It has now been six months since I arrived in the Philippines and so much has happened. So to celebrate I have decided to blog about some of the stranger things about the Philippines that now seem ordinary. I still have those moments of realisation where I think “Bloody hell I’m living in the Philippines” and the words ‘It’s More Fun in the Philippines’ which are written everywhere, certainly show their true meaning.

So after six months what have I noticed? Firstly my English seems to have deteriorated, when talking to Filipinos you find yourself missing out words to make yourself easier to understand. Your sentences get shorter and you speak louder. On the other hand my Tagalog has improved and I now can say a few phrases such as ‘how are you’ and ‘thank you’. I also know that ‘suso’ means snail but whatever you do don’t mispronounce it otherwise you will get some strange looks as Niamh found out. Suso also means breast and this was particularly funny when followed by the word ‘Massarrap’ meaning delicious. That mistake won’t be made again.

Fieldwork often requires music and so the radio is always on in our car. Sadly I have come to learn that radio stations out here are very different to those at home and there are only two words that can describe it ‘old’ and ‘cheese’. With songs from Aerosmith, ABBA, Take That (the first time around) and Whitney Houston blasting out. The only light relief given is by new songs from the likes of One Direction and JLS and I’m pretty sure that isn’t much better. Coming from someone who is much more interested in bands such as MUSE there are many moments where Niamh sits in the front singing and often dancing along and I have been forced to hold my head in shame.  However sometimes you just have to embrace the cheese and enjoy yourself.

There are many things in the Philippines which are just downright strange to us westerners and although that certainly isn’t a bad thing it can result in some funny moments. Driving by one our sites is the sign ‘ELF For Hire’ which became a big conversational point as all we could think of was why would you want to hire an elf? And with one conversation I said that hiring an elf for Christmas would be a good idea. To which the words I think that’s racism were uttered leaving me very confused. It turns out they thought I was talking about dwarves but I guess that is another conversation all together. It was later explained to us that ELF actually meant a type of truck but I think our version was much better.

Another thing that I find unusual here is the lack of knowledge regarding innuendo and with the country being highly religious I often wonder if things like innuendo are even noticed. Not that I am complaining of course because this can lead to yet more funny signage. Outside another one of our sites is a tiny shop selling drinks, sweets and cigarettes. These stores all have signs made by Coca Cola or Smart (a mobile phone network) where the name of the shop is then written in big letters near the bottom. This particular store is called ‘Dick Store’. Unfortunately I haven’t yet been able to take a photo of it as there always seems to be a large group of men stood outside but I guess that would only add to the hilarity of the photograph when I finally have the courage. And of course when you see such odd things everyday it’s impossible not to agree with the slogan ‘More Fun in the Philippines!’

There are also many great things about living here and one of them has to be the animals that we interact with. At one of our study sites lives a family of puppies that over the last three months have gone from being wary of us to actively running towards us when our car comes along the road. I was always told to be careful of dogs in the Philippines as rabies is still a common disease out here but this family is very different.

After spending many hours out in the field it is a welcome relief to be able to sit down and play with the dogs which are affectionately known as Askals, meaning street dog. This is ridiculously clear with our little family as all the puppies look completely different. As there are so many of them Niamh and I decided to name them…. Pascal which should be pronounced in an Irish accent is our favourite, Bourneville is a chocolate colour, Wiley looks like a Coyote, Sunshine is a glorious ginger colour, Batman has massive ears, Savannah looks like a Hyena and Squishy is the poor puppy we hit with the car but is alive and well. Pascal is the friendliest of the little group always trotting over to us and waiting at our feet to be picked up.  As time has gone by the other puppies have also warmed up to us and to our great surprise only last week Wiley decided to come and sit by me to have her ears scratched. We have found a great little set of friends but their future is not a good one as many dogs out here fall ill and die without veterinary help. Many of the dogs we have come across here are in a sorry state suffering from many illnesses but the most obvious has to be mange. In many cases it would sadly be kinder to put the dog down as the only reason many dogs are kept here is to act as guard dogs.

Pascal

Solin- a gorgeous puppy from a different farm

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Wiley and Batman

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Over the past two months I have been concentrating on my work with rodents and this has sadly meant that birds have had to step out of the limelight. I was still content with watching them fly over the rice-fields and listening to their various calls. But now it seems that other people have begun to notice them too, which is great, not just for the birds but also for me. It has given me an opportunity to share what I know in the hope that other people will enjoy watching them too. Of course I owe a big thank you for my new found knowledge to Richard or Ricebirder who has been an excellent tutor, teaching me all about birds in the Philippines from the moment I arrived.

During one morning on fieldwork we were out measuring and marking out quadrats in the rice-fields. In the coconut trees behind us there was a loud screeching noise which I thought I recognised but I couldn’t be sure what was making it. I tried for most of the morning, scanning the trees and trying not to tangle our makeshift quadrat, to see what bird had been making the noise but seeing nothing. Niamh had also noticed the sound and asked me what it could be. It wasn’t until much later that I heard the noise again but this time much closer and followed by a second screech. Flying towards me was a pair of Brown Shrikes having a midair fight. They were extremely agile twisting and turning with the probable aim of using their sharp beaks. It was great to watch and also a bit of a surprise too because Brown Shrikes have been away on migration so this was the first time I had seen them returning. I stopped Niamh and she turned around to watch the birds too. It was great to not only be able to identify them but see the fight up close.

