Cattle Egret (Bubulcus ibis, resident/migrant)
Habitat: Common in pastures, ricefields and marshes.
Shooting info - Sony RX10 IV, 600 mm, f/9, 1/60 sec, ISO 100, Uniqball UBH45 + Manfrotto 455B tripod, manual exposure in available light, 4K/29.97p capture, ambient sound recorded by the camera's built in microphone, Maambal Orchard, northern Philippines, November 21, 2020.
A couple of these perpetual motion birds are always around the mango tree near the orchard's gate. They seem to have become quite familiar with me, allowing me to get close to them.
Under the dark canopy, I've to push the RX10 IV's tiny sensor to ISO 800 to get a shutter speed of 1/125 sec. I was hoping that the camera's 24 fps burst can freeze the bird in between movements, even with the slowish Tv.
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Pied Fantail (Rhipidura javanica, resident)
Habitat - Common in parks, residential areas, thickets and mangroves.
Shooting info - Maambal Orchard, Pangasinan, Philippines, November 14, 2020, RX10 IV + Uniqball UBH45 + Manfrotto 455B tripod,
600 mm (equiv.), ISO 800, f/4, 1/125 sec, manual exposure in available light, major crop resized to 800 x 450.
It has been quite a while since I tried photographing winged creatures (birds and insects) in flight, so my panning reflexes are a bit rusty. To add to the challenge, I was using a point and shoot (Sony RX10 IV), rather than my tested DSLR gear (Canon 7D II + EF 400 DO II).
The EVF and ergonomics of the RX10 IV is not the best for flying creatures, but we have to make do with any gear we have on hand. The 24 fps burst rate and the decent AF speed of this camera somewhat mitigate its shortcomings though.
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A few of these white birds are orchard regulars, and I caught this one while it was flying low in front of a stand of bangkok santol trees.
Cattle Egret (Bubulcus ibis, resident/migrant)
Habitat: Pastures, ricefields and marshes.
Shooting info - Maambal Orchard, Pangasinan, Philippines, November 10, 2020, RX10 IV,
600 mm (equiv.), ISO 200, f/4, 1/3200 sec, manual exposure in available light, hand held, major crop resized to 800 x 533.
Link to the larger 1500 x 1000 version
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Over the grassy areas of the orchard, numerous dragonflies flit and hover in the breeze. While waiting for birds in flight to appear, I practiced my panning skills at these critters.
Shooting info - Maambal Orchard, Pangasinan, Philippines, November 10, 2020, RX10 IV, 600 mm (equiv.), ISO 200, f/4, 1/2000 sec, manual exposure in available light, hand held, major crop resized to 800 x 533.
Link to the larger 1500 x 1000 version
This migratory bird has a total length of about 7-1/2 inches. It's the 4th wild bird species I've filmed in the orchard.
Brown Shrike (Lanius cristatus, migrant, female)
Habitat - Common in all habitats at all elevations.
The orchard's 9-meter high water tank tower is almost finished, and we need to lift the water tank on top. But without the proper lifting equipment, this turned out to be quite a challenge.
We fabricated a mini-jib crane by welding a 4-inch diameter GI pipe to one of the railing's posts. Then we fashioned an angle bar mast and jib to be inserted into the GI pipe.
Our first version was a disaster - the mast was just too long and not strong enough to carry the weight. The mast bent right at the top of the GI pipe, where the maximum moment occurred.
We shortened the mast to reduce the leverage, reinforced it along its critical section, then tried again.
A medium small egret (19 inch length), this white bird is very common locally. It stays close to cattle or carabao to catch insects the larger animals disturb.
Cattle Egret (Bubulcus ibis, resident/migrant)
Habitat: Common in pastures, ricefields and marshes.
Shooting info - Sony RX10 IV, 600 mm, f/16, 1/60 sec, ISO 100, Uniqball UBH45 + Manfrotto 455B tripod, manual exposure in available light, 4K/29.97p capture, ambient sound recorded by the camera's built in microphone, Maambal Orchard, northern Philippines, November 7, 2020.
This fantail, with a 7.5-inch total length, ranges in all major Philippine islands. It is conspicuous and noisy in many places, including urban residential areas and parks. It is easily seen and in many instances can be approached closely. However, its continuous tail fanning and constant movement among branches make it probably among the toughest common birds to film well.
