nature – Tonji and Sylvia's Wildlife Refuge

July 2024 – Momo

On July 5 we went to the refuge with Momo, Lulu, and Ollie. We knew it would be Momo’s last visit to the refuge. Over the past few months Momo had been sleeping more and more, walking less and less. That week he had barely been eating. Just drinking water. He slept the whole time on the drive to the refuge.

We knew that as weak as he was, Momo would still be happy to visit the refuge. It was his favorite place! Back in the day, we couldn’t even say the word “farm” out loud if Momo was around. We had to spell it or else he would get all excited thinking we were going to the farm.

It was heartwarming to see Momo perk up when we brought him to the Water Lily Pond. It was like the Momo of old had returned to do his usual walking and inspecting of the grounds.

I thought had an even nicer video of Momo walking around, but my phone wasn’t recording!

A few days later on July 11 Momo passed away. He was 15 years old. It was tough to lose Momo. I just tried to think of all the happy times we had, especially at the refuge! Those were the best. I was also comforted knowing that he passed naturally, cradled in my arms. A week after he died, I got sick with Covid and was down for one week. I guess that was my body telling me I had to rest and recover from the stress of losing my heart dog.

When I was better, we went back to the refuge to celebrate our wedding anniversary. It was so sad to remember Momo’s last visit. He was on my mind. Then I noticed that there were a lot of butterflies. At first I didn’t think much of it. Then a butterfly brushed against my arm at Big Pond. When I got back to the cottage I saw butterflies on the trees, on the small kamuning bushes, and even inside the veranda. There were butterflies perched on the window! There were so many butterflies that I thought, “It’s Momo!”

Tonji was out for a walk. He had gone out to look for interesting birds to photograph. When he got back he was excited about butterflies! He said that he had never seen so many different kinds of butterflies before! He was amazed by all the butterflies he encountered. There were so many of them! He tried to photograph all of them but couldn’t because his camera battery ran out of power. He wasn’t aware though that butterflies are a spiritual symbol of life after death, so he didn’t think of Momo. Whether or not the butterflies were spiritual messengers from beyond, it brought us happiness to see so many beautiful butterflies in the refuge!

Here are Tonji’s butterfly photos, with a few moths and a bee. Click on the photos to see in full screen!

April 2024

In April we were seeing record high temperatures. The incredible heat combined with a surge of work responsibilities made it very hard for us to visit the sanctuary. The plans for a new guest house were shelved. We are letting the idea sit for a bit more. We tackled one one of the many items on our list of maintenance tasks. This is our new, upgraded fence.

The one on the right is our new fence. The one on the left is the neighbor’s property.

We managed a quick visit to check out the ducks in the Big Pond. The pond looks perilously close to drying up.

Summer is when we all just have to endure and survive the weather. Everything looks stressed and dried up. It’s a treat when you see something that’s doing well in the extreme heat. Like the Balai Lamok near the house!

Another treat for us was being able to get photos of the Red Junglefowl Gallus gallus at the refuge! We had seen them in the refuge before and failed to get photos. We were driving through the mango farm area on the way out of the refuge when we spotted a Junglefowl on the path. Tonji stopped the car, I grabbed the camera and starting shooting though the windshield. Not our best photos, but at least we now have photos!

The Red Junglefowl looks like a domestic chicken. It’s called labuyo in Pilipino. You can tell them apart by the two long tail feathers, grey legs (not yellow like a domestic chicken), and the call. The native chickens in the Philippines originally came from wild chickens that were domesticated.

So cool to see a Red Junglefowl in the refuge!

May 2023

In previous years we would avoid going to the refuge in May because it was so unbearably hot. This year however we had a lot of rain. Not just light summer showers but solid rain with thunder and lightning!

Ollie enjoys playing in the rain

Ollie playing with his soft frisbee. It’s easy to throw and easy for him to catch!

When the sun came out again, Ollie surprised me by going into the pool by himself! This was the first time he did this.

Our interesting birds this month were:

Plain Bush Hen – it was hanging around while Tonji was flattening the path beside the water lily pond

Rhabdornis – it was perched on the tall (non-native) tree near the camping area. We don’t see them that often.

Red Junglefowl – we finally photographed one at the refuge! Unfortunately it was with our iPhones. But still!

Can you spot the female Red Junglefowl on the left side of the path???

Philippine Nightjar – I forgot to write that in March we saw Philippine Nightjars flying around the pool and taking sips of water!

3 Months Later…

We are back at the farm! The Covid-19 quarantine kept us away for more than three months. It felt so good to be back! The farm never fails to surprise us with new things.

Tonji was walking around when he smelt a beautiful fragrance. It was coming from this tree! This is Flueggea virosa. It is a shrub or small tree that will eventually have white waxy fruits! It is known in other countries as a medicinal plant. According to this website , extracts from the bark are lethal to mice. Our caretakers call this small tree Suliak Daga. Not sure if that means lethal to mice.

It’s hard to imagine that back in September 2019 this shrub looked very pitiful and was full of hard brown galls. What a pleasant surprise to see it bounce back from its previous gall-ridden state!

This is what it looked like in September 2019. Galls are caused by insects or a virus.

One of the first things I did when I got to the farm was check the seedlings in the nursery. I was very pleasantly surprised to see so many of them were ready to be planted outside.

In June 2019 I planted 18 Taluto seeds that I got from Cel Tungol. I even sketched them. The Taluto seeds were tiny.

One year later in June 2020 we planted 16 Taluto that were almost as tall as me!

This is a low weedy plant growing by the path to the cottage. Even this little plant has a surprise! From the top it is all stiff angles and thorns.

But when you lift it up it has dainty white flowers growing on the underside! This plant is called Canthium pedunculare.

Our trip to the farm coincided with Momo’s birthday. Momo turned 11! Happy birthday Momo!

It was so good to be back, walk around, and discover the surprises that await us.

We should take wandering outdoor walks, so that the mind might be nourished and refreshed by the open air and deep breathing.
Seneca, On Tranquility of Mind, 17.8