Even though my main passion has always been mammals and I am now lucky enough to work on a project involving mammals I have to admit that I do miss sitting and watching the birds. They are such a visual group of animals that it is so easy to take them for granted and I will not be making that mistake again.

Tales from the Riverbank

So good news has come my way since my last blog and it came in the form of a job. I am now an official employee of IRRI working in the environmental sciences division. This means that I am frequently out in the field, engaging with farmers, labourers and mostly trying not to fall into paddy fields. My new job has taken me to new areas in Laguna and has allowed me to experience the wildlife as the locals do, in the real Philippines. It also means that I spend most of my time soaked through as the rain has been relentless in the last few weeks.

In order to conduct our study we have had to find sites, speak to farmers, order materials and hire labourers to help us set up our experiment. It has certainly been an interesting experience for me and the project is only just beginning. The biggest difference that I have found so far in comparison to fieldwork in the UK, other than a language barrier which has involved a small amount of gesturing, is the heat. The effort required to do fieldwork is magnified as the heat just saps your energy with the easier aspects of fieldwork such as measuring bunds becoming exhausting. Many times we have been out in the field one day and completely forgotten what we did the day before due to dehydration. However it is also rather entertaining trying to walk on the bunds and watching others fail to do so. The outfits which we have to kit ourselves out in are also rather bizarre. To prevent heat stroke or sunburn I am regularly found wearing a hat with sunglasses, trousers, paddy boots (which are like wellies but with a divider for your big toe) and a long sleeved top. Others are well known for wearing a baseball cap with a tea towel underneath to protect their necks. However in the driving rain we quickly change to raincoats and waterproof trousers. But somehow the water still gets in.

On one of our fieldwork trips I was lucky enough to see a large group of ducks moving through a section of paddy fields. The farmers hire out ducks, from their owners of course, to move through their fields to eat the Golden Apple Snail which is considered a pest to rice. I had once before seen these ducks packed into a Jeepney, as we travelled down the expressway, with their heads sticking out the small windows like a dog in the front seat of a car. However this was the first time that I had actually seen them being used. They moved through the fields following a leader much easier than any human would in the deep mud. It was a rather comical sight to see as they walked along the bunds in single file.

Every now and then in the fields you will catch movement out of the corner of your eye but you very rarely see what is moving. It’s as if the fields are crawling with rats except there is no sign of fur just a long pointed tail. These creatures are usually skinks (medium sized lizards) moving quickly in the undergrowth escaping as you approach. Recently though I was lucky enough to watch one particular skink as it sat basking in the sun on a small pile of leaves in one of our field sites. I managed to get quite close and even take a photograph until he spotted an insect and darted towards it snapping his jaws. Then upon trying to swallow the large insect saw me and sped away. His colours were beautiful; he was golden with black stripes down his back and had an unusual red tip to his nose.

Skink in the sun

There are not just skinks around the rice-fields, there are often rats too and on one field site there is a village rubbish dump directly next to the fields. During a break from fieldwork I had sat down on a bench made from a plank of wood nailed to an overhanging tree. As I sat there quietly I could hear movement under my feet near the bank of a small stream. I looked down and saw black fur run passed me. After a few minutes there was movement on the rubbish dump and a large black coloured rat was sat amongst the bin bags eating. I tried not to move in fear of frightening him but shortly afterwards it was clear that something had scared him as he scarpered off back to the stream. It was not a person that had scared him however but another rat. This one was much larger with brown fur and clearly in charge of this patch of territory. He stayed eating for a while and then disappeared when people approached. This allowed the smaller black rat to appear again and take some of the food. This swapping of rats continued as I sat watching and trying to take photos. But we were not alone by the bench.

The Big Brown Rat

As I sat there still hypnotised by the rats and being bitten to death by the insects I noticed movement again but this time from behind me. As I turned all I could see was a chicken’s head peering around the side of a tree. It amused me as it only seemed to appear when I wasn’t looking directly at it. The chicken seemed to be keeping its eye on me.

As fieldwork has only just begun I am sure that I will soon have many more tales to tell. For instance I have just experienced the ‘drink in a bag’, have seen signs for ‘Elf for Hire’ and watched my friend Niamh behave like an upturned tortoise in a paddy field after falling in. So who knows what will happen next….

Me and Niamh with one group of farmers

Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs

It has been a while since my last blog but that has been because I have been watching the seasons change and with that the chances to get out and go find the wildlife that I love so much have gone down. This is mainly because we have now entered the wet season here in the Philippines and this means that at any moment the heavens can open and reduce you to what can only be described as a drowned rat. As this is my first wet season I am still unsure of the extremes that the weather will reach but so far my experience has taught me to always carry an umbrella and raincoats are about as useful as a chocolate teapot. This is because it very rarely drizzles here so when it rains it pours!! The droplets are also the size of hail stones and hit the ground and buildings making an awesome roaring sound which is actually rather impressive.

The increase in rain seems to have stimulated the frog and toad breeding seasons to begin. In the hours of darkness the fields come alive with mating calls which sound like bizarre groaning birds. Tadpoles have been seen swimming around in experimental rice tanks which look like square ponds and tiny frogs and toads have begun to appear. These tiny frogs seem to have taken up residence on the areas of lawn used by people walking to work which makes the walk to the office feel like an odd game of miss the frog. Luckily most of them jump away in plenty of time.

