photography – Tonji and Sylvia's Wildlife Refuge

August 2025 – A Magical Month!

Our visit started of not so great — I was upset because Ollie rolled in horse poop two times and Tonji was upset because of farm tasks that hadn’t been accomplished.

Then

Then things got better

Going outside for a walk with a camera, binoculars, and (now clean) dogs is a sure way to make things better. The grass rustling underfoot and the birds singing in the trees is instantly uplifting!

I also saw the Orioles, Pygmy Woodpeckers, Coppersmith Barbet, and more!

Then things got even better

I always expect something good from the Big Pond. This time, it exceeded my expectations! To get to the pond from the cottage, you cross a bridge then walk up a short but steep incline, then end up on top of the bank of the Big Pond. This is my usual viewing area. I am at one end of the pond and the ducks are at the other end.

This time I had to stop before I reached the top of the bank because there were so many ducks in the pond! There were ducks swimming right below the area where I would usually stand! This was the closest I had even been to the ducks in the refuge.

I didn’t want to scare the ducks away, so I stayed just halfway up the incline and waited for the ducks to swim into view, and took pictures from there. I was so happy with the pictures!

The following morning Tonji took drone footage of the Big Pond and counted the ducks. The number we had in July was 47 ducks. Our guess before going through the drone footage was at least 80 ducks. And the count from the drone footage was .. 136 ducks!

And it was all magic!

We were feeling elated and and high from seeing all the ducks and even a bayawak in the Big Pond. It had all worked so well that day — the pond, the ducks, the drone! And then, there was one more surprise for us. When night fell, the fireflies came out and put on a magical show at our Firefly tree!

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!

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.