This week, Davao City marks the Philippine Eagle Week. Its significance maybe lost to some, but to those who truly care for the national bird, the existence of the Philippine eagle (Pithecophaga jefferyi) – the world’s longest eagle–is indeed concerning.
In one of its flights to Singapore on Tuesday, national flag carrier Philippine Airlines had two very important passengers on board. They are Philippine Eagles Sambisig and Gethermica who were on their way to the island nation’s Jurong Bird Park where they are on loan for purposes of breeding. The pair of captive-bred Philippine eagles traveled to Singapore for a 10-year mission.
PEF head of Logistics and human resource officer Gliceria Ibanez said the travel of Sambisig and Geothermica aims to promote further research on breeding at the Wildlife Reserves Singapore (WRS). It is a 10-year loan program agreement between the Philippine government and Singapore.
Based on rough estimates by the Philippine Eagle Foundation Inc., there are less than 200 eagles left in existence–its habitat under a slew of threats.
Once inhabiting every island in the Philippines, the Philippine eagle reportedly occupies a fraction of its former range and is listed as Critically Endangered by the IUCN. Habitat loss is the eagle’s biggest threat as more than 70 percent of the Philippine’s forests have been cleared since the 1970s to make room for urban and agricultural expansion, pushing the eagles higher into the mountains and fragmenting their available habitat.
According to an article written by Brad Miller in Mongabay website, “satellite data show recent encroachment into primary forest in several areas of remaining eagle habitat. Conservationists say one of these areas – a protected watershed area on the island of Mindanao – is controlled by armed groups, which reap profits from illegal logging enterprises. Eagle habitat further north on the island of Luzon was recently affected a strong typhoon, which hit the east coast of the island in September and which the World Meteorological Association attributed to human-caused climate change. Conservationists worry a national ban on open-pit mining will be overturned, leading to more habitat loss as mining companies rush to exploit gold and copper deposits, and that hydroelectric projects will further reduce nesting sites for the eagles.”
Indeed, the greatest threat to the existence of the eagles is the destruction of its habitat. Habitat loss is blamed on the expansion of monocrop plantations, logging, resource extraction such as mining, exploding human population and increasingly-destructive weather patterns brought on by climate change.
The Mongobay report said the Philippine eagles also rely on pristine, primary forest to hunt, nest and raise its young. Since the eagle is long-lived and reproduces slowly, researchers say it is critical that the young birds have ample space to leave their parents and produce their own offspring without being impacted by negative human behavior, including illegal hunting and trapping. It is estimated that a Philippine eagle needs 133 square kilometers to raise a single chick successfully. Though the species can be found as low as sea level, most of its lowland habitat has been destroyed, restricting it to the mountain slopes, mainly in remaining dipterocarp forests. But as people and development follow the birds in elevation, their survival has become more tenuous.
Sam and Geo’s flight to Singapore isn’t all about something to rejoice about. Rather, it is a reminder that we have practically left our very own national bird with no choice bu to fly elsewhere to continue its existence.