The Philippines is a tropical country which means the humidity can get really high, one friend has been known to describe it as walking out into soup. With this humidity comes storms and I have been able to witness some amazing electrical storms during my stay. From our balcony, which luckily has a roof, we have been able to watch the most beautiful sheet lightning  streak across the night sky, the clouds around it flashing blue and then pink. On walks around our halls I have also been able to see powerful bolts of lightning strike the nearby mountains and fields. It is then when you realise just how beautiful but powerful nature can be and hiding inside doesn’t seem so cowardly.

The wet season is also known as typhoon season and so far we have had four storm warnings although each time the typhoon has swept passed us without any problems. I have been told that during a typhoon most people have been killed or injured by the billboards which can been seen along the expressways advertising various products. When a warning is given these adverts are normally taken down but in cases where little or no warning is given then the canvas coverings of the billboards can come loose and act like giant sails catching the wind and flying into people and houses.

One advantage of the wet season, however, seems to be that the days are not so hot and early morning bird surveys are much easier. Without the sun beating down on us the walk to and from sites is much more comfortable and the birds seem to enjoy it too. The cloudier skies though have caused me some confusion in my just woken up state. Earlier this week, after the alarm had gone off, I got up out of bed to look out of the window and found myself questioning the clock. It was so dark and gloomy that I was sure that the clock had to be wrong and that the sun was only just rising. Sadly the clock was correct and I wasn’t able to go back to bed as I had hoped but instead had to turn on the light to use the bathroom and get ready to go into the office.

Even though the wet season has begun we have still had days with brilliant sunshine and many of the bird species here are still in the later stages of the breeding season. This has meant that when the sun shines the trees and fields are full of fledglings. It is almost like spring back in the UK and we have been lucky enough to have newly fledged Tree Sparrows sit on our balcony and office roof calling for food. They can easily be distinguished from the adults by their fluffed up feathers and yellow gape. Tree Sparrows have not been behaving like the innocent or cute looking birds that they appear to be though. In the Philippines they are an invasive species often thought of as a pest. This is in complete opposition to the Tree Sparrows in the UK which have been given Red status by the RSPB due to declining numbers caused by changes in agricultural practices. As an invasive species in Asia they have become extremely successful generalists and opportunists making the most of the available habitat which in turn has increased their population size dramatically. This opportunistic behaviour was shown to us only very recently.

A Pacific Swallow breeding pair had made a nest out of mud on the side of our office building. It was wonderful to watch as the adult birds would fly down to a muddy puddle to scoop up the mud in their beaks and add it to the sides of the nest. It wasn’t long until we saw an adult bird sitting in the nest with the other flying around nearby or sat watching us from the roof of the building. One day we were lucky enough to find an empty egg shell on the ground below the nest with a feather attached. We were quietly excited about being able to see fledgling Swallows when the time came. However one morning on our walk to the office we noticed that both Swallows were sitting on the top of a pillar of the building staring at their nest and standing inside looking out was a Tree Sparrow. We are not sure what happened to the Swallow chicks, whether the Sparrow predated on them or if they were just pushed out but the Sparrow had taken over the nest and was preventing the Swallows from returning.  After a couple of days dead grass and bits of straw could be seen on the very top of the mud nest. The Sparrows had built another nest on top and were determinedly guarding it. So it seems that we will have some more Sparrow fledglings soon.

Not all of the birds around IRRI are struggling so much to rear young. In the fields many of the water birds can be seen with young in tow. Recently I have seen Barred Button Quail, a small bird whose legs seem to go too fast for their body and White Browed Crake each with tiny black fluff-balls running around behind trying to weave in and out of the tall grass to keep up with their parents. I am not sure why so many birds are still breeding during the wet season but I can guess that this may be due to the dramatic increase in the abundance of insect life. Most of the fields have now been levelled and flooded making it really easy to see the insects moving over the surface of the water. During a recent bird survey, as we were sat watching one of the fields, I used my binoculars to look at small ripples moving across the water and was greatly surprised to see that they were being made by jumping water spiders!

The flooded fields have also made it much easier to see the more elusive birds such as Bitterns. IRRI is home to both the Cinnamon Bittern and Yellow Bittern which look almost exactly as they are named. The Cinnamon Bittern is a deep rust colour whereas the Yellow Bittern is a pale yellow with black bands on the wings. When I first arrived I would only be able to see these birds as they flew over the fields but now without the rice to hide in they are much more obvious wading through the wet mud. Another species which has become more obvious is the Chestnut Munia. Many farmers believe these birds to be pests eating the rice grain from the crops just before harvest. However with very little vegetation left in the fields around IRRI they have been congregating in the fallow areas and have begun to form big flocks. Sitting by one of these fields we were able to see one of these large flocks flying around the field and over our heads as they made little tweeting contact calls to each other making a small but fascinating natural spectacle.

So with the wet season only just beginning it will be interesting to see how the wildlife adapts and how I adapt to a much wetter Philippines. Although to be honest I am British so rain shouldn’t really be a problem.

