Elders, conservationists race to record fading sacred ties to Philippines’ endemic birds

In the Iraya Mangyan ancestral domain on the Philippines' Mindoro Island, community leaders and the Center for Conservation Innovations Philippines are documenting Indigenous knowledge of wildlife and sacred sites before it fades with the elders who hold it. The effort, part of the Mindoro Forest and Biodiversity Conservation Programme, has recorded 517 species across the program area, including three culturally significant endemic birds tied to Iraya beliefs about weather, spirits, and ancestors.

The Mindoro boobook, Mindoro scops owl, and Mindoro racket-tail all carry both spiritual meaning for the Iraya and practical value — one reportedly warned a family of an approaching typhoon in time to shelter. All three species are in decline from deforestation and development, and are listed as vulnerable or near threatened by the IUCN.

Conservationists say the long-term observations of Indigenous residents offer a continuity that visiting scientists, who can only 'bungee jump' into the area briefly, cannot replicate. The documented knowledge is meant to feed into the community's development and protection plan, and an ecotrail meant to share it more widely.

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