Asian Waterbird Census in Negros Occidental January 2013
I was invited together with Lisa Paguntalan and Godfrey Jakosalem of the Philippine Biodiversity Conservation Foundation to take part in the annual Asian Waterbird Census work in Negros Occidental; mainly the more than 20 kilometer of vast coastal tidal mud flats and mangroves on both sites of Negro’s largest river, Ilog River. I further had the opportunity to spend a few hours in the coastal wetland of barangay Tibsok and Pontevedra, EnriqueCity. The census was organized and supported by the DENR Provincial Environment Management Office of Negros Occidental, CENRO Kabankalan, Negros Occidental Province Environment Management Office, the local government units of Ilog, Kabankalan, Himamaylan, San Enrique, Pontevedra, Pulupandan and the barangay council of Tibsok, Philippine Biodiversity Conservation Foundation and with logistic support provided by the German aid agency GIZ and DENR. My travel to Negros was supported by the Honey Lu Fund for Conservation and Exploration of the Wild Bird Club of the Philippines.
The IlogRiver wetland area is among the largest contiguous coastal wetlands in the Philippines. It represents vast mudflats next to extensive mangrove forest along the coastline of KabakalanCity and partly HimamaylanCity in Negros Occidental. We were able to count more than 11,000 waterbirds of around 55 species (partial count: 1,190 Herons and Egrets of 11 species, 880 Ducks of 6 species, more than 7,800 shorebirds of 22 species and 1,100 Gulls and Terns of 4 species). In comparison, a partial count in January 2012 produced almost 17,000 waterbirds. Highlights of the January 2013 census included 210 Caspian Terns, 112 Broad-billed Sandpiper, 2,300 Rufous-necked Stint, about 1,200 Tringa sandpipers, 1,400 Sand-Plovers and more than 1,700 Grey Plovers. Single birds of Little Curlew, Asian Dowitcher, Ruff and Malaysian Plover were also recorded. Locals gave good descriptions of Common Shelduck (two caught) and of Eurasian Oystercatcher they claimed to have seen previous years.
Just 50 km south of Bacolod in St.EnriqueCity is another large coastal wetland located in Barangay Pontevedra and Tibsok and more than 8,000 waterbirds were counted on 18 January. This area stands out as the only known locality in the Philippines that host extra-ordinary high numbers of the globally near-threatened Black-tailed Godwit and of the threatened Great Knot. During a two hour visit days before the 2013 census took place, I was able to estimate the numbers of two species in a portion of the Tibsok area. It was an impressive 3,000- 3,500 Black-tailed Godwits and at the least 1,800 Great Knots.
Compared to the size and the ecological condition of the Ilog and St. Enrique wetlands, very large numbers of shorebirds may also use the wetlands during the migration peak months in August to October and an again in April to May where many waterbirds transmigrates though the Philippines and adds to the number of the over-wintering populations.
Both wetlands have only been visited sporadically by a few birders and no one, except Godfrey Jakosalem and Lisa Paguntalan of PBCF and now me, have walked the many kilometers of mudflats. The areas are therefore under-birded and there are for example no knowledge about which of the coastal fishponds next to the tidal area functions as high tide roosts and likewise are there very limited data on the number of herons and egrets roosting and potential breeding in the mangrove forest. We saw pure flocks of the increasingly uncommon Rufous Night-Heron and small numbers of Chinese Egrets.
Arne Jensen