Tree Sparrow

The Fresh Prince of Baler

Last week we were invited on a trip to Baler by Alex, my partner’s supervisor, as an idea to see a bit more of the country and so he could get a look at the local birdlife. Baler is the capital of Aurora Province, which is on the east coast of Luzon, situated near the Sierra Madre Mountain range.  The small coastal town is famous for its good surfing beaches and is surrounded by rice and agroforest (a mixture of natural and plantation forest).  Incidentally Baler and in particular Charlie’s Point is the film location for the bridge bombing and surfer scenes from Apocalypse Now.

The trip took around seven hours travelling on the expressway and a newly made road which took us over the mountains. The mountain road allowed us to watch the skies as we passed through the national park and we were lucky enough to get an excellent view of a serpent eagle as it soared above us. There are rumours that the Philippine Eagle has been seen flying over these mountains, ordinarily the Philippine Eagle is only said to exist in Mindanao, the south island, so with the possibility of seeing one here our noses stayed glued to the car windows.  Unfortunately we were not lucky this time.

When we arrived in Baler we got rooms at the Surfer Girls Lodge on Sabang beach. The beautiful beach stretches around Baler Bay and has wonderful soft grey sand.  One night during our stay at the lodge I noticed that the bathroom door was not closing properly and after some fiddling about managed to get it shut. Unfortunately we then couldn’t get it open again and had to go and ask the owners for help. They bought up a multitude of tools including a screwdriver and a very large knife to get the door open. Amusingly they also knocked on the door hoping that a ghost would be kind enough to open it for us, sadly it didn’t.  As all this was going on it was dark outside and we had the front door open leading to an invasion of flies, including the largest mayfly type creatures I have ever seen. Trying not to be girly and swat them away I just kept ducking and hoped that they would go back outside. But for some reason though they must have seen weakness and started landing all over me. I had to be rescued by my partner as he slowly picked off each fly and took it outside.

With the door fixed we assumed that that would be the end to the unexpected entertainment but we were wrong. Two days before our trip to Baler we were getting ready for bed back in our room at IRRI and found a small gecko had gotten in and was slowly making his way along the wall towards my bedside lamp. We sat there watching it for a little while but as I moved it ran up towards the air conditioning unit. After a few minutes he returned to his position on the wall but then began to stretch his head back and pick his two front legs up off of the wall. We could not understand what he was doing so tried to get a closer look. To our great surprise he then leapt through the air and landed on the floor half way across the room. I was in shock and ran to the end of my bed seeing him walking quite happily underneath it heading for the far side of the room. I had no idea that geckos could jump!  So it was a little surprising that only a few days later the same thing was to happen again.

It appears that the open door had attracted more than just bugs. After returning from a trip to the beach we entered our room and saw a gecko on the underside of our curtains. Once again my partner decided to usher the little creature out but the gecko had other ideas and this time leapt at him! It landed on his arm and crawled to his arm pit where it tried it’s hardest to stay even after a lot of laughter and coaxing from me. He eventually gave in and I was able to move him onto a set of nearby steps.

The jumping Gecko

Later that day on a walk along the beach from our lodge we discovered a number of perfectly round holes in the sand about the size of a two pence coin. In order to work out what had made the holes we decided to sit down and watch. It wasn’t long until a tiny crab popped up out of the hole and threw a small ball of sand away. The longer we sat there the more crabs would appear and could be seen moving up and down like a bizarre game of Whack It! I tried to get closer to get a video of it but the crabs were very good at hiding from me so instead I looked like a crazy lady kneeled down with my bottom in the air staring at the sand. This attracted the attention of a local dog who clearly thought I needed help and decided to wander over and sit by us on the beach.

On our last day in Baler we visited Cemento, an area of mangroves growing out of a dead coral reef, named after a rock formation which happens to look just like cement. To get to the rocks you have to wade through the mangroves but the water was so warm it was like wading through bath water so was actually very enjoyable.

Walking through the mangroves revealed a number of rock pools full of sea grass. Usually these pools would contain crystal clear water and little else but every now and then we would stumble upon brightly coloured fish which would dart away as soon as we appeared. The colours were beautiful from bright orange to neon blue.  However, it wasn’t the fish that surprised me it was the presence of a crustacean which I have yet to identify. It was dark red in colour, about 10cm in length and looked like a mixture between a lobster and a prawn as it did not have any claws.  It allowed me to get quite close before disappearing under a piece of coral. I had expected to find crabs but not this creature so I was strangely rather impressed.

Unidentified Shellfish

As we wandered through the mangroves we not only looked in the water but also at the sky and were lucky enough to see some birds. Flying over our heads were Little Herons and an Eastern Reef Egret which was completely black in colour.  It was so strange to me as it looked just like an Egret that we see all the time at IRRI except that it was the wrong colour. It was only after looking in the bird guide that I understood that the bird, very different to the ones at IRRI, has a white phase and a black phase. I suppose this would be a form of camouflage and the very dark colour of the Cemento rocks made a perfect hiding place for it.

We were told that when walking through the mangroves to look out for sea snakes. I did not expect to actually see one as we had been looking all week for a sea turtle or Whale Shark out to sea and had failed completely. So when we wandered through a slightly larger pool and I spotted a black and white striped snake I was almost in shock! There was a Banded Sea Snake with its head disappearing down a hole in the coral. After taking a few photos my partner said to me “I think they are venomous” I wasn’t sure but decided it would be best to leave it in peace just in-case. As it turns out they are incredibly venomous and one bite will kill you quickly. Luckily for us the fangs are at the back of the mouth so would only be able to bite the webs between the fingers and toes. It was really lucky then that we were wearing flip flops?!  Having said all that it was great to see one, I had the same buzz that I had when I saw my first Adder in the UK. You just don’t have the chance to see such secretive creatures very often.

