!

In 2017 we didn’t build any ponds. Tonji did some pond maintenance and enlarged Pond No. 3.

This year Tonji completed two ponds and is working on a third! It took him 9 days to build Pond No. 5. This pond has a back “wall” made up of mounded dirt that is supposed to hold water and add depth to the pond. At the other end it tapers out to a shallow overflow area. Tonji thinks his backhoe is equivalent to 4 men digging. This pond was finished quickly with the help of workers to move the dirt out and finish the sides by hand.