Siloy-the Pied Fantails of the Philippines

At first, I thought it was a leaf fluttering down out of the mango tree. But, it wasn’t. It was a walnut-sized baby pied fantail. Belen says in her place they are called siloy. It must have been morning flying lessons. He made a relieved landing on one of the palmeras that stands near the back wall. Just as he landed, another baby siloy made a shaky take-off from the same palmera and wobbled over to the one next to it.

A day after the storm, Beth had found two baby fantails clutching the lower branches of the palmeras near the back door. So they would not become quick merienda for the kitties, we carried them over to the back wall where there was suddenly a great flurry of juveniles and adult fantails, clearly trying to figure out how to contend with these two little survivors of Typhoon Milenyo. I wonder if my two morning venturers were the same little babes.

They are delightful birds, and our yard is now full of them. They seem unafraid….one even landing on the kitchen window sill and pecking Beth on her hinder. Dad has now replaced the glass so that won’t happen again….but it was too funny.

You can Google them and take a look for yourself. “Pied Fantail” Philippines. You’ll get a bunch of sites.

First Try

It's a comfortable, sunny Sunday morning. Stayed home from church to work on a long due paper. A wild hair blew across my mind. Having just read two of my children's blogspots, I thought, hey, why don't I give it a shot....creating my own.

Was stuck for a moment on what to title the spot. So, thinking about things beautiful, and looking out over our yard in Manila where I love to be, I chose Droplets. They are beautiful, the dew or raindrops left over from a night before heavy rain, twinkling on a leaf or clinging to a fresh spider's web.

They are nature's suncatchers. So, Droplets. And maybe my thoughts posted here from time-to-time will be droplets, too.