Banded Sea Snake with his head in a hole

Of course I couldn’t finish this blog without mentioning my latest incident of clumsiness. Now obviously I blame this totally on my choice of flip flops that are smooth on the top and probably not made for walking over coral but it may also have something to do with my lack of balance. Anyway, on our wander through the mangroves I found it very difficult to keep my footing as the coral was not flat and in places very spiky. I would put my foot down and if it wasn’t totally flat my foot would slip off the side of the shoe usually resulting in me stabbing my foot onto a piece of coral. This wasn’t too bad at the beginning, when we entered the water, but as we got closer to the Cemento rock formation the coral became more uneven and jagged.

It wasn’t long until I was huffing and puffing and falling behind. Then I put my foot in a particularly uneven place and to compensate tried to stagger backwards but my other foot could only find uneven coral too and I lost my balance completely. I fell backwards landing on my bottom and my outstretched hands. I was wet through but could not get back up again as I couldn’t find a flat section to put my feet. My partner had to come to my rescue yet again and help me up. Unfortunately when I stood up we realised that I had cut my hand open on the coral and had to perform some field first aid. This ended with the use of spray on plaster, which I will tell you now stings like crazy, I became most un-ladylike! Accident aside I would definitely recommend visiting mangroves as you never know what you will see.  Just make sure you wear some proper flip flops!

Since You’ve Been Gone…

I must apologise for not keeping my blog up to date although followers of Ricebirder will know what we have been up to recently. But I don’t like to reiterate the same things that he blogs about so I thought I would do a blog based on the past few weeks and my moments of happiness and surprise ….

Well we have had a couple of weeks break from watching the fields due to some of the fields being harvested so I managed to grab some much needed sleep. This allowed us to disappear off for a long weekend to Subic Bay and for some exciting things to happen closer to home.

The main theme of the trip to Subic Bay was to see the birds up there such as the Whiskered Treeswift and Green Racquet-tails, two very good looking birds! However there was a much larger presence of mammals than expected and this is a bonus for me. I have only recently within the last two years begun to appreciate birds and been interested in watching them. Before then, I was an avid lover of mammals and in particular the Leopard. This was due to having the rare privilege of seeing a mother Leopard and her cub in the wild in South Africa! I was so shocked and overjoyed that ever since whenever anybody asked me what my favourite animal was I would say Leopard. So having the opportunity to witness mammals in their natural wild environment still fills me with excitement. Subic Bay is known for the birds but I was in for an unexpected surprise.

On our way to one of the birding sites we stopped the car on the side of the road. I did not know why and upon asking what was going on I was told “I’ll wait until you get out”.  So a bit unsure of myself I stepped out of the car and was hit by the smell of ammonia and an amazing cacophony of sound. It was almost like a thousand squeaky dog toys being held in the beaks of laughing mallards. Above our heads were over a hundred Giant Fruit Bats! The bat colony was spread out among the trees over the road and they just seemed to keep increasing the longer you looked at them. On close inspection we found that there were also a number of endangered Golden Crowned Flying Foxes among them. I stood there in awe as I had never seen so many bats before in my life. They were also extremely large in size and when something spooked them we were briefly shown the full size of these flying mammals. As they took to the skies the sunlight shone down through their leathery wings which must have been at least a metre across.  It was an awesome sight and something I will never forget!

The Fruit Bat colony above our heads

The Fruit bats weren’t the only mammal I was able to see on our trip to Subic. My many trips up Mount Makiling, our local mountain, had given me an opportunity to hear Macaques but I had never actually seen one. Subic Bay however, was completely different.  Macaques could be seen walking along the side of the roads and we got particularly close to one individual when we pulled over to take a photograph. But it was in the lowland forest of Subic Bay in an old munitions base that I felt that we were really sharing the environment with the Macaques. In the early morning light we were the first people to explore the forest trail which meant that we were able to get really close to a small troop sitting in the trees above the trail. When they saw us though, they moved off into the forest very quickly, disappearing down the tree and along the branches. Soon all I could hear was the crashing of the trees and their chattering calls. It was definitely worth the wait and missed opportunities I had had before though as this is what I had always hoped rainforest would be like.

On our return to IRRI our animal encounters did not slow down like we had expected. Readers of Ricebirder’s blog will know that we recently had a little guest in our apartment which has since been affectionately named Little Owley. A friend of ours was called to an abandoned Philippine Scops owlet found on a road in IRRI staff housing. We agreed to take it in after an extensive search for the nest failed and the owlet did not appear to have the strength to be left to fend for himself. The prospect of leaving him to the rats and cats of staff housing was not a nice one. We looked after him for three days doing our best to keep the little guy from giving up. Ordinarily I would highly recommend taking any orphaned animal to a rescue centre but here in the Philippines we don’t have that luxury so it was up to us and we did everything that we could. The story ended sadly unfortunately but I feel extremely privileged to have been able to at least give the owl the chance. It had also been the first time that I had seen a Philippine Scops owl as they are usually nocturnal and very difficult to see so sharing a room with one was an honour.

