O3TUESDAY, 8 FEBRUARY 2011 | CEBU DAILY NEWS

by Jason A. BaguiaC O P Y E D I T O R

But no photograph hasever been taken of thebird, making it the “holygrail” of bird watchershere and abroad.

Only a painting andartist's sketches give othersvisual clues of what theCebu Flowerpecker looksl i ke .

The bird, endemic toCebu, rose to internationalprominence in August2009 when it was chosenas the flagship species ofBirldLife International, agroup dedicated to conser-vat ion.

“The rediscovery of theCebu Flowerpecker hasgiven us Cebuanos a sec-ond chance to conservethe natural heritage of Ce-bu,” said Davao-born LisaMarie Paguntalan, an or-nithologist and conserva-tion biologist.

The Cebu Flowerpeckerwas chosen over otherspecies from countries likeColombia, Brazil and In-donesia because it is “crit-ically endangered” in acountry suffering rapidloss of biodiversity, Pagun-talan said.

The selection was madeduring the annual BritishBirdwatching Fair held in2009 in Rutland, England,which drew 20,000 birdenthusiasts from aroundthe globe.

Less than 100 CebuFlowerpeckers are believedto have survived the loss ofits normal forest habitats.

T h e b i r d , w h i c h i sfound only in Cebu, isstrikingly handsome, Pa-guntalan said.

Its scientific name, D i-caeum quadricolor, refers to

its multicolored plumage(quadricolor means fourcolors): bluish black on thehead and wings, grayishwhite on the underside, redon a V-shaped patch on itsback and greenish yellowon its rump.

This bird feeds on in-sects on tree barks and int h e l e a v e s , n e c t a r o fflowers, berrylike fruits,ripe fruits of the Ficus(balete trees in the for-est). It has also been ob-served eating spiders, Pa-guntalan said.

The bird “has an ex-tremely small populationand very small, severelyfragmented range owing tocatastrophic deforestation,”says the Internat ionalUnion for the Conservationof Nature (IUCN) based inGland, Switzerland.

The Cebu Flowerpeckerwas feared to have becomeextinct when all of Cebu'sforests were thought tohave been destroyed, theIUCN says. In 1992, it wassighted again in Cebu City'sTabunan forest. BarangayTabunan is one of the city'smountain villages.

Since 1992, the bird wasseen again in three othersites—Nug-as forest in Al-coy town, Mount Lantoy,the highest peak in Argaotown and Dalaguete town,all in southern Cebu.

“The maximum num-ber seen together at any ofthese four sites is just fourbirds,” the IUCN says,“and the current popula-tion is estimated at 100 in-dividuals, with 50 to 60 atN u g - a s , 2 5 t o 3 0 a tTabunan, and 10 to 15 atDalague te.”

Scientists thought this colorful localsongbird was extinct, so when bird-watchers spotted the Cebu Flower-

pecker again in 1992 in a mountainvillage in Cebu City, the birding worldre joiced.

Illustration by William Oliver

O4 CEBU DAILY NEWS | TUESDAY, 8 FEBRUARY 2011

The bird appeared on page 1 ofCDN’s early issues with sassy com-ments about the day's events. Siloyhas come to embody CDN's indepen-dent, non-nonsense spirit and inhab-its the daily corner “Mao Ba.”

News sources and erring officialsknow that any missteps taken willsurely draw the warning: “Hala,basin ma-siloy ka!”

by Candeze R. MongayaR E P O R T E R

Siloy was adopted byCebu Daily News as its mascotwhen the paper started in 1998.

The Black Shama, locally knownas Siloy, is reclaiming its homein a mountain paradise in

south Cebu.The birds fly freely in an 800-

hectare forest conservation site inbarangay Nug-as in the town of Alcoy,which passed a resolution in 2000marking the protected area of the songbird whose scientific name is Cops y-chus cebuensis.

Pedro Villarta, one of Alcoy's forestwardens, said that back in the 1990s,they seldom heard the birds.

“Now, we hear many of them sing.”Villarta can mimic the sound of the

Black Shama to call them. As he whis-tled, during CEBU DAILY NEWS' visit,one bird, small enough to fit a palm,

hovered near tree branches andvines, singing in harmony withVillar ta.

At first, the bird was elusive, fly-ing back and forth before settlingon a branch a few meters awayand facing Villarta.

“They already recognize me,through my voice,” Villartasaid. He continued to whistleas the bird surveyed his terri-tory for food.

As a teenager, Villarta andhis friends roamed the forestwith air guns to hunt down birds forfun. His view changed af-t e r t h e C e b uBiodiversit y

Conservation Foundationreached out to local residentsand taught them how to iden-tify different birds and otherspecies of reptiles and trees inthe forest.

