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

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!

November 2024 – End of the Year

We had a rainy but nice last visit to the refuge for 2024. The veranda of the cottage is a great place to see all kinds of things.

Native santan bush that’s starting to look like a small tree.

Small snake skin

And of course, birds!

White-eared Brown Dove in the aratiles tree. We have a lot of these non-native aratiles trees because the birds love their fruits.

Philippine Bulbul

And one of our favorite birds, the Philippine Hanging Parrot or Colasisi. When we hear the call of this bird we already know that we it will be perfectly blended into the leaves and will take a bit of searching before we see it.

Unless it’s perched on the Agoho!

Tonji wanted to try something new at the Big Pond. Instead of using a ghillie cape like the last time, he set up a 2-seater hide by the pond.

He left it by the pond overnight so that the birds could get used to it. Then he snuck inside early the next morning while it was still dark and waited to see what would show up. He thinks that the ducks were wary of it and kept their distance. But he got to see other birds in action!

He was surprised to see a lot of Red Junglefowl Gallus gallus! The domestic native chickens are descended from Red Junglefowl. Tonji was surprised to see them fly across the pond. Unlike domestic chickens, the wild Junglefowl can fly well.

So exciting to be able to observe them!

There were several males and females. Tonji chose a good location for the bird hide. Different kinds of birds were converging at the same bank.

Barred Rail or Tikling.

The Philippine Ducks were also in the area. It was so strange to see Philippine Ducks and Red Junglefowl together! There were probably a lot of bugs in the mud.