Zamboanga City has confirmed the presence of at least one family of the Philippine Eagle in Pasonaca Natural Park after months of research on the largest bird of prey in the world.
Just in time for the Philippine Eagle Week on June 4 to 10, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) has announced their recent discovery in an news release.
The Philippine Eagle Foundation (PEF) partnered with the Zamboanga City government, Zamboanga City Water District, Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), and USAID Protect Wildlife Project to start a series of expeditions back in October 2019. This serves as the first ever field study to check Philippine eagles in the city, where they found an active nest inside the Pasonaca Natural Park.
The Philippine eagle is critically endangered with only around 400 pairs left in the wild. They are endemic to the Philippines and can not be found anywhere else in the world.
Jayson Ibanez, PEF director for Research and Conservation, told the Businessmirror that there may possibly be more eagle pairs in Pasonaca, which is a 17,000-hectare protected area in the Zamboanga Peninsula, after forest protectors reported other sightings of the monkey-eating eagle.
“The presence of an eagle nesting pair and its young is strong proof that conservation is working in the park,” Ibanez explained. “Finding these pairs, and studying and monitoring them will be very important to eagle research and conservation in the region.”
The study aims to locate the eagles’ nesting sites to observe their behaviors, tag, and monitor them.
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