Nature is amazing and living in the Philippines has allowed me to feel really a part of that natural world. In my quaint little village back in England I would rarely have the opportunity to get so close to nature as I do here. My walks around that village would consist of seeing some amazing British birds such as the Bullfinch and the much loved Longtail Tit. There would also be the occasional vole or shrew and if you were really lucky you would be able to catch a glimpse of a Fox. I love that mystery that you do not know what is around the corner or in the skies above you until you look. Here in the Philippines with a whole new set of animals and species that I am not familiar with that mystery has grown. But the wildlife here hasn’t been hiding from me in the same way and sometimes it becomes clear that it comes looking for you.

In this past week I have shared my bedroom with a Gecko, come face to face with some particularly frisky frogs and toads, cooked my dinner with a bat and taken a walk out into the fields with a rat. The bat I must add was not actually involved in the cooking, I am still a vegetarian, but managed to get in through the door and seemed unable to find the way out even after we tried for ages to usher it back outside with a broom and a tea towel. In the end it released itself. The local Tree Sparrows, not wanting to be left out, have been giving me a serenade by sitting on the window sill of the office and popping their heads up and down over the ledge of the window as they sing. And just to feel like I have been made completely welcome a slender ginger cat has taken up residence outside our room. She, now known as Ginge (how original of us!), is the only local cat that will sit by you and beg for affection meowing at the top of her voice. Having been warned about feral cats and dogs my instinct was at first to stay away but as it turns out Ginge just wants a good fuss.

So it seems that you do not have to travel very far to find wildlife sometimes it comes to you.

The bat that came to dinner

One Raindrop Raises the Sea

I love watching the birds and wildlife around the IRRI rice-fields, it is great fun as you never quite know what you will see, but sometimes a girl needs to get out and see the rest of the world. Last week the opportunity to go to the coast presented itself and how could I possibly say no? The idea of seeing the sea has always brought a smile to my face. Family trips to the coast always began with a competition on who could spot the sea first. The mere sight of the ocean brings back memories of paddling, sandcastles and on one occasion sitting in the sea with my sister fully clothed, completely soaked and having to walk what seemed like miles back to the car. My poor Mum had to buy us beach towels to sit on for the journey home.

When you think of the Philippines and the coast you think, crystal clear water and white sandy beaches. Unfortunately this trip would not be like that but I was happy to take what I could get and so we were off to San Juan in the early hours of the morning hoping to see some amazing wildlife and many new species for me.

Our visit started at a collection of fish ponds in an area coincidently labelled ‘Birdwatching Area’. These ponds were like small reservoirs arranged in a patchwork fashion with very high banks which seemed to be home to Philippine Cattle and a small herd of goats. As we arrived we were treated to a collection of water birds, mainly the Philippine Duck and Black Winged Stilts. Both of these species were new to me so watching them through my binoculars was an absolute treat. It was also the first time I had seen a duck since I had left the UK back in February.  Who ever would have thought I would miss seeing ducks!  Black Winged Stilts are exactly as the name suggests, white waders with black wings and long legs, very imaginative. But as we looked there seemed to be an odd one out, a slightly larger stilt with a black head, the others had white heads. After much discussion and consultation of the only bird guide that exists for the Philippines we concluded that it must be of a different subspecies which is quite exciting.

On the edge of the fish ponds is an area of mangroves that grow out of the patches of water that are for some reason not contained within the ponds. On first impression it looks like a clump of trees near a muddy pool but on close inspection hundreds of tiny white claws begin to appear. It is not until you look at them through binoculars that you realise they must belong to lots of tiny crabs buried under the mud. The trees themselves revealed purple crabs attached to the roots like large armoured alien bugs. Then on the mud movement allows you to see a number of Mud Skippers bouncing along with their amazing camouflage. It would have been so easy to miss had we not stopped and really taken the time to look. Perhaps this is a lesson learnt, because how often do you get to see the smaller creatures like crabs and Mud Skippers?!

As we moved on through the fish ponds we were treated to a variety of birds including an Olive Backed Sunbird, White Collared Kingfishers sitting on a post and a Grey Tailed Tattler moving slowly foraging in the water. My strangest spot had to be seeing a Pink Necked Green Pigeon fly over whilst everyone around me was looking at the Tattler. The pigeon just looked so bizarre, mainly because it was green! When I saw it I felt ultimately confused as if I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. Pigeons are grey or they have always been grey in the past. Then again I’m in a completely different country so I should expect things to be odd colours. There is definitely far fewer brown bird species out here so why not green.

After exploring most of the fish ponds we began to move through what looked like a coconut tree plantation and beneath my feet I noticed the change from hard dry earth to soft black sand. We were getting closer to the sea! It was strange as I couldn’t hear it or smell it but it had to be there somewhere. I began to walk a little quicker and then suddenly the trees disappeared and there I was standing on the beach with the great expanse of the sea disappearing over the horizon. The sound of the waves and the smell of salt finally hit me.

Unfortunately there was no wildlife to see as the tide had come in but I was able to watch the waves move up and down the shore and let the water flow under my boots. There were a few fishing boats bobbing up and down in the waves and a little way along the shoreline I could see a man wading out into the ocean with a fishing net. We didn’t stay for too long as we had more fish ponds to explore and wildlife to see but I was very pleased with my first trip to the beach.