Today, Villartaconsiders himself ap r o t e c t o r o f

wildlife, more so when he real-ized that there were few left.

“They depend on us. Itwould be such a waste if we lostthem,” Villarta said in Ce-bu a n o.

About 30 local wardens pa-trol the forest daily to checkthat no trees have been cut andto survey the fauna. The mu-

GUARDING THE SILOYS’ HOME. Forest warden Pedro Villarta surveys the 800-hectare Nug-as forest in Alcoy, which has the highest number of Black Shamas in Cebu. CDN PHOTO/TONEE DESPOJO

SILOY 5

I

CEBU

O5TUESDAY, 8 FEBRUARY 2011 | CEBU DAILY NEWS

Villarta whistles to call out Black Shamasin the bird sanctuary in Nug-as, Alcoy.Reporter Candeze Mongaya got proof ofhis skill. (CDN PHOTO/TONEE DESPOJO)

nicipality supports them with amonthly honorarium.

The wardens have to give month-ly reports about their observation oflocal fauna. They can guide natureenthusiasts to three areas frequentedby Siloys, about 15 minutes on footfrom the Conservation Center.

Black Shamas are territorial crea-tures, and require at least 200 squaremeters of forest as their habitat.Their melodious bird song is actual-ly an alarm or warning call to defendits area against intruders. Most ofthe Siloy’s predators are reptiles andwild cats that attack their eggs.

Villarta said that at least 350Black Shamas have made theirhome in the Nug-As forest in Al-coy, one of the last towns in Cebuwhere the birds can be found.

The secret to keeping the en-demic bird is the supportive com-munity, said Alcoy CouncilorRichard Gonzales, chairman of thetown's committee on tourism.

In 2000, an ordinance waspassed banning the hunting, catch-ing or killing of the Black Shama.The basis cited was a study by theCebu Biodiversity ConservationFoundation identifying Alcoy ashome to the most number of BlackShamas in Cebu.

In 2009, the town followed upwith an ordinance to enhance theconservation of other endangeredspecies in the municipality like theCebu Flowerpecker and Cebu Cin-namon tree.

The Black Shama is listed as anendangered specie by the Interna-tional Union for the Conservationof Nature of Nature based inGland, Switzerland.

Schoolchildren in Alcoy aretaught about endemic species. Inrecent years, the town has alsomounted an annual Siloy Festival.

While Alcoy has big potential asan eco-tourism destination, thetown is reluctant to have too muchtourist traffic disturb the habitat ofthe Siloys and other animals.

“With too much exposure topeople, the species may also be af-fected,” Gonzales said.

About 200 tourists, mostly bird-watchers from Europe and Japan,visit the site each year.

What the town encourages areeducational tours for students or-ganized by schools.

SILOY... FROM PAGE 4

once made the “mistake” ofplanting the trees alongthe highway, where the

Cinnamon trees died.“Because the plant is endemic

to Cebu, please do not plant out-side its natural distributionranges, meaning do not plantoutside of Cebu,” Roxas said.

“Other well meaning individu-als might want to help conservethe species, and thus might wantto plant it in their farms outsideCebu. But please, no plantingoutside of Cebu.” - Jason Baguia

Note: The tree is part of themix of native tree species favoredby NGOs like the PhilippineBusiness for Social Progress(PBSP), in its hillyland reforesta-tion projects, for which specialnurseries are developed.

CDN, a member of PBSP,joins the annual ReforestationCaravan which kicks off everyJune, the start of the rainy season.Volunteers are welcome to jointhe tree planting every Saturday,in barangay Tabunan andanother site in Balamban town.

FAST FACTSScientific Name: Cinnamomum cebuense

Ko s t .English Name: Cebu Cinnamon TreeCommon name: K alingagD istribution: Endemic to Cebu islandSt at u s : Critically endangered species (accord-

ing to the International Union for Conservationof Nature or IUCN)

D escription: A small to medium-sized tree,reaching a height of 6 to 8 meters and a diameterof 25 to 35 centimeters with a smooth outer bark.

The tree bark has medicinal properties. Localresidents either chew the bark or boil it in a glassof water to drink as a remedy stomach ache. Whileno reports have been made by local residents, theleaves may be a potential source of spice as withother closely related species

Threats: According to globaltree.org, before aconservation project was undertaken in 2005, on-ly 57 mature trees were left in Cebu. One of themajor threats is the loss of surrounding forest byagricultural encroachment.

The practice of stripping its bark for medicinaluse also poses a threat to its survival.

“The largest populationof Cebu Cinnamon, whichis found in the forests of

Nug-as, Alcoy, is protectedand continuously moni-

tored, particularly whetherit's flowering and fruiting. For

any disturbance, by the Alcoyforest wardens particularly thosefrom the Kapunungan sa mga

Mag-uuma sa YutangLasangnon sa Bulola-cau,” she said.

