Bird talk

Opinion

Written by Liling Magtolis Briones / Boiled Green Bananas

Business Mirror, Sunday, 17 January 2010 20:23

‘Bird-watching? Gusto big bird!” This was the laughing response of Social Watch convenor Jeck Reyes Cantos, to the invitation of Kaakbay president Alain del Pascua for the Social Watch convenors to have its next planning meeting in the great Candaba swamp in Pampanga. “Puwede bang hawakan?” joked another naughty convenor. The rejoinder: “You can only watch, but don’t touch!”

As convenor of the Alternative Budget Initiative (ABI), Social Watch actively campaigns for more budgetary allocations for the environment. Kaakbay is an active member of the Social Watch Network and the Wild Bird Club of the Philippines. It is a duly accredited party-list organization campaigning for the Millennium Development Goals.

And so, a vanful of Social Watch/ABI nature lovers left Manila at 4:30 in the morning on January 9, eager to “catch the early birds” with their cameras.

We knew what to expect, having read articles and watched television shows on the thousands of migratory birds which converge at the Candaba swamp from October to April each year. Nonetheless, the sight of thousands of wild birds flying high in the sky, their brilliant wings glinting and flashing under the sun, was an unforgettable and moving experience.

‘Wings in the Water’

A few years ago, Kaakbay produced a beautiful documentary, Wings in the Water, about the birds in the Candaba swamp. There were shots of different wild birds soaring to heaven, and ducks diving straight down to earth. It was nominated Best in Cinematography and for Citation on Rivers and Lakes in the Moonrise Film Festival of documentary films.

The Candaba swamp covers 32,000 hectares of wetlands and is an important staging and wintering area for migratory wild birds.

It is a part of what is called the East Asia-Australian Migratory Flyway which includes Alaska, Russia, Japan, Korea, China and Taiwan in the North and Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, Papua New Guinea and Australia in the South. Thus, more than 100 species of migratory, resident and endemic birds can be spotted in the area.

One watcher commented that the wild birds must be holding an international summit in the swamp, considering the many countries they came from. Our Kaakbay guides identified more than 30 species of birds during our short visit.

We had always thought that all egrets are alike. Now I know there are little egrets, intermediate egrets and great egrets. The little ones are the long-necked white birds which we usually see perched on top of carabaos. I also thought a heron was just a heron. Now I know that there is the purple heron with its brilliant plumage, the gray heron, Rufous night heron and the black-crown night heron!

One lesson we learned is that teeny-weeny birds are just as great-looking as the big birds. Another lesson is that the Philippine wild duck is totally different from the flocks of domesticated ducks which give us balut. For one thing, it can fly to breathtaking heights!

Threatened species include the streaked reed warblers, Baer’s pochards, Philippine mallards, and spot-billed pelicans. They have gained sanctuary in the swamp.

Bird-watching and bird-counting

In 1982 about 100,000 ducks were observed in a single day in the swamp. It is said that the number of birds and species has declined dramatically with the clearing of the birds’ natural habitat, draining of water, conversion of land, as well as irresponsible hunting and poaching.

In 2004 the municipality of Candaba, Pampanga, declared the entire town a bird sanctuary. Hunting and poaching of all kinds of wild birds are now banned. The mayor has built a rest house where watchers can shoot all they want—with cameras, not guns.

Things might be improving. The Asian Waterbird Census in 2006 has recorded more than 11,000 birds and more than 80 species in just three hours.

Yesterday the environment department, in cooperation with Kaakbay and the Wild Bird Club of the Philippines started the Asian Waterbird Census. Counting birds calls for expertise, especially in the identification of different species and their distinctive characteristics

That’s strictly for the birds!

The phrase means “trivial, worthless and only of interest to gullible people.” However, bird-watchers of Kaakbay have taught the Social Watchers that bird talk is serious talk. They are part of the balance of nature and add to its dazzling beauty.

They need a place where they can find shelter and food. Yes, the Candaba swamp should be strictly for the birds.