Little Grebe

Philippines bird locations impress

British birdwatchers take a shine to Philipines birding spots

LED by two British Members of Parliament, a birdwatching delegation from the United Kingdom visited the Philippines recently and vowed to return with more of their colleagues, the Tourism Department said Wednesday.

Renowned birders Kenneth Clarke QC, Shadow Secretary of State for Business, and Mark Pritchard, chairman of the All-Party Parliamentary Group, visited the Nabasan Trail and Naval Magazine Trail in Subic and the Candaba Swamp and Wildlife Reserve in Pampanga, where they saw 80 birds of which 19 are endemic to the Philippines, Tourism Secretary Ace Durano said.

“We have such a strong birdwatching market in the UK that even esteemed birders from its Parliament are raring to see our endemic species,” he said.

The delegation saw the rare Philippine Duck, the Philippine Serpent-Eagle, the Philippine Falconet, the White-eared Brown Dove, the Sooty Woodpecker and the Coleto.

Pritchard said he planned to organize a birdwatching tour with the rest of the British parliamentarians and their spouses as soon as he returned to his country.

The Philippines is also promoting other birdwatching sites such as the Olango Island Wildlife Sanctuary in Cebu, Lion’s Cave in Palawan, Balanga City Wetland Park in Bataan, and Villa Escudero in Quezon.

Last year, a group of British bird tour operators spotted 235 bird species spread out in Pampanga, Cebu, Palawan and Zambales, and then returned to visit other sites in Quezon, Bohol and Laguna.

In their second visit, the group spotted 164 species, and that prompted its members to rate the country’s bird species excellent in quality, habitat and range.

Another group, the UK-based Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust’s fact-finding team, has also visited here to study four wetlands that are being conserved as birdwatching sites and possible water sources.

Those were Pampanga’s Candaba Swamp and Wildlife Reserve, Balanga’s Wetland Park, Cebu’s Olango Island Wildlife Sanctuary, and the Las Piñas-Parañaque’s Critical Habitat and Eco-tourism Zone.

“Our intensive familiarization trips have resulted in the country’s inclusion in brochures and packages of the UK’s biggest bird tour operators,” Tourism Undersecretary Eduardo Jarque, Jr. said. Roderick T. dela Cruz.