ZAMBOANGA CITY (Mindanao Examiner / Dec. 2, 2012) – Some 39 birds have been added to the country’s list of threatened species and are now considered either vulnerable or endangered, according to the nongovernmental organization called Pilipinas Ecowarriors.
It said at least one – the Cebu flower pecker – has been tagged as critically endangered. The others have been identified based on their common names in the Philippines as the Streak reed-warbler, Blue-capped kingfisher, Silvery kingfisher, Philippine duck, Darter, Malaysian plover, Philippine leaf bird, Japanese white stork, Mcgregor’s cuckoo-shrike, scarlet-collared flower pecker, Pink-bellied imperial pigeon, Visayan broadbill, Spoon-billed sandpiper, Merlin, Little slaty flycatcher, Palawan flycatcher, Mindanao bleeding-heart, Tabon scrub fowl, Ashy-breasted flycatcher.
And the Bristle-thighed curlew, Ryuku scops owl, Palawan scops owl, Mantanari scops owl, Mindanao scops owl, Oriental scops owl, Java sparrow, Mindoro hornbill, Oriental honey buzzard, Tawi-Tawi brown dove, Ijima’s leaf-warbler, Sulu woodpecker, Blue-winged racket-tail, Cream-bellied fruit dove, Falcated wren-babbler, Crested serpent eagle, Flame-templed babbler, and the Whistling green-pigeon.
The organization said Philippine wild birds, mammals, reptiles and amphibians are categorized as threatened” once their habitats have suffered extreme depletion and their populations have shrunk to a level below which the species or subspecies will be completely wiped out.
It said in compliance with existing international and national laws, the Philippines keeps a registry of wildlife species “of priority concern for protection and conservation. And the Protected Areas and Wildlife Bureau update the list regularly.
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