Philippine bird festival highlights Subic Bay's endangered parrot

The Green Racquet-tail (Prionitirus luconensis), an endangered parrot species making its last stand in Subic Bay, takes the spotlight in the 10th Philippine Bird Festival in Balanga City, Bataan.

With the theme “Ibon at Kalikasan, Kayamanan ng Bayan (Birds and Nature, Our Nation’s Treasure),” the Philippine Bird Festival aims to raise awareness and appreciation of Philippine birds. The vulnerable Green Racquet-tail is featured as the logo of this year's bird festival.

The last remaining population of Green Racquet-tails is found within the protected Subic Bay Forest Reserve.

This species is listed on Appendix II of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES), meaning that any international trade in the Green Racquet-Tail should be carefully monitored.

Despite these measures, this bird remains vulnerable to extinction and further measures, such as the protection of other key populations and improved efforts to prevent illegal logging, have been recommended.

The 10th Phiippine Bird Festival is spearheaded by the Wild Bird Club of the Philippines (WBCP), a non-government organization promoting recreational birdwatching and the responsible enjoyment of nature.

“The main purpose of the bird fair is to showcase what birds are for, their ecological effect and contribution,” said WBCP President Gina Mapua, who pointed out that birds are good indicators of how healthy the environment is.

Speaking at the recent launching of the event, Mapua said: “Without birds, there will be no forests – they are main planters of our forests. They are our ecological friends.”

“What we’re trying to push is the protection of birds because they protect us,” she added.

Every year, the festival, in partnership with local government units (LGUs), academic institutions and environment conservation groups, goes to various places in the country to highlight bird species unique in every island.  (SNL)

Click here more information on the Green-Racquet Tail

PHOTO:
A Green Racquet-Tail seen at the Nabasan area in Subic Bay. Named to be so because of its racquet-like tail extensions. This species has been uplisted to Endangered on the basis that its population is estimated to be very small, and thus less numerous than previously thought. (photo courtesy of manilaoldtimer.net)

Related story:
http://www.mb.com.ph/10th-philippine-bird-festival-draws-thousands/

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Half-a-thousand birds show opens in Subic Freeport’s Jest Camp

Bird lovers and hobbyists have another reason to visit this Freeport with the opening here of the Magaul Bird Park, Jest Camp's newest tourism attraction, which offers the world’s first half-a-thousand birds show.

“Wings of the World,” produced by an all-Filipino team, unveils the majestic charm of birds found in forests around the world—from Africa to South America, to China and the Philippines.

Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) Regulatory Group OIC Ruel John Kabigting, who was guest of honor during the park opening, lauded the newest addition to Central Luzon’s best tourist destination, saying this will attract more tourists, especially bird lovers.

“Magaul Bird Park is not only a park to go to in Subic, but a place to enjoy and learn the importance of caring for our environment, especially our forests,” Kabigting said.

He added that Wings of the World is an ambitious project. “This is the first in the world and no other theme park has ever done this before,” Kabigting noted.

For her part, Katrina Lacap, general manager of Magaul Bird Park, affirmed that the Wings of the World show presents an ensemble of “our bird buddies” with the underlying theme of environmental protection.

“For the first time ever in the world, Wings of the World’s grand finale will bring half a thousand birds on stage from all directions of the Alula Amphitheater here at the park,” Lacap told the opening day visitors.

Lacap said the show will feature hundreds of pigeons that circle the audience on their seats, hundreds of guinea fowls that descend towards the stage, as well as majestic hornbills and macaws that fly over them.

She added that the show will make the audience look up in awe as the giant wings of white-bellied sea eagle cast a shadow over them. (RAV/MPD-SBMA)

PHOTOS:
[1] Park personnel show visitors various bird species at the Magaul Bird Park in the Subic Bay Freeport Zone during the recent launching of the “Flight of a Thousand Birds” show. (AMD/MPD-SBMA)

[2] SBMA Regulatory Group OIC Ruel John Kabigting joins the owners of the Magaul Bird Park led by Lito Lacap (far right)​ in Subic Bay Freeport in introducing the “Flight of a Thousand Birds” show during the recent park opening. (AMD/MPD-SBMA)

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1st bird park in Luzon seen to boost tourism in Subic

Touted as the country’s premier survival course provider, JEST Camp opened its doors this month to bird lovers and enthusiasts all over the country with the launching of the Magaul Bird Park, the first bird park in Luzon, which is expected to boost tourism in this freeport.

Along with the introduction of the bird park was the launch of a bird show that showcased a hundred birds of different species, some of which belong to the endangered list.

Katrina Lacap, JEST Camp general manager said the bird park hopes to be recognized globally which also runs parallel with Subic’s aim of making it a world-class eco-urban center.

