When we were newbie birders in 2008 one of our friends invited us to take pictures of waders and Philippine Ducks in his friend’s fishpond in Batangas. When we were done taking photos of the birds on the water, he asked us if we wanted to see Pink-Necked Green Pigeons. He said they were just nearby, perched on the trees. Of course we said yes. It was our first time to see them. They were so pretty! There were so many of them. The males had orange breasts! I was more excited over seeing them than the dull brown and grey plovers and plain white egrets that we drove there to see in the first place.
Now that we have this place, I get to see Pink-necked Pigeons every morning outside my own door! I am still excited about seeing them, maybe even more excited than when I first saw them in 2008.
There are big aratiles trees behind the round pen that fruit year round. The Pink-necked Green Pigeons love the fruit. They make the aratiles their first stop in the morning.
They even eat the green, unripe fruit!
Then they they check out the lantana shrub that’s growing wild beside the round pen.
We didn’t plant this shrub. It’s an invasive weed that’s also cultivated as an ornamental plant in urban areas. It used to be very popular as a garden plant in urban areas. In the US, cattle ranchers spend a lot of money removing this invasive weed because it is toxic to livestock. Birds and butterflies love it!
Next is group huddle at the madre de cacao trees further behind the round pen. Breakfast is done and they spend some time grooming, preening, and probably just enjoying the sun and breeze.
The madre de cacao look their best at this time of the year. They are full of pink flowers and new yellow leaves. The birds with their green bodies and pinkish-orange breasts make the trees look even better!
Then the birds move on to other parts of our refuge.
We have 320 Palomaria seedlings that we grew from seeds. We will be planting 300 of them around the farm this rainy season. Continue reading “Bitaog or Palomaria”
We have counted 82 species within our property since we started the list in 2012. Two of these were “heard only” – Red-bellied Pitta and White-browed Shama. We hear the Red-bellied frequently and our caretaker Picio has seen it.
note: this list has been updated since I first published it because there were a few birds that I forgot to add to the list and Tonji saw one of the “heard-only” birds! Continue reading “Bird List as of December 2015”
Tonji and Sylvia's Wildlife Refuge 