Biologists trained on bird banding

CEBU, Philippines - The Cebu Biodiversity Conservation Foundation, Inc. has started training biologists and parabiologists to develop the country’s bird ringing scheme in compliance with the Convention on Migratory Species of which the Philippines is one of the signatories.

The four-day training was conducted in Olango Island Wildlife Sanctuary, the Philippines’ first wetland of international importance for waterbirds and one of the seven best-known flyways in the world for migrating birds, located in Mactan Island.

Bird ringing or bird banding is a technique performed by attaching metal or plastic tag, which is individually numbered or coded, to the legs or wings of birds so that various aspects of the bird’s life like migration, longevity, mortality, population studies, territoriality and feeding behavior can be studied.

“The purpose of ringing birds is to follow the migration flyway of the species para mahibaw-an nato kung asa siya padulong after, kung ma-recover siya sa laing areas or sa laing countries,” said CBCF field project officer Godfrey Jakosalem.

Jakosalem said that their main objective in providing training to biologists and parabiologists is to create a network of working individuals who will pursue the bird ringing most importantly in Olango Island so that the country will no longer practice counting only.

“What we want to create in the Philippines is a waterbirds study group. Sa Australia naa sila’y Australian waterbirds study group, kita ra ang wala. So nag-encourage mi og research,” Jakosalem said.

“Ang shorebirds sa Philippines mao ang poorly studied. Mostly kadto rang naa sa forest. Of course, bias ta sa forest birds kay daghan man ta endemic, like the black shama, [monkey-eating] eagle, kana more detailed ang study sa ila. Pero the rest sa species kulang pa gyod so dapat sya trabahoon.”

He said that through bird ringing, the priority now is to know the migratory flyway of species which is important to find out at this time due to the threats of climate change.

“Recent studies or publications showed that migratory birds can be indicators of changes in the environment. Naa tay species diri, the great knot, nga formerly daghan gyod sila nga species that come by the thousands and millions. Sa una daghan kaayo na sila, ‘nya based sa studies, karon, gamay na sila’g population,” Jakosalem added.

He said that the said species now may potentially be threatened according to Birdlife International.

Jakosalem further said that the decline in population may be attributed to the change in the environment of their breeding grounds like the conversion of coastal areas into resorts and other developments.

He reported that during last week’s training, they were able to band more than 30 forest birds including shore birds of various species.

He said that they hope to successfully start and develop the country’s bird ringing scheme which was initiated before but was not successfully established because of budget constraint.

“Though we have a ringing scheme nga gi-organize sa una, wala ma-push through because wala ta’y funds to generate the rings, kay paliton man ang rings. One ring costs four UK pounds,” Jakosalem said.

“But just recently, when we started the black shama project, we had a partnership with Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust in UK, they are the ma-nufacturers of the rings. Because of our partnership, gi-provide-an ta og rings free of charge. So we can do more ringing not just sa waterbirds but also sa forest birds within the Philippines,” Jakosalem said.

CBCF is a non-stock, non-profit organization with the vision of long-term conservation of the native and endemic species and habitats of Cebu through sustainable and acceptable protection, restoration and expansion strategies. – Jessica Ann R. Pareja/MEEV (THE FREEMAN)