Pied Fantail (Rhipidura javanica, resident)
Habitat: Common in parks, residential areas, thickets, early second growth and mangroves.
Shooting info - Maambal Orchard, Pangasinan, northern Philippines, November 7, 2020, Sony RX10 Mark IV + Uniqball UBH45 + Manfrotto 455B tripod, 600 mm (equiv.), f/4, ISO 320, manual exposure, 4K/29.97p capture.
A short clip of this predatory species, a common resident of the Philippines, filmed in natural habitat. The total length of the bird, from tip of long tail to tip of bill, is about 9.5 inches. This is the second wild bird species I've filmed in this place.
Long-tailed Shrike (Lanius schach, resident)
Habitat - Open country and scrub.
Shooting info - Maambal Orchard, Pangasinan, northern Philippines, November 3, 2020, Sony RX10 Mark IV + Uniqball UBH45 + Manfrotto 455B tripod, 600 mm (equiv.), f/4, ISO 100, manual exposure, 4K capture processed to 1080p.
I finally had some time to go birding at the orchard, and my first capture is a Cattle Egret (Bubulcus ibis). A medium small egret (19 inch length), this white bird is very common locally. It stays close to cattle or carabao to catch insects the larger animals disturb.
With the orchard at least 400 meters away from the nearest road frequented by vehicles, it's amazing to hear that no man-made noise can be picked up by the microphone, just the distant calls of a sunbird and later the squawk of another cattle egret.
Shooting info - Sony RX10 IV, 600 mm, f/14, 1/60 sec, ISO 100, Uniqball UBH45 + Manfrotto 455B tripod, manual exposure in available light, 4K/29.97p capture, ambient sound recorded by the camera's built in microphone, Maambal Orchard, northern Philippines, October 24, 2020.
A small group of cacao trees (Theobroma cacao) are starting to bear fruit in the orchard, and I'm excited to learn how to prepare some home-made chocolate drink when the fruits have ripened.
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| A cluster of cacao fruits. |
From the online videos I've seen, it looks like I need to ferment the seeds for a few days, then dry these under the sun for another few days. The dried cocoa beans are roasted, and the skin removed. After that, the beans are ground with a manual grinder, together with the optional ingredients (sweetener and flavoring). It will take several passes through the grinder before the combined ingredients assume the consistency of a thick chocolate paste. This can now be molded into tablets which are locally called "tablea."
The final step is boiling the tablea with some water, and adding more sweetener and milk to taste.
Much of this process will surely be done by trial and error later, but I need to go online shopping now for an old-fashioned, hand-cranked grinder.
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| Some 9-year old cacao trees are thriving in the orchard. |
One of the several jackfruit trees (Artocarpus heterophyllus) in the orchard has started to bear quite a few fruits. With a height of less than 15 feet and a trunk diameter not more than eight inches, this individual tree is heavily laden with oblong fruits, with the skin fully covered with little spikes.
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| Photographed on October 15, 2020. |
I've observed this particular tree for a few weeks now, and the fruits grow quite fast. According to one website, it's the largest tree-borne fruit in the world, each weighing up to 100 lbs and measuring up to three feet long on maturity.
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| Largest fruit of the lot is head-size after just over a month of growth. |
The largest fruit of the lot (above) is now about the size of a human head and probably weighs over eight pounds. If all the fruits in this batch reach maturity, I surely need to prop up the tree and its main horizontal branch with extra support so it won't topple over.
After digging for over a week through rock-like strata (which our well digging contractor called "adobe"), we temporarily stopped the job after reaching a good water-bearing depth of just over seven meters .
We used two sizes of electric-driven jackhammers - the smaller one weighs about 10 kg, while the larger one is over 15 kg - to break through the hard layers, as using a crowbar manually is ineffective.
Each morning, the recharged well has a water depth in excess of 3 meters (equivalent to about 2,400 liters of water). We took out this accumulated water with a 2 HP submersible pump so we can continue digging with jackhammers. We stopped digging at just over 7 meters because the little streams of recharge water coming from fissures in the rock-like layers is quite strong. Our jackhammer is clad in plastic sheets, but the danger of electric shock is too great for us to continue.
