love living in Subic Freeport. It's like living in a real National Geographic nature episode. Armed with my new Nikon D60 digital camera I've been taking advantage of the vast array of things to photograph. From wildlife to just the flowers, or even the view from my bedroom window. Yesterday a swarm of wild bees landed on the tree in the back yard. The tree is three stories high, and since we are on the hill in back of it, the swarm is pretty much at eye level.
They don't seem to be the usual gold and black colored domestic US bee I am accustomed to. These seem more silver and black.
I did a quick Google search and it appears this is a secondary swarm protecting a new virgin queen and will fly off when they find a more suitable protected area to nurture their queen.
It's so close to the balcony where we hang out in the early mornings and evenings, so I hope they don't freak out and decide we are a threat! Although this is exciting, and something I have only seen in nature shows on TV, it's a little disconcerting to have that many bees so close. We are just going to keep an eye on them to see if they move on as suggested by my little research on the web.
Last week while I was at my desk which overlooks the
magnificent native 3 story tree in our side and back yards, I spotted another interesting bird. A Luzon Horn bill! It's the very first wild horn bill I have ever seen, and being the simpleton I am, I found this truly exciting!
The same tree that is now housing the wild bee swarm, is
a hang out for the Blue Throated Bee eater (photo with 2 birds) , the Coppersmith Barbet (photo bird with really red head, and the red faced Coleto with black and white feathers, whose red head is not feathers but skin, reminding me of an American vulture. There are several families of Yellow Orioles as well. It's a veritable
cornucopia of wild birds. I took the photos of birds from our bedroom. I needn't go far at all to capture them if I am patient.
On drives through the tall giant jungle tree lined roads in the Freeport, there are often monkeys sitting along the way sides. Some even took over a bus stop for a few hours. It's sad to see the monkeys sometimes because there are mutilated ones that have been caught in traps
and have no hands, legs or tails, or a combination thereof. Some of the monkeys had newborn babies. 
They are so cute, you just want to cuddle them.
But of course they are wild animals and we keep our distance. Monkeys are freakish and jumpy, anything scares them and if you're in front or near them, you might get bitten.
It's another week and I thought I would just append this blog since it's still about birds and wildlife in Subic. Most especially from my bedroom window. I've been confined to bed since picking up Dave at the airport in Manila on Aug 21, the very next day my darned diverticulitis acted up and I've been in bed ever since. The only exception, is when I hear birds chirping outside, then I grab my handy, dandy Nikon D60, with a 300 mm lens, and shoot out the window.
This week I have spotted three more kinds of birds that I had'nt seen before! Yesterday I spotted a group of colorful birds, I thought were parrots, but they were smaller than the flowers they landed on, I suspect they are a type of parakeet or budgie!The bee swarm has moved on since they landed in the back yard tree. They only stayed about three days and moved. There was a very heavy rainfall a few days ago, and I imagine this encouraged them to find a more permanent place out of the weather for their new queen.
I had my birthday sick in bed this year. Not very thrilling but it's better than being dead I suppose!
http://www.squidoo.com/subicbay
0 comments:
Post a Comment
Please feel free to express yourself about what you see on my site