CEBU CITY—Librarian Lorna Eguia was all ears when wildlife biologist Lisa Paguntalan talked about the Cebu Flowerpecker (Dicaeum quadricolor), the never-been-photographed bird found only in Cebu.
“I never knew that we have a rare treasure in the mountains of Cebu. This is a different learning experience, far from the tall buildings rising in the city,” said Eguia, American corner librarian of the University of San Carlos.
She was one of nearly 1,000 people from different companies and organizations who joined the kickoff event of the yearly reforestation caravan of the Philippine Business for Social Progress (PBSP) on June 23 in Sitio Cantipla, Barangay Tabunan, in Cebu City.
Tabunan, a mountain village about 45 minutes by car from the city center, is part of the Central Cebu Protected Landscape (CCPL), Metro Cebu’s primary source of water with an area of more than 28,000 hectares of forests and farmland.
Cebu Hillylands
The Cebu Flowerpecker is one of at least 51 bird species found in the Tabunan Forest Corridor inside the CCPL, which is also called Cebu Hillylands.
Known as “manuto” to locals, the elusive bird is among the world’s 10 rarest birds and top 50 critically endangered species in the world, according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature and BirdLife International. It was believed to be extinct until it was discovered in 1992 in the Tabunan Forest Corridor.
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