The first recorded sighting of the critically endangered Chinese crested tern in Manila Bay was greater than a century in the past. It was a unique Manila Bay then.
MANILA, Philippines – It was a dry and windy day in Manila Bay. The solar was out. Local chook watcher Irene Dy was walking alongside the sandbar that straddles the boundary between Sta. Cruz, Paombong, and Pamarawan Island in Bulacan.
Dy was doing a survey in December 2023 to depend birds and examine the bands and flags on their legs. An complete flock flew up, and one with a unique invoice form and shade – and most significantly, with a black tip – caught her eye.
There it was. One of the rarest birds on this planet: the Chinese crested tern.
“It was a heart pounding moment, as I instantly knew what it was,” Dy stated.
She’s waited three years for this second. “I followed it with my binoculars until it landed and immediately started to photograph it.”
Dy, who had been birdwatching for greater than a decade, stated she felt “extremely lucky” to identify the chook in Manila Bay.
The chook’s first recorded sighting within the Philippines was in 1886. Then it was in 1905 that the Chinese crested tern was noticed in Manila Bay. In 2018, it got here again, this time in Panabo, Davao.
In the next weeks after the Manila Bay sighting, Dy stated different fellow birdwatchers visited the world in hopes of seeing the uncommon chook.
The Chinese crested tern (Thalasseus bernsteini) can simply be confused with the extra frequent Greater crested tern (Thalasseus bergii). It might be distinguished from the latter by its two-toned yellow invoice and the black tip.
Ornithologists attribute its decline to unlawful poaching.
From the bay and past
With solely round 100 left within the wild, the Chinese crested tern is categorized as “critically endangered” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).
It was lengthy thought to breed solely in China, till the species was discovered breeding in South Korea, too.
That it’s seen in Manila Bay, outdoors its breeding grounds, can imply the atmosphere within the Bay space is wholesome sufficient to offer assist for migrating and endangered birds.
“The appearance of Chinese crested tern [in] Manila Bay is a good thing,” conservation biologist Simba Chan advised Rappler in a message. Chan has intently studied the species and monitored the tern breeding colony in China.
According to Chan, there’s not sufficient information on the migratory route of the species. In common, they observe the migration of the Greater crested terns bred in Southeast China to Southeast Asia and the Philippines.
“This proves the Bay is an important migratory site to seabirds and shorebirds from northern Asia,” added Chan.
Its presence within the space also can level to a attainable overwintering website in Luzon, Danish ornithologist Arne Jensen advised Rappler. Jensen is likely one of the founders of the Wild Bird Club of the Philippines. An overwintering website is the place migratory birds keep to attend out the winter season.
“The Bulacan bird was expected given that it is documented that there is an overwintering site in Davao,” stated Jensen.
“However, the time of the Bulacan bird came as a surprise because it was in the middle of its overwintering period where it shouldn’t be migrating. This can suggest that there may be another overwintering site in Luzon.”
The Philippines lies within the East Asian Australasian Flyway, probably the most populated flyway on this planet. The nation is a vital relaxation cease and refueling station for birds who fly at night time and relaxation within the morning, shifting to hotter locations to spend winter.
Birdwatchers within the Philippines discover the winter months of December to February time to go birding. There’s at all times an opportunity to see a uncommon migrating chook, within the chilly climate of the amihan season.
Jensen famous that recent observations of the chook species recommend a tiny overwintering inhabitants in Panabo and a migration roost website in Donsol, Sorsogon, and Pangasinan.
Protection wanted
It’s been 100 years because the first recorded sighting of the Chinese crested tern in Manila Bay. It was a unique Manila again in 1905, the identical yr American city planner Daniel Burnham made the City Beautiful masterplan.
The sandbar the place Dy noticed the uncommon chook is northwest of the New Manila International Airport, touted because the single-largest funding undertaking within the nation.
At current, Manila Bay hosts many reclamation tasks that search to develop the crowded capital outward to the ocean.
The Department of Environment and Natural Resources is conducting an evaluation of all of the tasks and their impacts on the ecosystem, as these tasks had been green-lighted and evaluated individually.
Researchers have warned towards human actions that disrupt the world as an essential pit cease for a lot of migratory birds. (READ: Save migrating birds over northern Manila Bay, says research)
Aside from the Chinese crested tern, birdwatchers have noticed the endangered Nordmann’s greenshank (Tringa guttifer) in the identical space – round 13, in accordance with Jensen.
The ornithologist stated there must be extra collaboration amongst teams, scientists, and political establishments to guard crucial habitats.
“It should be the conservation NGOs and academe that know their birds that should produce informative press releases, informing the public and politicians and [advocating] that existing critical habitat policies are being implemented.” – Rappler.com
