Have you seen exotic birds lately in your life? Or wanting to explore some place else? you might want to go bird watching in the Olango Island Wildlife Sanctuary.
Recently a group of fine students went on a trip to Olango via Mactan. The main goal was to watch, study the place, make an advertisement and to promote the island. We enjoyed watching the migratory birds as they stopped for rest and eat in the 920 hectares of inter-tidal flats, mangrove forests, sand ridges and coco groves that comprise the protected area.
They were on a tight budget, well they are still students. So they took a jeepney ride to SM where they boarded a V-hire for Lapu-Lapu city. It was a Friday night that the group rested and planned their trip in one of their friends' house. They didn't slept well that night because of excitement making fun at the roof top and enjoying the vast night sky. They woke up with tired faces but the mission is still on. They eat and groomed themselves and went to the market to buy some food for the trip. Then they rode a multicab bound for Punta Engaño. Beside the Hilton Towers is a small harbour where they boarded a pumpboat bound for Olango. It was past 9 in the morning when we arrive there.
By then they arrived at the Sta. Rosa Wharf where they took a tricycle ride to Barangay San Vicente where the entrance to the sanctuary is located. A picturesque sight of colorful tents beside a two- story Nature House met one at the entrance of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources-managed property. They were also mountain bikers there taking a rest and bird watching. The tide was low, so they had to walk into the stone pavements to reach a house but not really a house its like veranda or a terrace but its built solely for bird watching. As the wind blows towards our faces and escaping from the heat of the sun we surely did enjoy this trip. Thanks to the binoculars and telescopes donated by the Japanese International Cooperation Agency (Jica), we were able to see wimbrels, egrets, Chinese egrets and a tern diving for fish, even if we couldnt go near them. And also we had a hard time taping those birds, so what we did is we stick the video camera to the binoculars and viola we did it. It was always a laughter.
Each year thousands of shorebirds fly south from their breeding grounds in the Artic tundra to escape the cold winter. This happens during September until April. They return north to Siberia to breed during the short northern hemisphere summer of May until August. The routes the birds travel along are called flyways. Olango island is part of the East Asian-Australian flyway,
There are more than 70 species of migratory birds who stop over at the Olango wetlands. They eat fish and worms. The biggest number are the Mongolian plover, greater sand plover and the red-necked stint.
So if you have the patience to walk in the flatlands, keep silent and wait as the birds appear then disappear, visit the Olango Island Wildlife Sanctuary and see the birds that have traveled thousands of miles halfway around the world.
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Bird Santuary in Olango Islandby coolm341,794 views
can you email me this video?
rgbuenosg 1 year ago