BIRDING or birdwatching is gaining foothold among locals, and it is hopefully the key to mainstreaming environmental conservation in the selfie generation.
It has been a premise a long time ago that the reason many people cannot truly comprehend nature conservation is because they only see icons -- in our part, Mt. Apo, the Philippine Eagle, and the Euan the Sanderiana or waling-waling.
Very few are able to actually come close to the natural environment and see the beauty as well as recognize the threats. In the Up-Scaling Community Action and Response (U-Care) for the protection of Talomo-Lipadas and Panigan-Tamugan Watersheds, journalists were invited to watch birds... and huff and puff up and down slopes. Conservation of Talomo-Lipads and Panigan-Tamugan watersheds is important for Davao residents because its aquifers are what supplies water to the city.
"Due to the rapid population and industrial growth of the city, the Davao City Water District (DCWD) quantified that the current supply will not be sufficient for the following years. This is why the DCWD in collaboration with the Apo Agua have agreed to collect surface water at the adjacent Panigan-Tamugan Watershed," the rationale for the birdwatching and tour read. The birdwatching was hosted by Idis with its media advocacy specialist Lem Manalo as lead man with Philippine Eagle Foundation and Wild Birds Club of the Philippines Davao.
Aquifers cannot forever supply a city of certified high-quality water if these are not replenished through the conservation of forest stands, and the fast growing population of the city can easily suck up all that is there.
Aside from over-extraction and forest denudation, the watershed is faced with other threats. "Mt.Tipolog, Tamugan and Panigan Rivers along with its creeks and tributaries builds up the whole watershed. As Tamugan River’s surface water is being eyed to supply drinking water, its entire watershed is very critical to heavy metal and bacterial contamination from nearby unsustainable industries. These include rampant use of pesticides and herbicides for monocrop banana and pineapple plantations, forest land conversions, sewage from poultries and livestock farms and other pollutants," the rational read.
The partnership of the Interface Development Interventions Inc., Watershed Management Council, and the FPE (Foundation for Philippine Environment) under the project Ucare, is implementing actions to restore and preserve the natural resources, including rain forestation to restore biodiversity and wildlife, and rehabilitation of riverbanks and deputation of the Bantay Bukid (volunteer forest guards and monitors).
There were a few birds during the trip, a white-throated kingfisher (Smyrna kingfisher), a pin-striped Tit-babbler (Macronusgularis), a grey wagtail (Motacillacinerea), but most eerie was the absence of bird calls in barangay Tawan-tawan.
In houses, hanging in cages were Guaiaberos (Bolbopsittacuslunulatus, commonly called parrot) and the Philippine hanging parrot (Loriculusphilippensis, commonly called as Kusi or Kulasisi).
Way above the roofs of the houses in the village center, a Kusi is chained on a very tall bamboo pole. Sticking much higher is a bamboo stick. The stick, we were told, is covered with glue. The Kusi chained on the bamboo is a lure for other kusis who get stuck when they perch to visit the lure.
In a village that is filled with fruiting durian, lanzones, and lots of other plants, there was but one or two yellow-vented Bulbuls, bringing to mind the barely known disastrous Four Pests campaign in China in the 1950s. Property developer Martin Pineda who joined the group as member of the Wild Bird Club of the Philippines Davao described the Four Pests campaign as having targeted specifically the Eurasian Tree Sparrow (mayangsimbahan), aside from mosquitoes, flies, and rats.
The Eurasian Tree Sparrow was regarded as a pest because it loves to eat grains on the field. Thus, nests were torn down, eggs were broken, chicks killed, and sparrows shot down from the sky. The estimate was that hundreds of millions of sparrows were killed in that campaign.
By April of 1960, the Eurasian Tree Sparrows were hunted to near-extinction. That was when it dawned on the Chinese government and the people that not only do they eat grains, they also ate a lot of insects.
Soon, locusts swarms came as no sparrows were in sight. It was believed that the Great Sparrow Campaign contributed a lot to the Great Chinese Famine in 1958-1961, where around 30-milloin died of hunger. That is aside from the massive use of pesticides to kill the three other pests.
The visitors not only witnessed the potentials of birding as a tourism come-on, they also witnessed how a community may not be seeing the relationship of birds to their fruit trees and eventually livelihood and survival.