wildlife pond – Page 2 – Tonji and Sylvia's Wildlife Refuge

June 2023

This month we had two exciting developments at the refuge! Here’s the first one:

Woo hoo, the Burley is attached to my bike!

We went biking with the Burley Bark Ranger! It rolls very well and is surprisingly easy to pull! It is faster and takes less effort to bike with the trailer than to walk and push the trailer. Having a bike to get around the refuge saves so much energy!

First Tonji attached the Burley to his bike to see if it works well. Success, Momo likes it!

Our second exciting development is a new, very big pond! I like to call it a lake because it is going to be much bigger than our previous ponds. It is still in the planning stages. We watched a lot of videos showing how man-made ponds and small water impounding areas attract a lot of wildlife. Capturing rain water and preventing it from running off is one of the basic concepts of permaculture. It is a way to restore the underground water table and allow more life to thrive in an area.

We were very encouraged by our experience with the water lily ponds. With our other ponds, we didn’t add plants or fish and just observed how the pond would develop. With the water lily ponds, we built the ponds so they were more accessible and easier to view. Adding water plants and guppies made the ponds come alive! It was enjoyable to hang out at the pond and observe all the activity goint on there.

Our goal for the new big pond is to build a pond that is beautiful, deep enough to hold rain water all year round, big enough to paddle around in a small boat, and attractive to all sorts of wildlife, especially birds! We hope it will be a beautiful spot where we can hang out and do relaxed birdwatching.

First we had to find a location for this new pond. With Tonji’s experience building the other ponds, he knew that the ideal site should be as flat as possible. If the site is sloped, then you will need to build up the lower end to make it as tall as the higher end. That makes the pond more difficult to build. We also wanted a site that was shrubby and weedy and not have too many trees to uproot. Another consideration was accessibility since building this very big pond would require big bulldozers, backhoes, and trucks.

Once we selected the site for the new pond. The next step is to bring in the people and machinery to build it. At some point, we will also design a simple structure where we can sit in the shade while watching birds. Something that will function like a bird hide but hopefully look prettier!

Checking to see if the new pond fit in the mango area

Look for the double rainbow!

I think this is the start of a new phase of how we enjoy the refuge. It’s the biking and the hanging out at the “lake house/bird hide” stage!

April 2023

April was hot and I only got to do one quick visit to the refuge. I was able to see the Philippine Teak and Balai Lamok flowering! The water levels of the ponds were extremely low. I wanted to save the water lilies but I also felt a little conflicted about adding water to the water lily pond from the deep well. Was I wasting water? It would have been ideal if the pond water could last the whole year round. However, we decided to just go ahead and add water to the pond before completely dried up.

this is the small water lily pond

I think it was a good decision to add water to the pond. The water was very low and very warm but also very clear! I had never seen the water that clear before. There was so much life at the pond. There were tadpoles swimming and dragonflies flitting about. Usually we just see the red dragonflies. This time there was also a big blue one and small ones with other colors!

There was still enough water in the big water lily pond. We didn’t need to add water to it. The plants I was most worried about saving are the peach colored Colorado water lilies. They are in the deepest part of the pond. Tonji thinks the water in that section of the pond will last until rainy season.

the Colorado water lilies at the big pond

there are also dragonflies here!

I am quite happy with our experiment in planting water plants in these two ponds. I did not plant anything in the other ponds, mainly because I didn’t know anything about water plants back then. I think the water plants and guppies brought in more living things to the ponds. The water looks alive, not like a stagnant pool of water. I also think the water plants help to keep the water from evaporating too quickly.

In April, we also had more doggie health woes. Lulu and Ollie got kennel cough and Momo got very sick. I thought Momo was going to die! Thank goodness he pulled through.

February 2023

We are still enjoying the cool weather! February is a great month to visit the refuge. It is cold, windy, and a bit drizzly. It is so windy that things get blown off the table and hats get blown off your head!

Momo is recovering from surgery on his perineal hernia. I am so glad I have option of letting Momo ride the Burley Bark Ranger! It’s spacious enough to fit Momo, Barkley, and my birding camera!

Barkley is happy to have Momo with him inside the trailer!

Tonji did some work on the new pond. Here he is explaining his vision for this site and how we will get from field of grass and weeds to a new pond.

It is a lot of work! One scoop at a time.

Aside from working on the pond, Tonji also maintains the trails with the tractor. The dogs are good at not getting in his way.

note the line of Malabulak trees!

Here is a new to me weed that I will add the the weeds gallery. I enjoy learning about weeds by drawing them. Trying to draw a plant makes you look at it very closely and for a long time!

This is the page for the Hyptis brevipes.

Morning Walk with Momo and Barkley and Ducks

I love to start my mornings at our little sanctuary with a morning walk. It’s one of my favorite things! I cannot go without the essentials — a camera, binoculars, Momo, and Barkley.

What a good dog! Momo is great at sticking close to me!

Our morning walks are a little bit different now that we have 7 ponds scattered around the property. When we had only 4 ponds, we could easily bypass the two areas that had ponds. The new ponds are harder to bypass.

No ducks in this pond! Barkley is staring at the water and wondering if he’s going to go for a swim.

During our walks, I try not to disturb any of the wildlife. But at the same time, I am hoping that the wildlife are getting used to our peaceful, unaggressive presence. We’ve been to a few spots in the Philippines where the birds are decidedly more approachable and less wary of people than in the rest of the country. We are doing what we can so that the same thing happens in our place!

We hope the ducks become more relaxed and at home now that they have more ponds to choose from. It is looking promising so far. When the ducks do get disturbed, we noticed that they now silently fly off. They are no longer calling out in alarm for minutes. More importantly, more of them circle back to the ponds. The next stage in improving their habitat is finding and planting grass or grains that they like to eat.

We are also seeing the ducks in the paths! This is new behavior. I am very glad and relieved to say that Momo and Barkley did not chase the ducks. Whew. I think they were just as surprised as I was to see the ducks on the path. Or maybe my voice control works. I was whisper-shouting “Stop! Stop!”.

This week Tonji was at the veranda when he saw two ducks fly in and almost land in front of the house. They swerved away when they saw him! Could it be that when we’re not at home, the ducks are there? I hope that the wildlife feel that our home is their home!