A bit about my job:
The Philippine Eagle Foundation is an NGO that has four types of programs dedicated to saving the Philippine Eagle, the critically endangered national bird of the Philippines. The programs include:
- Education: about the Eagle, other Philippine biodiversity and how they are threatened, taking place at the Philippine Eagle Center and in rural areas
- Community development : teaching rural citizens ways of making a living that do not disrupt the Philippine Eagle’s forest habitat
- Captive breeding: eagles are captive bred at the Center to later be released into the wild
- Field research: tracking released birds, assessing possible habitat, etc.
During my time at the Foundation I will mostly be concentrating on the field research program and will be going out into the rural rainforest areas to track released birds for up to three weeks at a time. I will also be helping with some research at the center that involves birds that are soon to be released.
A bit about the Philippine Eagle:
Found only in the Philippines, it is the among the largest eagles in the world being about 1m in height and having a 2m wingspan. It is rare, blue eyed raptor and has brown feathers and a white underside, with a two-toned crest on top of its head. They are long-lived (up to 42 years in captivity and about 20 in the wild) but are now critically endangered.
The reasons for the Philippine Eagle’s critically endangered status are widespread and include: destruction of its native forest habitat, large territory, slow reproductive rate and poaching (among other things). Basically, Philippine Eagles are not sexually mature until they are about 7 years old for males and 5 years old for females. They only raise one egg per clutch and may not have a fertile egg every year, depending on the condition of the female (whether or not hunting is good). If they do have a fertile egg that offspring may have difficulty surviving once it leaves the nest because the eagles are territorial and it will have to find its own territory with sufficient prey in order to thrive. The amount of forest available to them is ever decreasing due to logging and clearance for agriculture (the native forest of the Philippines has been 90% destroyed). Due to this difficult life history it can often take a monogamous mating pair 20 years to successfully produce two surviving offspring – in other words 20 years to replace themselves. If you take into account the odds of a bird surviving for 20 years without running into a poacher or any other negative human effects then you can see what they are really up against.
The Philippine Eagle Foundation is working on many fronts to help the eagles to continue to survive in what is left of the forest. Before I came here I wasn’t sure about how I felt about single species conservation because it seems like a lot of funds and effort being put toward one single type of animal. I still think in some cases maybe the money and time would be better spent elsewhere. However, I can also see the great strides that the Philippine Eagle Foundation is making in conservation and education here in the Philippines.
As the national bird of the Philippines, the eagle is a source of pride for many Filipinos making its conservation important. But in teaching about conservation for the sake of the eagle, the Foundation is also teaching about the biodiversity of the country in general. This is creating a desire for local people to conserve the forest and perhaps even to oppose economic projects, like current strip mining proposals, which will destroy it even more. This will help more species than just eagles. Often conservation organizations are criticized for using “charismatic flagship species” in order to get the funds they need (like the World Wildlife Fund’s Panda Bear logo) but maybe in this case the eagle is one of the best opportunities to get Filipinos on board with conservation. And I guess, if it works, it works.
The Philippine Eagle Foundation is an NGO that has four types of programs dedicated to saving the Philippine Eagle, the critically endangered national bird of the Philippines. The programs include:
- Education: about the Eagle, other Philippine biodiversity and how they are threatened, taking place at the Philippine Eagle Center and in rural areas
- Community development : teaching rural citizens ways of making a living that do not disrupt the Philippine Eagle’s forest habitat
- Captive breeding: eagles are captive bred at the Center to later be released into the wild
- Field research: tracking released birds, assessing possible habitat, etc.
During my time at the Foundation I will mostly be concentrating on the field research program and will be going out into the rural rainforest areas to track released birds for up to three weeks at a time. I will also be helping with some research at the center that involves birds that are soon to be released.
A bit about the Philippine Eagle:
Found only in the Philippines, it is the among the largest eagles in the world being about 1m in height and having a 2m wingspan. It is rare, blue eyed raptor and has brown feathers and a white underside, with a two-toned crest on top of its head. They are long-lived (up to 42 years in captivity and about 20 in the wild) but are now critically endangered.
The reasons for the Philippine Eagle’s critically endangered status are widespread and include: destruction of its native forest habitat, large territory, slow reproductive rate and poaching (among other things). Basically, Philippine Eagles are not sexually mature until they are about 7 years old for males and 5 years old for females. They only raise one egg per clutch and may not have a fertile egg every year, depending on the condition of the female (whether or not hunting is good). If they do have a fertile egg that offspring may have difficulty surviving once it leaves the nest because the eagles are territorial and it will have to find its own territory with sufficient prey in order to thrive. The amount of forest available to them is ever decreasing due to logging and clearance for agriculture (the native forest of the Philippines has been 90% destroyed). Due to this difficult life history it can often take a monogamous mating pair 20 years to successfully produce two surviving offspring – in other words 20 years to replace themselves. If you take into account the odds of a bird surviving for 20 years without running into a poacher or any other negative human effects then you can see what they are really up against.
The Philippine Eagle Foundation is working on many fronts to help the eagles to continue to survive in what is left of the forest. Before I came here I wasn’t sure about how I felt about single species conservation because it seems like a lot of funds and effort being put toward one single type of animal. I still think in some cases maybe the money and time would be better spent elsewhere. However, I can also see the great strides that the Philippine Eagle Foundation is making in conservation and education here in the Philippines.
As the national bird of the Philippines, the eagle is a source of pride for many Filipinos making its conservation important. But in teaching about conservation for the sake of the eagle, the Foundation is also teaching about the biodiversity of the country in general. This is creating a desire for local people to conserve the forest and perhaps even to oppose economic projects, like current strip mining proposals, which will destroy it even more. This will help more species than just eagles. Often conservation organizations are criticized for using “charismatic flagship species” in order to get the funds they need (like the World Wildlife Fund’s Panda Bear logo) but maybe in this case the eagle is one of the best opportunities to get Filipinos on board with conservation. And I guess, if it works, it works.
