batangas – Page 2 – Tonji and Sylvia's Wildlife Refuge

May 2025 – Bird #112

I used to dread going to the refuge in May, the hottest part of the year. It was stressful to see all that was green turn yellow and brown. This year however was not bad at all!

LOTS OF WATER

The Big Pond still has water! When we built the Big Pond last year, we made it as wide and as deep as we could. Our goal was to build a pond for wildlife that would capture rainwater and hold it year round unlike the ponds we had built previously which dry up during the summer months. The theory was that if we made the pond very big and very deep, it would retain water the whole year round. And the theory worked!

In the months leading up to summer, I wasn’t 100% confident that the water in the pond would last until rainy season. I was worried that the pond hadn’t collected as much water as possible. I expected the water to surround the island and maybe even reach the top of the spillway.

What an amazing sight to see a pond with water in the peak of summer! I think all the water plants also helped keep the water from drying up. It’s such a treat to visit the pond and see all the birds and plants. We counted 30 Philippine Ducks at the Big Pond. Seeing the pond in summer makes us want to build Big Pond No. 2!

LOTS OF BIRDS

Bird #112, Common Moorhen at the Big Pond

We added a new bird to the Refuge Bird List. Bird #112 is a Common Moorhen Galinula chloropus. It’s not a rare or unusual bird, and is usually found in ponds. Seeing one casually walking on the bank of the Big Pond was so satisfying. We have added a new type of habitat to our refuge that wasn’t there before and now the usual cast of pond characters are showing up at our place!

There’s a family of Greater Painted Snipes living in the Water Lily Pond area.

The male greater Greater Painted Snipes are the ones that take care of the babies. This male stayed behind when I accidentally flushed a group of them from the Water Lily Pond. I think the ones that flew off were the juveniles. This male stayed behind for a long time. Maybe he was trying to draw attention away from the juveniles?

I spotted the female in the distance, far away from the family.

We saw a family of Red Junglefowl Gallus gallus at the horse paddock. There was a male, femaile, and 4 babies! The native domestic chickens are descended from this species.

Other interesting birds we saw this month were this Garden Sunbird at the Big Pond showing off its irridescent throat feathers

and this White Eared Brown Dove.

LOTS OF PLANTS

Our second Philippine Teak finally bloomed. We have a pair of Philippine Teak trees that came from the late Dr. Ed Gomez. One of them has produced flowers several times already since 2019. The other one just bloomed this year!

The lotus plants in the Big Pond have amazing flowers!

LOTS OF PLANS

We bought 150 pieces of Philippine Teak from Mark Carranza of La Luz. We will keep them in the nursery until rainy season comes around. Then, tree planting time again! He also gave us some native plants that are good as ornamentals — a type of jasmine and colorful shrub Memecylon edule.

This was a very nice May and I think it’s mainly thanks to the Big Pond!

April 2025 – The Other Pond Creatures

I write a lot about the Philippine Ducks in the Big Pond. What other birds that are not Philippine Ducks visit the Big Pond?

The Blue-Tailed Bee-Eater in the photo at the top. It was perched very close.

Coppersmith Barbet, very colorful and loud!

Olive-backed Sunbird. It has a beautiful song.

Grey Wagtail.

Barred Rail. We are seeing them more frequently.

Northern Shoveler.

We also had our first lotus flowers in the Big Pond. Our friends Ixi and Mikeli gave us 2 water lily plants and I thought they died. It turns out they had been growing and spreading. I didn’t recognize them as lotus plants because they were mixed in with some water lilies. I also don’t know why so many of the leaves are dried up and brown.

The Salingogon tree near the horses house flowered for the first time! We have two of these Salingogon trees. The flowers are very small and dainty.

The Balai Lamok near the cottage made a miraculous comeback! Last October 2024, there was a huge miscommunication with our caretakers and they removed our beautiful Balai Lamok! Not even a stump was left. We felt crushed and sad and immediately planted something else in its place in an effort to erase the bad memory. It seems the Balai Lamok was not compeletely uprooted. There are now multiple sprouts coming out of the ground!

Tonji said that he saw 2 Scale Feathered Malkohas while he was on the tractor cutting the grass. We went out twice to look for them, but did not see them.

This is what we did see.

Taluto aka Winged Boot. It seems like all of a sudden, we have several of these trees growing.

More Barred Rails!

These amazing colors all around!

March 2025 – Bird #111 !

On our last visit to the refuge, we saw a Black-winged Stilt walking up and down the the shore of the Big Pond. This visit, we saw 4 Wood Sandpipers! They are a new addition to our Farm Bird List. They were definitely attracted by the Big Pond.

The stars of the pond, the Philippine Ducks walked up to the Wood Sandpipers and sat down near them. The following morning, the Wood Sandpipers had left. There were around 40 Philippine Ducks at the Big Pond. Tonji also saw a Cuckoo species, but he wasn’t able to ID it.

There was also a big Bayawak!

We enjoyed the last bits of cool weather. There’s a cool breeze in the evening and early morning, grass is still green, and the Bagawak Morado is full of flowers.

The Malabulak trees we planted as a buffer zone between the pond and the road outside have grown! These trees came from the seeds of our first Malabulak trees.

We also had great views of the Pink-necked Green Pigeons that regularly visit the trees in front of the cottage.

January 2025 – New Year, New Bird!

We had a new addition to our refuge bird list! This is Bird #110, a Black-winged Stilt Himantopus himantopus in the Big Pond. They are usually found in flocks, but this one was by itself.

The Big Pond has been a magnificent addition to the refuge. Different kinds of birds come in for a drink and a bath.

These are Rock Doves. They are the wild or feral versions of domestic pigeons.

A Large-billed Crow bathing near the ducks.

We are already looking at possible sites for another big pond. It would be nice to hold more water in different areas of the refuge. We have been experiencing extreme weather fluctuations. Last year was the worst heat wave ever. Hopefully, that does not become a regular trend.

The Big Pond is looking more natural and less like a giant rice paddy. The plants are growing and changing the look of the pond.

These are the native water lilies.

We checked the Water Lily Pond and saw several interesting holes in the grass near the pond. Could these be where ducks lay their eggs?

Sadly for me, I broke my wrist this month. No bird photography for me for now.

All in all, a great start to the new year!