The largest Cebu Cin-namon is found in the

Nug-as Forest.The main threat to the tree is

h a bi -

tat destruction. While theCebu Cinnamon can itself

provide shade, it is sensitive tolight and long periodsof drought.“It needs to be planted

in its natural habitat,” Roxassaid.

While it can be planted in agarden or the backyard, it has to

be in a shaded area. A group

If you want a reforestation project tosucceed, choose the trees well.

The advice by conservation experts includes choosing indige-nous trees that are naturally at home in the area and have a bet-ter chance of survival. This is in contrast to exotic or foreignspecies like the water-sucking gmelina, which government cam-paigns had erred in investing millions of pesos for greeningprog rams.

Little was known of the Cebu Cinnamon Tree, which isfound only in Cebu, until the last three decades.

The tree was first collected in 1971 in the forest of Cantipla,an upland sitio in the mountain barangay of Tabunan, CebuCit y.

It's scientific name Cinnamomum cebuense Kostermans com e sfrom its location and the scientist who first studied it, A.J.G.H.Koster mans.

Forester Orlyn Roxas, who once led a research team on thetree, told CEBU DAILY NEWS that there are only 800 Cebu cinna-mon trees left today, with around 40 mature individuals or“mother trees,” the source of seeds.

The trees are found in sitio Cantipla in Cebu City, in MountManunggal in Balamban town, and in the Nug-as forest in Al-coy town, south Cebu.

IT’S TIME TO PLANT MORE HOPE

TONEE DESPOJO

OPINIONTUESDAY, 8 FEBRUARY 2011

E I LEEN G . MANGUBATPublisher/ Acting Edito r in Chief

ST EPHEN D. CA P I L LASSenio r Copy Edito r

ANTONIO E . DESPOJOPhoto Edito r

MIMI M . L IJAUCOLifestyle Edito r

RICK C . GABUYASpo rts Edito r

MARIA N IZA G . MARIÑASAsst. Lifestyle Edito r

JASON A . BAGUIABRIAN J . OCHOA

Copy Edito rs

DORIS C . BONGCACChief of Repo rters

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E D I T O R I A L

13 years, a mission of hope

It's better to plant a tree than curse the flooding.That’s the thought behind CEBU DAILY NEWS’ de-cision to banner the paper’s advocacy on envi-

ronmental stewardship as we mark our 13th anniver-sary today.

Nature has a way of reminding people of the con-sequence of mindless consumption in the name ofprogress. There’s a price to pay for the criminal ne-glect of fragile ecosystems in our own backyard.

The recent Jan. 25 downpour took Cebu and Man-daue Cities by surprise with rainfall four times thenormal volume, and with it urban floods the likes ofwhich we haven’t seen in decades. After only twohours, the metropolis experienced a mini-Ondoy.

“The heavens winked,” CDN’s editorial noted, “andCebu City residents could only stand back in horrorand wonder what else could have happened if therains had gone on longer.”

The instant reaction has been to point to insuffi-cient drainage and culprits living in the banks of dis-appearing creeks and rivers.

What the watery disaster should do is point atten-tion farther up the series of cause-and-effect, to hin-terland watersheds of Metro Cebu, where soil erosionand the torrent of runoff water show how trees nolonger give the protection they should.

Media’s spotlight on river dwellers and illegalshanties only show part of the problem.

The bigger role is to shine a light on where solu-tions lie.

CEBU DAILY NEWS’ stories on the Cebu CinnamonTree and endemic birds that make their home in Ce-bu’s vanishing forests are our way of promoting re-sponsible reforestation, the smart way.

Satellite scans in the 1980s pointed to forest coverof less than 1 percent in an island once lush with abeltway of vegetation and trees in the early 1900s.

Government reforestation efforts botched theirown campaign by force-marching students, soldiersand civil servants to plant exotic trees like gmelinaand mahogany.

We know better now.Citizens have to volunteer time and understand the

connection between tree cover and water that fallsfrom the sky, flows out to the sea and seeps into theaquifer to recharge our underground source of drink-ing water.

Without understanding, remedies fall flat.Most Cebu city residents live at ground level, not

realizing that 70 percent of the terrain of the city isactually hilly lands in a badly neglected backyard.

We need the trees, but especially native tree speciesthat support that wonderful mystery of an ecosystemin proper balance.

Like CDN’s mascot, Siloy, a songbird found only inCebu, these examples of creation bring only goodthings—life, beauty, a hedge against disaster andhop e.

In our 13th year of service to Cebu, it’s definitelytime to plant more hope.