I have added some photographs to the bottom of this blog.

If you are interested in another view on the day’s events please check out http://ricebirder.wordpress.com/2012/05/02/oh-i-do-like-to-bird-beside-the-seaside/

He has been shamelessly plugging my blog so I should really return the favour. It is a very good blog after all.

The Beach

The Coconut Plantation at the back of the beach

The fisherman wading out to sea with his fishing net

Out of the Darkness….Comes the Knight

Firstly I must apologise for taking so long to write my next blog. There are a number of reasons for this….. I have been ill, attended a conference run by the WCSP and then gallantly passed on my illness to my boyfriend. All this sadly means that I haven’t actually done much for me to talk about. But now I am back in the fields and back watching the birds, mammals and insects which I love so much.

My latest trip out into the fields provided some amusement, shock and awe and was definitely worth the wait.

As we began our walk out into the fields it was dark but the sky had begun to show an edge of pink and orange as the sun began to rise. All around us bats of different sizes were swooping over us trying to collect any insects we were attracting or stirring as we walked. The species of bat at IRRI are not yet identified mainly because there has been no research. Our trip to the Wildlife Conservation Society of the Philippines Conference showed me just how little is known about the species that exist in the Philippines. Field guides are few and far between and conservation is currently in its most basic form. However with the new partnership of the WCSP and Bat Conservation International big steps in information and conservation should be made. Perhaps the very bats that fly over my head will one day be identified and protected because watching them miss you by inches and hearing their tiny calls as they pass is something that should not be lost.

Watching the bats was amazing but moving within the bats seemed to be something very strange. It was the size of a small bird but flapped its wings much too slowly. Any bird would have hit the ground at that speed. On closer inspection it became clear it was not a vertebrate at all but an extremely large invertebrate! It was too dark for a proper identification but it had to be a member of the Atlas Moth family. I need to get my hands on some invertebrate field guides now!

Mammals, other than bats, are a little few and far between here so in my sad little way I get excited about even the briefest glimpse of a very common species. Today was no different as we sat watching an empty field talking about the days various tasks. Suddenly right in front of me an extremely large rat climbed up on the plastic barrier separating out smaller plots within the field and jumped into the next one. I had probably jumped almost a foot into the air with shock but I was desperate to see it again. Unfortunately it disappeared just as quickly as it had appeared and I was unable to find it.

Also this morning I had my first encounter with rice-field mud and to say it was entertaining may be a bit of an understatement. First let me give you some information….  Rice is usually grown by seeding or transplanting the rice crop into a large field which is subsequently flooded, providing a wet environment for the plant to grow even on the hottest day. When rice is ready to be harvested these fields are drained to allow the mud to dry out making it much easier for harvesting, either by hand or machinery.  The fields we have been surveying for birds are due to be harvested soon so the drainage has begun and this makes rice field mud very sticky!!

Part of the experiments being conducted on the farm involve bird netting, which needs to be checked as often as possible to make sure no birds have become tangled. When checking this netting I made my first venture into the field wearing my brand new wellies. This of course can only spell disaster.

Knowing I would be going into a field, to maybe rescue some unfortunate creature, for some reason made me very enthusiastic. This clearly led to me over thinking the whole thing resulting in me wearing my shorts. This was my first mistake as it turns out rice plants have serrated leaves! My poor legs! My second mistake was probably thinking it would be easy… it’s not and as I stepped into the field I sank a lot deeper into the mud than I had expected!!!

I tried to keep calm and take a few steps but the mud seemed to pull me back sucking at my boots. I must have taken only three steps when my balance almost gave up on me. I swayed backwards and forward trying not to land face down in the mud. I barely missed a spider web, with spider still attached, with the end of my nose as I tried and failed to move my feet. During all this I let out what was quite possibly the girliest scream ever heard on the IRRI farm, scaring away any birds even vaguely near the nets. I shouted that there was no way I would be able to go any further and collapsed back on the bund laughing.

As it turned out, the nets were bird free so my little adventure had proved completely unnecessary. Perhaps I should wait until the fields have been completely drained and dried out before I venture into another rice-field.

65 Million Years in the Making

So I’ve been in the Philippines for just over five weeks and aside from the odd minor illness, things have been going well. I’m getting used to the country and almost always remembering to wash up my cereal bowl before all the ants in a mile radius flood in. Trust me you don’t want to see your bedside table moving out of the corner of your eye.

As for the wildlife, my experience has mostly consisted of bird-watching. In the Philippines, birds are the easiest species to see because historically most mammals have been hunted so the sound of people makes them extremely evasive.  Having said that I was privileged enough to hear and see the movement of Macaques crashing through the branches of the forest on a trip to Mount Makiling a few weeks ago, something I will never forget. But birds are the topic of this blog so here is a little bit about the birds that I see almost everyday in the rice-fields at IRRI.

A few days each week we get up at 4:30am and head out into the darkness to record bird species in the name of research.  Before I arrived Rich was forced to do this by himself which meant a couple of things…1) he was alone and so could not share his excitement at seeing new things and 2) that his trips out where generally quicker because apparently I walk too slow but I choose to ignore this point.

