Cattle Egret on a Mango Tree (in 4K)

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.

 

 

Pied Fantail at Maambal Orchard (in 4K)

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.

 

Long-tailed Shrike at Maambal Orchard (FHD)

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.

 

 

Cattle Egret at Maambal Orchard (4K)

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.

 

 

Dreaming of preparing some home-made chocolate

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. 

 

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.

Some 9-year old cacao trees are thriving in the orchard.

Small tree, giant fruit

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.

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.

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.

Day 27: Our water well is now working!

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.

 

 

Digging a Deep Well at the Orchard

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.

 

 

Papaitang Kambing at the Orchard (4K)

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.

 

 

Finally, the sun shines over the orchard

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.

 

The orchard in good mid-afternoon light - the two long, straight sides of the property fenced with CHB wall and cyclone wire is visible.

I stand among rows of (left to right) Bangkok santol, chicos, dragon fruits and mangoes (grabbed from a 4K video footage).

Rows of mahogany at left and gmelina at right border the southern and northern flanks of the orchard (grabbed from a 4K video footage).

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.

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.

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.

 

A young jackfruit. Many weeks from now, this will grow into a gigantic fruit with a very interesting aroma and unique taste when ripe.

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.