We plan to extend the depth of the well in early summer, when the water table has subsided enough for us to dig safely. Meantime, we now have enough water to sustain our building jobs.
To assure a steady supply of water at the orchard, we started digging a deep well today, September 25, 2020. Mang Boy, the digging contractor, estimates that their rate of progress will be about a meter per day.
Based on the depth of the driven pipe for the water pump nearby, we expect to finish digging at a level of about 16 - 17 meters below the ground. This job should take about 3 weeks, as the manual digging becomes tougher as the well gets deeper.
Their digging and concrete lining method are very interesting. Once they have dug about a meter, they place a steel form then fill the sides of the well with mortar.
This step-by-step digging/lining with mortar continues downward until a good level of water is reached. In the future, when the water level subsides (especially in summer), they can easily extend the well deeper and the concrete casing further, while maintaining a constant well diameter.
To kick-off the construction of the simple house of the orchard's caretaker (Robert), we slaughtered a young goat as offering to the spirits of the place. This is a customary practice in these parts, in northern Philippines.
I personally don't subscribe to such beliefs, but I certainly didn't offer any objection to slaughtering a young goat - just the thought of slurping hot papaitan soup doesn't fail to make my mouth water each and every time.
The footage (including audio) was captured with a handheld Osmo Action camera.
After weeks of overcast skies, the sun finally came out over the orchard this Saturday (September 5th, 2020). There was a strong breeze going, and I almost hesitated to send up a drone to capture the property from above in good light. The controller gave a lot of "strong wind" warnings, but fortunately I was able to fly and land the drone safely.
Following is a 4K video of my exploration of the property. The aerial footage was taken with a Mavic 2 Pro, while the rest was captured with a handheld Osmo Action camera. Audio was recorded by the built-in microphone of the Osmo Action.
And some still photos:
Note - please click the photos to enlarge.
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| The orchard in good mid-afternoon light - the two long, straight sides of the property fenced with CHB wall and cyclone wire is visible. |
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| I stand among rows of (left to right) Bangkok santol, chicos, dragon fruits and mangoes (grabbed from a 4K video footage). |
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| Rows of mahogany at left and gmelina at right border the southern and northern flanks of the orchard (grabbed from a 4K video footage). |
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| A stand of hardwood trees at left and some mango trees at right frame the second bahay kubo which is located in the middle of the orchard. |
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| Another view of the second bahay kubo. I was in the shade of the palm tree flying the drone, but I came out in the sun to take the photo. |
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| My favorite subject in the orchard are the huge, photogenic buri palms. |
Closer to the ground, I took a couple of photos with the tripod-mounted Sony RX10 IV. I wish I could shoot more with this camera, but the strong breeze would not allow many of the interesting subjects to be still.
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| A young jackfruit. Many weeks from now, this will grow into a gigantic fruit with a very interesting aroma and unique taste when ripe. |
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| The stepping stones that cut through the middle of the mahogany stand lead to the ornamental plants garden in the front portion of the orchard. |
We decided to spend the whole Saturday (August 29th) at Maambal Orchard to take deliveries of concrete hollow blocks, the basic building material for the structures we will soon put up. Our simple lunch was pork-chicken adobo, with rice and hard-boiled eggs wrapped in banana leaves, eaten kamayan style.
We brought with us our two mixed-breed Shih Tzus - Magnus and Vanta - so they can start to be familiarized with things at the orchard. The two puppies were delirious with excitement when they saw the ducks and chickens at the place.
Note - please click the photos to enlarge.
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| Magnus (left) and Vanta (right) enjoy their portable pen which was set up in a grassy area under the shade of a mango tree. |
In this visit, I brought with me my Sony RX10 IV, plus a tripod and ball head, so I can capture photos that are a bit better than my earlier ones taken with a phone camera. Too bad, the skies were overcast, resulting into flat colors. Also, there was a strong breeze blowing, and that scared me enough not to fly the Mavic 2 Pro drone. Oh well, there will be a lot of photo opportunities in the coming days, when the sun is shining through clearer skies.
It is not fruiting season for most of the trees, but here are a few ones that managed to yield some.
