birding – Tonji and Sylvia's Wildlife Refuge

10 Reasons to Build Your Own Wildlife Sanctuary

Here are 10 reasons why you should build your own wildlife sanctuary.

1. There’s a good chance your government won’t do it for you. Unless you live in some forward thinking country that recognizes the inherent value of its biodiversity, there will most likely be less and less natural spaces where wildlife can flourish and that you can access in your future. I recently heard of a group of 10 friends that banded together to buy 10 adjoining parcels of undeveloped land. They all agreed to each build on a small area and keep the rest of the area green so that they would have a big green space to enjoy! Imagine if more and more people had that mindset? There could be corridors of green criss-crossing the country!

2. You will be spoiled by all the birds. It’s amazing how nature can bounce back when given the opportunity and a helpful nudge. You will find yourself saying things like,”Oh, it’s just 3 Coppersmith Barbets in front of the cottage.” instead of “I remember back in the day, many years ago, there were more birds and you could see them easily, and now there are none.”

3. White-eared Brown Doves and Philippine Bulbuls from the comfort of your veranda. Aside from the usual garden birds, you will get forest birds. It really is true that if you build it, they will come. In this case, if you provide the habitat, they will come!

4. Baby munias feasting on seeds. What could be cuter than a flock of baby birds?

5. You will have fun. Of course it’s not just the birds and wildlife that are having fun. You will have so much fun too! You want to walk around in a camouflage cape and try to sneak up on ducks so you can photograph them without disturbing them? You can do it!

6. You will come up with so many fun projects. Your mind will open up when you’re outside surrounded by wide vistas. You’ll come up with all sorts of ideas that might not have occurred to you before. When we visited the sanctuary time we thought, let’s make a small hide in the Big Pond so we can view the ducks without disturbing them.

7. You will make your dogs happy. They might even become the happiest dogs you know. Outdoorsy dogs will definitely approve of your sanctuary. This sanctuary was also approved by the original farm dogs Momo the dachshund and Barkley the Boston Terrier.

8. Watching ducks instead of your phone. You get to sit down on a grassy bank in the afternoon to see and hear Philippine Ducks settling down for the day.

9. You can restore what was destroyed. In an ideal scenario, you could acquire a forest or other type of habitat that’s rich with wildlife and protect it. But that’s highly unlikely. Chances are the properties that are available are bare or denuded or over-farmed or choked up with weeds. This is ok! You don’t need to start from pristine land to make a sanctuary!

Here’s a powerful quote from FORRU-CMU:

Tropical forests, once destroyed, are lost forever” – NOT TRUE. It is possible to transform largely deforested landscapes into tropical forest that supports rich biodiversity in just a few years.

In just a few years! Not decades! They even have a free book that shows you how. Click on the link below to download the book.
Restoring Tropical Forests by FORRU-CMU

10. You will make the world a little bit better! Who doesn’t want a better world? You don’t have to wait for the government or a big foundation to take action. You can start small. You can team up with like-minded friends. You can be the change you want to see!

July 2025

July was an interesting month. We visited the farm while there was a typhoon or tropical depression far away in the north. Of course there was a lot of rain! Even with all the rain, there was still so much to see and enjoy.

Philippine Ducks

The ducks were flying back and forth and all around. We guessed they were going from the Big Pond to the Water Lily Pond, and possibly other areas in the refuge. All the rain has filled up the smaller ponds. There are now many spots for the ducks to swim in! Tonji counted 47 ducks in the Big Pond.

Weird Hybrid Duck

Our strange visitor is still around. I wonder how long he plans to stay?

Water Lily Pond

The Water Lily Pond is still going strong! All the plants make this an enchanting place to visit.

Other Pond Denizens

The pond’s cast of characters continues to grow! In the past, we would usually see Black Crowned Night Herons flying overhead. This time we saw one perched!

We are wondering if this is the same Purple Heron that we would see in the Picnic Area back in the early days. It’s nice to see it by the water!

This Month’s Exciting Moment for Us as Birdwatchers

We have a picture of an Asian Koel! If you have an Asian Koel in your area, you probably know about it from its call. Their calls are very loud, even scandalously loud. Their call starts off normally, then gets louder and higher in pitch and intensity and sounds like someone in the throes of unrestrained passionate ecstasy. They manage to do all this while remaining mostly hidden and difficult to spot.

We were surprised to see one out in the open. I assumed it was a crow, but Tonji told me to take pics because it was hopping around like a Koel, not a crow!

On a side note, I saw Koels in a golf course outside Bangkok and they were easy to see. Or maybe I was just lucky or my caddie was a good birdwatcher.

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!

October 2024 – New Bird Species,Yay!

Finally, a new bird for the refuge! We had two female Northern Pintails in the Big Pond! This brings us to 108 bird species in the refuge.

EDIT: I forgot that Tonji photographed a Green Sandpiper in March 2024. This is our 2nd new bird for 2024!

The last time we say a new bird species at the refuge was almost a year before in November 2023. Our visits to the refuge this year have been very few and very short. That’s probably why we haven’t seen new birds this year. So right after a big typhoon hit the Philippines in October, we hurried to the refuge to look for any migrant birds that may have been blown in by the typhoon.

We were excited to visit the Big Pond. The week before, our caretakers had counted 65 Philippine ducks at the Big Pond. This was a record number for our refuge.

The thought of that many ducks at our pond was just mind boggling. We had to see it. Tonji suggested that we wear our camouflage ghillie capes and crawl up one side of the pond so we could get close without spooking the ducks.

yes I am whispering and we have ghillie capes

The crawling and camouflage worked! We were able to watch the ducks swim back and forth right in front of us!

Philippine Ducks in the Big Pond, iPhone video

My camera fogged up. Good thing Tonji had nice pictures!

Later that day, Tonji flew the new drone to the Big Pond. It was much easier to survey the pond via drone. No crawling necessary! After checking the drone video, our final count for the Big Pond is 83 Philippine Ducks plus 2 Northern Pintails.

Music: Purple Planet Music. We are still getting the hang of shooting drone videos and editing them!

The Philippine Ducks and Northern Pintails were the stars of October. We also had 7 Purple Herons flying from the Big Pond to the Water Lily Pond. We used to only see 1 Purple Heron. There was also a White Breasted Waterhen at the Big Pond abd more than 30 Red Turtle Doves in the bamboos near the Big Pond. By the cottage there were more than 20 Pink Necked Green Pigeons flying around from tree to tree and Oriental Pratincoles flying overhead.