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!
Monitor Lizard
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.
Bagawak Morado
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.
my babies have grown!
We also had great views of the Pink-necked Green Pigeons that regularly visit the trees in front of the cottage.
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.
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.
native santan
Small snake skin
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.
White-eared Brown Dove
Philippine Bulbul
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.
Colasisi
Unless it’s perched on the Agoho!
Colasisi on an Agoho tree
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.
Ollie with the bird hide
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.
The ducks looked like they were digging.
White-Breasted Waterhen
White-breasted Waterhen
He also saw two Wandering Whistling Ducks.
Wandering Whistling Duck
They were swimming in the Big Pond with the Philippine Ducks.
And that was how we ended 2024 at the refuge! We are looking forward to more visits and more birds in 2025.
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!
Northern Pintail
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.
Tonji and Sylvia's Wildlife Refuge 