Birds of Samar, Philippines

My Mom is from the island of Samar. Which is a large island in the central portion of the Philippines.  I have been back to her hometown, near Calbayog City, and each time I've gone, I look for birds.  I have to say, the first time I went in 2001 when I was 16 years old, the habitat of the surrounding neighborhood and farmland was different.  There was less trees, it was wetter, and hunting of the wild birds was a common sight (I would often see kids carrying slingshots walking along the road). During 2001 I did see a lot more waterbirds than this time.  More kingfishers, different types of herons and egrets, ducks, and crakes.  The past two times I've gone its been significantly drier, with no water in the rice fields; each time I've gone is in May.  This last trip I noticed a lot more birds than before.  I don't know if its because Im a better bird-watcher or because many of the trees are maturing, areas of abandoned farmland as the younger generation has less interest in farming and spend more time using their phones (which is not a bad thing). Im definitely happier seeing kids on Snapchat than using Slingshots!

This last trip I saw a lot wider variety of birds: whistle ducks, large flocks of great egrets, large-billed crows, various species of doves, glossy starlings, shorebirds, terns, a parrot, 3 species of swifts, pacific swallows, and a lot of other colorful small birds.

I decided to carve three types of birds from this trip.  All seen around my Mom's house.

Olive-backed Sunbird - Cinnyris jugularis
The first I saw everyday. Its a colorful active bird much like the hummingbirds back home. It sings a lot and moves around the fruit trees looking for nectar, I mostly saw it in coconut palms and mangos.

Red-keeled Flowerpecker - Dicaeum australe
I saw this bird a few times, singing from the tops of trees, It had a striking and clean black and white pattern with a bright red spot on its belly.

Pygmy Swiftlet - Collocalia troglodytes
This bird was not as common. I would see it with the much more abundant Glossy Swiftlet. It was easy to spot though, because of the white spot around the rump. I was bird watching from the roof top so it would be at eye level or below as it flew through an open area of trees and over the rice field. I didn't get a picture of this little bird. I have a terrible time photographing swifts.

Throwback Photoshoot

Today I just wanted to post a few pictures that I took a year ago for my Instagram page. Enjoy!

Hand carved and painted eggs in a domed cake stand (Sandhill Crane, Bald Eagle, Mottled Duck, Great Egret, Boat-tailed Grackle) and a Black Skimmer chick carving in a smaller cake stand. Both cake stands are from the Martha Stewart Collection at Macy's. 

A Buff-bellied Hummingbird and Ruby-throated Hummingbird carving. Both sitting on wooden finials painted an aged gold color. The Ruby-throated Hummingbird is a common hummingbird here in South Florida during winter time. The Buff-bellied Hummingbird has been a resident for a few years now in Miami at a small park planted with lots of nectar plants. The gold vase is from the 2007 Martha Stewart 1800flowers.com collection.  I gave one to my good friend in Houston to put at her restaurant but one of the customers broke it. 

A carving of the brown form of the Eastern Screech-Owl. This bird is a resident at the Green Cay Nature Center and Wetland in Boynton Beach, FL.  It has a home in a Sabal Palm near the path, but I haven't seen it except for the original time I saw it before carving this bird. I hope it hasn't been scared away and people are being respectful of it while observing it. In this picture its surrounded by Tropical Pitcher Plants, Nepenthes graciliflora and Nepenthes robcantleyi. The base is a wooden finial painted in an ombre tone of the stone block its sitting on. 

Welcome again!

If you're reading back to previous post you may notice I've had a name change over all our social media including: Blogger, Etsy, and Instagram.  We're now known as Pond Cypress Studio!

Why the name change?  For a few reasons: 

The old name was very vague.  It was D_Aves_FL, which could be read as Dave's which is my nickname or D, the first letter of my name, followed by Aves, latin for birds. And then of course the FL part stands for Florida. The main problem with this name was when searched, even exactly as written, it was extremely difficult to find this content.

Pond Cypress Studio was chosen because of its uniqueness, and that its easily searchable. But also because the Pond Cypress is one of my favorite trees. Its native to the Southeast United States, including the area I was born, and the places I've lived.  It is found all over Florida and many of the birds I've carved can be found in it or in the same habitat, so it is an appropriate symbol for me. 

My hope is that I can reach more people that are interested in bird carving and art, and anyone that is trying to find my work, can easily do so. 

As always, thanks for reading!

Northern Parula - Setophaga americana in a Cypress swamp at Green Cay Nature Center and Wetlands, Boynton Beach, Florida.

April 2018 Carving - Bachmans Sparrow, part 1

This weekend I traveled north to Jonathan Dickinson State Park in Martin County, FL to look for the Bachman's Sparrow, a sparrow endemic to the Southeast United States. This species prefers pine forest with an open understory, created by wildfire, with grasses which the sparrows feed on.  I had looked for this sparrow a few times before and last week hiked 9 miles with no luck.  So on April 2nd, I woke up at 5 am and drove to the park to get there right when it opens at 8am.  When I got to the pine forest section of the park I thought I heard one, and then when I got to the trail I could hear a few!  I started hiking and could hear the birds but I couldn't spot any of the singing birds. The song is a two note whistle followed by a trill, quite loud and beautiful.  The songs were coming from a few different directions but were two far off the trail.  So I continued to hike and came to a spot where songs were coming from both sides of the trail, and one pretty close.  I spotted the bird in a small shrub that was just peaking over the palmettos.

Above: You can see the Bachman's Sparrow from his singing perch.

As I was taking the above photo, the bird flew off in my direction and landed in a patch of palmettos. It was hidden very well in the grasses and the shade of the palmetto fronds, but luckily he peeked out and started hopping across the ground through the grasses. 

This bird was banded on both legs. The other legs had a blue band over the silver metal band. 

He stayed in a grassy patch for a moment. I was staying very still in hopes he would come out more. Two people on the trail passed by behind me and he didn't fly away. After another moment he flew up to the remains of a charred pine and then up to the lower branches of a pine.

So it was a really good day! To see my lifer Bachman's Sparrow.  This is going to be my next carving that I'll be working on this month.  I'm headed to the western side of Florida near the Sarasota area and will be looking for Bachman's Sparrows there too. Stay tuned!