“JEST Camp is one with the local government in promoting both local and international tourism for Subic Freeport Zone while preserving the forest environment that is unique to the area. Companies in Subic including those involved in animal preservation are not competing among each other but rather working together to help promote Subic,” she said.

“Here (in Subic), we already have land (Zoobic Safari), marine/water (Ocean Adventure), and this time, we giving them Air (Bird Park). So kumpleto na kami dito. We want people to know that we’re promoting the province and not the individual businesses,” she added.

To achieve this goal, she said JEST Camp must become a center for sustainable living technologies and must create a haven for city dwellers inside a forest, a destination for nature lovers who want to learn about eco-friendly living.

Apart from the being the only bird park in Luzon, Lacap said it offers 10 other attractions, with three talk-and-feeding and two amazing shows. (Franco G. Regala, Manila Bulletin)

PHOTO:
A bird park trainer shows off how a red-vented cockatoo follows orders from her using hand signals and a whistle at the JEST Camp inside Subic Freeport. 

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UK birdwatchers tag Subic area as “gold mine”

The vast forest reserve spread over the former naval magazine of the US Navy in Subic Bay is a “gold mine” containing an impressive number of bird species, according to top birdwatchers from the United Kingdom.

Tim Appleton, leader of the 13-man delegation of bird tour operators and journalists from the United Kingdom, said during a visit here that Subic’s more than a hundred species of birds could be a major attraction to people who are willing to spend their money for the newest craze among tourists — birdwatching.

“Subic has a huge potential as destination for birdwatchers all over the world, particularly from America and from Europe,” Appleton gushed as his group clicked away during the Subic tour.

“Yes, this is a gold mine you have here, the birds,” he added.

Appleton’s group recently visited the Subic Bay Freeport as part of a two-week familiarization trip to some of the country’s leading bird sites like the Candaba Swamp in Pampanga, Palawan, Cebu and Subic Bay. The group encouraged foreigners, as well as Filipinos to take a more appreciative look at the local environment and to understand its value to men as well as wildlife.

“In Subic, you have a brilliant environment here and it is secured. The trees, the habitats and the birds are here. And that is more encouraging,” Appleton said.

Subic, which was recently named by the Department of Tourism (DoT) as one of the 13 premier bird-watching sites in the country, account for 15 percent of all bird species throughout the Philippines, and 29 percent of all Luzon bird species.

As a birdwatching site, Subic was recently mentioned in a book entitled “Bird Watching in the Philippines”, which was written by Carlos Libosada, Jr. The book was launched at the World Travel Mart in London last year by Tourism secretary Ace Durano.

“There are more than 185 species of birds here, some of them you can find nowhere else in the world but only here in the Philippines,” said Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) Administrator Armand Arreza.

“When you’re in Subic Bay, the best birdwatching site would be Hill 394, or the Nabasan and Triboa areas inside the former naval magazine complex,” Arreza told Appleton and his group.

The complex is also home to some of the major nature-themed tourist parks and facilities in Subic, including Tree Top Adventure, Pamulaklakin Nature Park, Apaliin Mangrove Trail, and Jungle Joe, Zoobic Safari, and JEST Camp.

Among the most abundant species in Subic are the Philippine Bulbul, the Philippine Coucal, the Balicassiao, the Guaiabero, and the Blackish cuckoo-shrike, which are mostly found in closed canopy and open canopy forests of Subic Bay.

During their visit, the UK group likewise praised the SBMA’s efforts at conservation and environmental protection.

“If you cut the forest today, it is gone forever,” said Appleton, who is manager of the Rutland Water Nature Reserve in Great Britain. “And so would the wildlife and the (tour) operators, who are willing to bring their own clients to the Philippines to experience what we are doing here in the past two weeks.”

Those who joined Appleton in the Subic tour were: Stephen Mark Andrews of Wildwings; Stephen Rooke, director of Sunbird; Paul Alexander Dukes, operations manager of Naturetrek Ltd.; Raymund Peter Tipper, senior tour adviser and leader, Avian Adventures; David Tipling, wildlife photographer; Matthew Merritt, features editor, Bird Watching Magazine (Bauer Media); Chris Harbard, freelance writer and website manager; William Henry Thompson III, editor of Bird Watcher’s Digest; Alex Robinson, wildlife and adventure photographer; Dr. John Duncan MacDonald, senior partner/owner, WildSounds LLP; and Chicoy Enerio, Philippine tourism attache-DOT London. (SBMA Corporate Communications)

PHOTO: Bird tour operators and wildlife photographers from the United Kingdom have a field day at the naval magazine area of the Subic Bay Freeport Zone, where some bird species found only in the Philippines make their home in closed canopy forests.

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