RARE BIRD SEEN IN BATANES
Juliet P. Cataluña
PDI, Northern Luzon Bureau
December 03, 2001

The black-faced spoonbill scientifically known as platalea minor was seen at barangay Savidug in the island municipality of Sabtang in Batanes on November 24, 2001 by Rafael Castro, a local resident.

Alexander Binalon, a park ranger together with two other local residents saw that the report was true when they themselves saw the rare bird and took photographs of it at the beach of the same barangay two days later. Binalon works with Batanes Development Foundation Inc. the implementing unit of the Conservation of Priority Protected Areas Project.

The bird, which was identified as black-faced spoonbill, believed one of the 550 individuals left in the wild throughout the world is a rare migratory wading bird in the Philippines. Official record show that it was last seen in the country in the tidal areas of Manila in Luzon in 1914. Research by the Protected Areas wildlife Bureau (PAWB) also show that this particular bird breeds on small rocky islands off the west coast of North Korea and winters in Taiwan, Hong Kong and Vietnam with small numbers in China, Japan and South Korea.

The black-faced spoonbill is a large and white wading bird with long neck and long back bill flattened at the end like a broad spoon. It has a bare black skin on the face from the base of the bill to just behind the eye. The bird has a total wingspan of 50 inches and measures 29 inches in length. When in flight it extends his head forward like an egret.

Alerted by the Park Rangers report, George Reyes, the protected Area Superintendent immediately issued communication to all Park Rangers and reminded them of their obligation to see that this is not harmed emphasized and that the Ivatans should be proud that this rare bird is found in the remote islands of Batanes. He added that the local government officials and the community should help in protecting the black-faced spoonbill and similar other migratory birds.

When Inquirer asked Park Ranger Binalon how they were able to immediately recognize the bird, he explained that since the PAWB recently distributed some posters featuring the bird, local residents have always been on the look out for rare migratory birds.

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See more pictures of Black-Faced Spoonbill (Photograph by Alexander Binalon, special thanks to Ms. Juliet P. Cataluña/BDFI).