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| The most numerous fruit trees in the orchard are guavas. |
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| More guavas. |
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| A very young jackfruit. |
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| Pomelo. |
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| Papayas up close. |
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| A couple of papayas laden with fruits. |
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| Atis (sugar apple). |
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| A sprawling acacia tree dominates the rear portion of the orchard. |
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| Betel nuts, coconuts, atis, mangoes, Bankok santol, guavas, mabolo trees, chico and other plants populate the central portion of the orchard. |
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| This bahay kubo beside the soon-to-be ornamental plant garden provided us some protection when intermittent rains arrived. |
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| With a wide area of lush grassland available just for itself, a pregnant nanny goat takes a rest after eating its fill. |
The property is located at Brgy. Maambal, Pozorrubio, Pangasinan. It is about about 7.5 km from the town proper of Pozorrubio, and roughly 10.5 km from the TPLEX exit in the same town. Maambal is Pozorrubio's westernmost barangay, bordering the town of San Jacinto, whose town proper is just a little over 5 km away.
The paved (but damaged in some portions) Pozorrubio - San Jacinto Road is at least 6 m wide and can accommodate the largest street-legal vehicles. From this main road, a 5-m wide unpaved barangay road provides access to the orchard, which is about 350 meters away.
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| The property has a frontage of over 120 meters to an 8-meter wide barangay road lot ( with a 5 m wide carriageway) |
With an area of 16,000 plus square meters, all fully covered with trees or green grass, Maambal Orchard is an impressive eye candy when viewed from the air. Dotting the undulating terrain, the well-planned, orderly rows of fruit trees contrast with the randomly located mango and acacia trees. Some photogenic buri palm trees serve as icing to the landscape cake.
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| Fruits of one of the many atis trees (sugar apple) found in the orchard are almost ready to be picked. |
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| A close look at a couple of fire ants loitering around the nearly ripe atis fruit. |
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| A panoramic view of the middle of the orchard, with the camera pointed eastward (click image to enlarge). |
The long CHB wall in front is plastered on both sides, topped with a 1.2 meter high cyclone wire, then capped with spiralling razor wire. Vertical bamboo slats attached to the cyclone wire provide privacy from onlookers. This type of fence system was built along the two longest sides of the property (east and south borders). For the rest of the boundaries, a 1.8 meter high barbed wire fence topped with razor wire in strategic places was used.
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| The 6-meter wide main gate is made of steel plate on GI pipe framing, supported by tension cables on two massive columns. |
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| A herd of young goats feast on spots of over-grown grass before these are cut clean to the ground. |
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| Another aerial view - the camera was above the property's western boundary and pointed eastward. |
Thanks to the dedication and tireless effort of Mr. Henry P. over the last decade, this slice of land in the heart of Pangasinan has blossomed into an amazing orchard. Over 20 species of fruit-bearing and other trees are thriving in the rolling terrain of the farm. Between the trees, a carpet of well-trimmed carabao grass blankets the property.
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| An aerial view of the orchard photographed on August 15, 2020 |
Initial list of trees/plants found in the orchard:
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| Hundreds of 9-year old mahogany trees are lined up along one side of the property, serving as windbreakers that protect the other trees nearby. |
The farm sits on a hill that is about 40 meters above the ricefields of Pozorrubio. It is roughly half a kilometer away from the nearest main road, and the only sounds one can hear in the area are the soft whistling of the wind caressing the leaves of the numerous trees, the chirping of insects, and the call of many bird species. No motor vehicle roar, no human voices, no machinery noise.... just pure, unadulterated sounds of nature.
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| Long lines of dragon fruit plants are found in the middle of the farm. |
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| The 1.6 hectare orchard as seen from the air, with its boundaries superimposed. |
For a nature photographer like me, the orchard is a piece of heaven on earth. On my first visit to the place, I saw a pied fantail, a white-throated kingfisher, numerous white-breasted woodswallows, some blue-tailed bee-eaters, a quail species, a common emerald dove, and many zebra doves. And I was not even there to watch the birds! My birding gear was not with me, so all I could do was ogle at the avian creatures with my naked, color-blind eyes.
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A bahay kubo was built in the central area of the orchard, inviting guests to come in, take a seat and enjoy the cool breeze. |
