“If Filipinos don’t get their act together for the cause of the endangered bird, it shall be doomed to die.” – Dennis I. Salvador, executive director, Philippine Eagle Foundation
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What if the Philippine eagle, our bird icon, is given a chance to speak. What would be his message? A booklet published by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) some years ago came up with these words:
“I have watched forests disappear, rivers dry up, floods ravage the soil, droughts spawn uncontrolled fires, hundreds of my forest friends vanish forever and men leave the land because it was no longer productive. I am witness to the earth becoming arid. I know all life will eventually suffer and die if this onslaught continues. I am a story teller, and I want you to listen before it’s too late.”
During his administration, President Fidel V. Ramos seemed to listen to the pleadings. In July 1995, he signed Proclamation No. 615 naming the Philippine eagle as the country’s national bird.
Ramos said that the eagle is found only in the Philippines and as such should be a source of national pride. “If the national bird dies,” he pointed out, “so will all the country’s efforts at conserving its natural resources and treasures.”
In 1999, Presidential Proclamation No. 79 was signed observing June 4 to 10 as the Philippine Eagle Week. This year, the theme is: “Strengthening the hope for saving the Filipino heritage – the great Philippine eagle.”
In Davao, the Philippine Eagle Foundation (PEF) leads the celebration. Most of the commemorations is held at the annex building of SM City Davao, where a culmination will be done this coming Friday at 3 pm.
On Saturday, June 10, the Philippine Eagle Center at Malagos in Calinan District will be open the whole day for family day.
In the National Capital Region, the DENR’s Biodiversity Management Bureau (BMB) is holding a photo exhibit at the Ninoy Aquino Parks and Wildlife Center in Quezon City.
According to the BMB Director, Dr. Theresa Mundita-Lim, the celebration intends to strengthen the public’s commitment in ensuring the continued survival of the country’s national bird.
“We enjoin each one of you to become part of our crusade, to heed the call and work towards the conservation and protection of the country’s greatest living yet critically endangered Philippine eagle,” Dr. Lim reiterated.
She also stressed the importance of the national bird in regulating the population of smaller animals that could pose danger to human and destroy other living creatures. “Undeniably, the Philippine eagle’s presence is an indicator of a rich forest ecosystem, which can sustain and provide for our needs,” she said in DENR’s website.
The Philippine eagles used to abound in the country. Today, they are found only in Luzon, Samar, Leyte and Mindanao.
Hunting has been blamed as a major culprit, and that is true enough. But it is the destruction of their natural habitat – the tropical rainforest – that is the principal cause of their rapid disappearance.
The natural habitat of Philippine eagle consists mainly of old-growth forests from 100 meters to 1,000 meters above sea level. The UN Food and Agriculture Organization states that a pair of the bird needs 7,000 to 13,000 hectares of rainforest to survive.
Unfortunately, their habitats are fast disappearing due to deforestation. “Deforestation is terrible,” says Dennis I. Salvador, executive director of the Philippine Eagle Foundation. “The Philippine eagle has become a critically endangered species because forest destruction has made it lose its natural habitat.”
According to the research, 90% of the Philippine archipelago was forested during the 1900s. Today, the original old-growth forest remains at 3-5%. This has caused a ripple effect in which water, air and other ecological services have been compromised.
“Small patches of forest may not be able to sustain the needs of the people and wildlife in the long run. What we need to do is to protect the large, contiguous forests and expand the smaller patches by rehabilitating the surrounding areas and developing forest corridors,” Salvador points out.
In the 1970s, the Philippine Eagle was declared an endangered species by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources. Several laws were since passed prohibiting the hunting and collection of the Philippine eagle and protecting its sanctuaries.
It is now on the watch list of the Convention on the International Trade of Endangered Species of Wild Flora and Fauna which regulates and prohibits the commercial import of wild animals and plants threatened by trade.
The Philippine eagle is second only to the Madagascar sea eagle in rarity. In size, it beats the American bald eagle; it is the world’s second largest – after the Harpy eagle of Central and South America.
This bird of prey was first discovered in 1896 by English naturalist John Whitehead in Samar. He first called it the monkey-eating eagle because he thought it fed primarily on monkeys and gave it the scientific name, “Pithecophaga jefferyi.”
The scientific name came from two Greek words: “pitekos” (monkey) and “phagien” (to eat). Jefferyi was Whitehead’s tribute to his father, Jeffrey, who funded his expedition.
In 1978, the old name was dropped and given its present name through Presidential Decree No. 1732 after it was learned that monkeys comprise an insignificant portion of the bird’s diet, which consists mostly of flying lemurs, civet cats, bats, rodents, and snakes.
A majestic bird, Philippine eagle stands a meter high, weighs anywhere from four to seven kilograms and has a grip three times the strength of the strongest man on earth, according to PEF.
With a wing span of nearly seven feet and a top speed of 80 kilometers per hour, the Philippine eagle can gracefully swoop down on an unsuspecting prey and carry it off without breaking flight.
Unlike men, Philippine eagles are monogamous. Once it has selected a partner, it is for keeps forever. “Once an eagle reaches sexual maturity – at around five years for males – it is bound for life with its mate. They can be seen soaring in pairs in the skies,” PEF states. –
According to PEF, the breeding season ranges as early as July to as late as February. During the breeding season, the Philippine eagles do aerial courtship and mate in the nest or near it.
The eagle’s nest is approximately 80 feet above the ground (usually on tall trees) in prominent mountain peaks overlooking a river or stream to give a good view of its territory.
The female eagle lays only one egg every two years, PEF informs. Both parents alternately incubate the egg for about 60 days, although the female spends more time incubating while the male hunts.
Upon hatching, the eaglet remains in the nest for about 5.5 months. Once it fledges, the parents will continue to look after the young eagle for as long as 17-18 months teaching it how to fly, hunt, and to survive on its own. The young eagle matures in about six years. – ###
