Habitat for Philippine endangered species

Philippine Eagle Center

Malagos, Baguio District, Davao City

Pag-Asa

     After our fun filled activities in Eden Nature Park we headed to the Philippine Eagle Center, which is open only from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., and we only have a few minutes time left.  From Eden it took us about 15 minutes with our hired taxi to get to the place.

Anahaw plant

     There’s an entrance fee of PHP 50.00 for adult and PHP 30.00 for ages 18 years old and below.  In the lobby area, my attention was caught by this nice looking plant called Anahaw, with its big leaves shaped like a heart arranged naturally on top of each other.  No wonder it is tagged as the national leaf of the Philippines, it not just beautiful, but has many bi-product usage like fan, hat, and bag. I just didn't get the right angle when I took this photo because I was using my cell phone's camera, in reality, this plant looks taller and the color is dark green with a natural gloss. 

  Across the reception area is a man made fish pond with lilies in it, and around it are different kinds of shrubs and trees which is typical of a tropical rain forest environment. There’s a bridge lies on the pond with 3 way access, one to the Philippine Eagle foundation office, and the 2 path goes to their captive animals where you can go either way you want to start your tour.  

     We headed on the left path with trees around, which is difficult to see what is on the other side. We could only hear loud different noises coming from birds.  We just followed the path with engraved names of donors and the first we saw is a large crocodile resting on its cage.

     After a few walking following the pavement where trees are lesser, we already saw the different birds and eagles caged separately by breed, some are situated on a low ground while those caged on a higher ground, which occupies a large area are breeding ground for eagles, which is counted as one of the endangered species of animal in the Philippines.

     The Philippine Eagle Center has a total of 36 Philippine eagles, 18 captive – bred, and the first bred in captivity is named Pag Asa (Hope).  The center also houses 10 other species of birds, 4 species of mammals and 2 species of reptile.  There are trained birds that are not caged were freely flying from tree to tree or just resting on a branch of a tree like this Brahminy Kite bird.  

Brahminy Kite (Lawin)

Macaque monkeys

Calamian deer

     One of the mammals they keep for breeding, which is known also to be an endangered species of its kind is Calamian deer, originated from the Calamian group of islands in Palawan.

     While the Centre has been founded to be a breeding ground for endangered species animals and learning facility for conservation of ecosystems, it has become one of the tourist destinations that a must visit when in Davao.