The idea of the research is to sit and watch certain plots and see which species appear. There are other experiments going on but the phrase “If I tell you, I will have to kill you” screams in the back of my head so perhaps that’s all I will say on that.

The best time of the day here at IRRI is the moment just before the sun rises over the mountains and the bushes suddenly come alive with the songs of birds. The air is cool and the lack of human noise makes you feel a million miles away. This is when we go bird-watching.

The first of the many species that we see are the nocturnal Black Crowned Night Herons. They fly in large circles over the fields making a goose-like honking sound and quickly land in a nearby coconut tree to gather their numbers and head back to their roosting site for the day. Then as the sun rises, small flocks of Egrets can be seen flying over our heads to take up foraging in the fields behind us. This is swiftly followed by the appearance of Swallows hunting over the plots and eventually resting on a number of bamboo canes. There are three species of Swallow here; Barn Swallow, Pacific Swallow and Striated Swallow. The latter of which is much bigger and has a pinkish looking breast whereas the other two are distinguishable by the deep forked tail of the Barn Swallow.  As I sit and watch them perching on the canes I realise just how lucky I am, I could sit and watch them chirp and fluff themselves up for the rest of the day but there are other species around and some of them demand attention.

Such species include the Zitting Cistocola (which is a bit like a Reed Warbler back in the UK) a tiny bird which makes loud “tch tch” sounds to defend territory and attract mates. The Striated Grassbird is another attention seeker singing it’s blackbird-esq  song at the top of it’s lungs.  Once you have heard the Grassbird you will always know the sound.

As the day goes by and the sun makes its way across the sky more species of bird appear. Whiskered terns begin to hunt over the plots, looking increasingly dirty as they change to their breeding plumage. Kingfishers of various species arrive to take advantage of the flooded rice-fields, with one even using the irrigation canals to hunt for fish.  The newest excitement has been the arrival of Blue Tailed Bee Eaters. If you haven’t seen one I recommend you look them up, they are beautiful multicoloured birds which, as I recently found out, shimmer in the sunshine. And yes they do eat Bees. They have been spotted flying extremely close to us and surprisingly intimidating the other birds.

With migration occurring across the Philippines it is possible that we will get many more new editions to our morning recordings and this gave us the opportunity to witness a Grey Faced Buzzard making his journey North.

I happily sit and watch as the birds begin their day, but as the sun gets higher and the temperature begins to rise it’s time to leave. The birds are recorded and I need a nap.

Life, the Universe and Everything

In February of this year, everything changed. After a somewhat slow and miserable start to the year, life suddenly became fun and interesting.  I moved to the Philippines to join my long term boyfriend while he studies for his PhD near Los Baños on the island of Luzon. My plan, fingers crossed, is to find a job in conservation, ecology or research. After graduating with an MSc in Wildlife Management and Conservation in December I saw this as a perfect opportunity to begin my career as a conservationist. And how could anyone turn down such an opportunity? To live in a beautiful country, find work doing something you love and sharing the experience with someone you love. Of course I said yes. I am here though not only to work but to get out and discover the wildlife after-all there is nothing more inspiring to me than seeing wildlife in the wild.

To share my thoughts and adventures in my new country I have decided to write a blog. The main focus will be the wildlife as that is who I am, a naturalist. But there are times when life’s little adventures are just begging to be shared, such as coming down with tonsillitis in my first week, so who knows what is to come.  I will start however with a bit about life, the universe and everything……

So I’ve been in the Philippines for about three weeks now and to say life is different here is an understatement. It’s like stepping out of your front door and not knowing the rules. So here are a few things that I have learnt:

• The Philippines is essentially an undeveloped American country with western influences everywhere. So most Filipinos will speak to you with an American accent as this is apparently the correct way to speak English.  I thought the clue was in the name, silly me.
• Ants are everywhere; you cannot stop them getting in, you just have to know how to distract their attention.
• The sound of a loud kissing noise in the night is not something to be worried about. It’s just a friendly Gecko calling and scuttling up the wall outside. Well you hope it’s outside.
• Filipinos stare at you as you walk by with a cautious but curious look. That is until you say hello and then a smile appears and you don’t seem so scary anymore.
• No matter how hard you try you will always get bitten by something. The trick is to try not to scratch too much. Then again if you are up a mountain constant vigilance for leaches is always very wise.
• Nobody knows how to queue.
• Going to the loo becomes a riddle when you have to ask yourself whether it is safe ‘to flush or not to flush’ with regards to toilet paper. With some places still providing a bin either way.
• Money goes a lot further here with a bowl of rice costing you as little as nine pence.
• A cold day in the Philippines is around 24ᵒC so not exactly cold.
• To live here you need patience, nothing is ever done quickly and you can lose a whole day trying to complete a simple task. It is always best to have lower expectations, it’s much better to be surprised than disappointed.

Living in the Philippines may be a bit of an adjustment for anybody but when you have learnt the rules the benefits begin to shine through. The spectacular scenery of rainforest, mountains and rice fields reminds me of the wildlife documentaries I used to watch growing up, usually with David Attenborough narrating. The wildlife is of course spectacular and I have already seen over fifty species of bird, five or six mammal species and a variety of amphibians and reptiles.  All of which I hope to write about in later blogs. So here goes, this is me A Naturalist’s Tail reporting from the Philippines.