The main reason for the decline is the widespread deforestation across most of its range with almost all of the lowland forest gone which is the favored habitat. So the only remaining forest left suitable is on the slopes of the mountain ranges which is also slowly getting logged. Traditionally there has been one site where most birders go to stand a good chance of connecting with the eagle and that is Mt Kitanglad on Mindanao. The problem with this site is that it requires an minimum of three days (one day climbing up, one day looking for the eagle and one day to trek back down) and then there is no guarantee, so if you are short on time it can be a problem.
Just over two years ago a local birder (Pete Simpson) discovered a nesting pair close to Davao in southern Mindanao with reasonably easy access with many birders taking up the opportunity to go and see the eagle well. On planning my trip and after consulting with Pete it turned out that the eagle that had fledged from the nest a year earlier was still hanging around the area with the possibility of still seeing it. I only had a week on Mindanao so it was decided to take the chance and see this bird rather than spend three days on Mt Kitanglad. A fairly flexible itinerary allowed a day in which to search for this eagle with the option of a second day if needed but would mean missing out on other species.
The day finally came to search for The Eagle with a 5.00am start and a drive up to the Barangay Captain and then the tribal chief to make the necessary arrangements for access to the site. We finally made it to the area overlooking the old nest (the size of a bed) site and started searching the trees in the valley hoping to spot it perched up. Then after about an hour the bird started calling below us out of sight but giving us high hopes that we would see the bird. Not long afterwards low cloud and fog drifted in with near zero visibility dampening our spirits with us praying it would lift and the eagle carried on calling every 20 mins or so. Eventually after what seemed like hours the fog lifted, the sun came out and it warmed up giving us high hopes that it would lift up on the wing in search of prey. No such luck, the bird sat tight and carried on calling with the clock ticking away. Then late afternoon we saw some birders on the opposite side of the valley which Pete recognised as from the Eagle Foundation (An organisation dedicated to saving the Eagle from extinction) based in Davao. After a few text messages it turned out that there were concerns over the health of this eagle and that the foundation along with a vet had put bait out for the eagle in order to catch it and check if it was ok. The eagle had gone down to the valley bottom having seen the bait but was reluctant to take it so sat tight all day eyeing it up.
How disappointing and what a complication, was the bird ok ? There is quite some history about this individual starting when the bird was a tiny chick in the nest at which point someone ended up shooting dead the father leaving the mother to hunt and feed the chick on her own. The mother did well managing to rear the eaglet with it fledging ok, at which point the female paired up with another male and left the valley only occasionally returning to feed the youngster.
We left the site a little down having not seen it even though it was so close but my main thoughts were on will the eagle survive, but even if it does what hope is there for it in the future, it is a very sad situation and I don't hold much hope. The decision was made to make another attempt the next day (how could I not) hoping it would eventually have a fly around and all was well but with thoughts that my only views may be of it getting carried away by the vet. We were in position early and it was not long before we heard the now familiar call of the eagle in what appeared to be the exact same position as yesterday. We waited until lunch time by which time I made the very difficult decision to give up and visit some other sites for other special endemic species of Mindanao as this was my last opportunity before I left for Cebu. Well that was that, I had dipped with thoughts of that I must be one of the few, if not only birders in the world to have only heard and not seen The Philippine Eagle.
Always thinking of ways of turning the situation around I remembered that because I had messed up on my flights slightly that I was due to fly back to Davao at the end of my trip in order to catch my flight back home, when I could have actually left from Cebu which would have meant one less internal flight. It crossed my mind though that I was not due to leave Davao until early afternoon giving me all morning for some birding around Davao. Pete was free that morning and was willing to take me out, so could this be my last ditch attempt at the eagle ?
End of the trip I arrived from Palawan landing in Davao at 11.30pm then getting a taxi to my hotel (thanks Pete for arranging this) and not getting to bed until 1.00am. Pete picked me up the next morning at 5.00am with the news that the eagle had been seen the day before so it was a no brainer, off to the eagle site again. We arrived on site at around 7.30am but had to leave no later than 10.00am in order to make it to the airport for my flight home. A search of all the prominent large trees in the valley revealed nothing and a locale guide we picked up who had seen it the day before gave us an account of the birds movements saying that it had flown up towards the top of the valley. The tension was unbearable and the clock was ticking. Then at around 08.20 the bird called, straight opposite us at the top of the valley but was not on view. Where was it ? A few tense minutes later it was picked up flying along the ridge before landing in a large tree in full view. What excitement, it was unbelievable, talk about the last minute. Not only that but the bird then flew down to a clearing and made an attempt to catch a goat from a local farmstead and was seen hopping around on the ground trying to catch it. It was unsuccessful and eventually gave up and flew back up into the tree. Quite a spectacle but a little worrying in that it couldn't catch a sitting duck and the farmer is not going to be best pleased. Based on this performance how has it managed to survive this long and what hope is there for it in the future. I tried to put these thoughts out of my head and concentrated on the fact that I had just seen one of the most magnificent birds in the world.
