Work on the big pond was stopped for more than 20 days, almost a month because it was too rainy. They were able to start again in August. Things started moving along quickly!
this is what the bottom layer of the soil looks likeThis is the bottom of the bridge. It will be covered in soil.
August was a rainy month. The rain makes the soil very sticky!
the soil instantly sticks to your shoes making it hard to walk
No work, too muddy! Puddles are already forming!
The rain made it hard to work but it was very good for the other ponds! The water level in the water lily pond went up and the plants were thriving.
The back part of the water lily pond.
The front part of the water lily pond. There’s water in the extension area at the side. dragonflywild passionfruitlook at all those mosaic plants
Tonji is worried about whether it will rain too much for us to finish the pond. We should have started this project earlier!
We have enjoyed all the ponds we built at our refuge. We have learned so much from each one. We saw that we have the right type of soil for holding water, that the birds enjoy even the small ponds, and that water plants help make the pond come more alive.
Each succeeding pond we built has been bigger than the previous one! We learned that a bigger and deeper pond has a better chance of holding water all year round, attracts more birds, and is a nicer place to watch birds.
We decided to make our biggest pond yet! There were two big ponds that served as inspiration for this big pond idea:
1). The man-made pond in Saud Resort in Ilocos Norte It is a very big pond right by the entrance of a beach resort. It is where we had our best views of Philippine Ducks, plus photos of rare migrant birds! We visited this pond many times over the years for bird photography. During one visit, I got sick and had a fever and was still able to easily walk to the pond, pull up a chair and take photos of birds. It was that easy to get to the pond! I loved how the birds appeared very comfortable and relaxed in this pond. This is also where we saw Philippine Ducks perched on a tree!
2) The Small Water Impounding Project (SWIP) in San Nicolas, Ilocos Norte Unlike the pond in Saud, we never visited this site. We just saw it on YouTube. What we liked about it is that how they said that the area and their lives changed for the better because of the SWIP. Their deep wells that were dried up had water again, they earned more because they could plant more, they enjoyed visiting the SWIP because it was pleasant and beautiful, and they saw more birds! Their SWIP though has big fish which are not good if you want to have a lot of frogs, dragonflies, and other creatures.
We realized that to turn inspiration into reality, we would have to bring in big equipment plus people to run the equipment. It would be a much bigger expense than building it ourselves but we would save a lot on time. Once we were decided that we wanted to go through with this project, things started moving quickly! We were able to find a contractor with a lot of experience building the type of pond commonly used for fish and rice farming with earth walls called pilapil. He was also familiar with SWIPs. Our pond would have the same type of construction, but we would make it look natural.
The first step was to clear the site of the shrubs, aroma, and madre de cacao so we could decide on the final boundaries of the pond. The final size of the pond depends on the budget and the site. Of course I wanted it as big as possible! The cleared area is less than one hectare. It is about 50sqm x 175 sqm. We will extend it further out and also make a road to the cottage.
this was mostly shrubs and weedsmeasuringthe road to the cottage
Our promising start got stalled by rain. Work had to stop for most of the month. The newly cleared area got covered in new growth!
look at those vines growing on the groundthe test hole has waterno work ongoing
There was no progress on the pond project. We had to wait until the rain stopped and the ground dried up enough for the heavy equipment to be operated.
All the rain was good for the other parts of the refuge. There were fruits and flowers in some native trees.
Bagras flowersPiling LiitanPiling LiitanBankal fruita row of Bangkal
The water lily ponds had more water. The water reached the “extension area” where Tonji widened the pond. The water lily pond is a good place to see Island Collared Doves and Spotted Doves. The Island Collared Doves are more shy.
the widened areaIsland Collared DoveCollared KingfisherSpotted DoveIsland Collared Dove
The U-shaped pond that Tonji was working on in February has water now. There was still work to be done on that pond, but that will be on hold for now.
It’s also nice to just sit in the veranda and enjoy the cool breezes and the birds. I am still amazed at how many birds we get to see from the comfort of the veranda!
Pacific Swallowsdoing aerial acrobaticsPygmy Flowerpecker with a ripe aratilesFlying aratiles!
The rains turned even the roads into mini ponds. We saw a Barred Rail bathing in a puddle on the road.
iPhone photo!
When the weather clears up, we will continue building the big pond. It is exciting to see the transformation of an area that was weedy, uninteresting, and difficult to access into a rich habitat for all sorts of wildlife!
This month we had two exciting developments at the refuge! Here’s the first one:
Woo hoo, the Burley is attached to my bike!
We went biking with the Burley Bark Ranger! It rolls very well and is surprisingly easy to pull! It is faster and takes less effort to bike with the trailer than to walk and push the trailer. Having a bike to get around the refuge saves so much energy!
First Tonji attached the Burley to his bike to see if it works well. Success, Momo likes it!We are so fast now!!
Our second exciting development is a new, very big pond! I like to call it a lake because it is going to be much bigger than our previous ponds. It is still in the planning stages. We watched a lot of videos showing how man-made ponds and small water impounding areas attract a lot of wildlife. Capturing rain water and preventing it from running off is one of the basic concepts of permaculture. It is a way to restore the underground water table and allow more life to thrive in an area.
We were very encouraged by our experience with the water lily ponds. With our other ponds, we didn’t add plants or fish and just observed how the pond would develop. With the water lily ponds, we built the ponds so they were more accessible and easier to view. Adding water plants and guppies made the ponds come alive! It was enjoyable to hang out at the pond and observe all the activity goint on there.
Our goal for the new big pond is to build a pond that is beautiful, deep enough to hold rain water all year round, big enough to paddle around in a small boat, and attractive to all sorts of wildlife, especially birds! We hope it will be a beautiful spot where we can hang out and do relaxed birdwatching.
First we had to find a location for this new pond. With Tonji’s experience building the other ponds, he knew that the ideal site should be as flat as possible. If the site is sloped, then you will need to build up the lower end to make it as tall as the higher end. That makes the pond more difficult to build. We also wanted a site that was shrubby and weedy and not have too many trees to uproot. Another consideration was accessibility since building this very big pond would require big bulldozers, backhoes, and trucks.
Once we selected the site for the new pond. The next step is to bring in the people and machinery to build it. At some point, we will also design a simple structure where we can sit in the shade while watching birds. Something that will function like a bird hide but hopefully look prettier!
Checking to see if the new pond fit in the mango areathe dogs are in the Gator This is close to the site we chose!A beautiful day for wandering around!
Look for the double rainbow!
I think this is the start of a new phase of how we enjoy the refuge. It’s the biking and the hanging out at the “lake house/bird hide” stage!
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!
Tonji and Sylvia's Wildlife Refuge 