Sites - Important Bird Areas (IBAs)

Ornithological information Rajah Sikatuna National Park is a popular site for birdwatchers, and there are many recent records of the threatened and restricted-range species of the Mindanao and Eastern Visayas Endemic Bird Area. These include all three species endemic to the Eastern Visayas, Samar Hornbill, Visayan Broadbill and Yellow-breasted Tailorbird. It is one of only a handful of sites where the threatened Mindanao Bleeding-heart and Azure-breasted Pitta have been recorded recently. Five subspecies of birds are endemic to Bohol, Streaked Ground-Babbler Ptilocichla mindanensis fortichi, Black-crowned Babbler Stachyris nigrocapitata boholensis, Rufous-tailed Jungle-Flycatcher Rhinomyias ruficauda boholensis, Yellow-bellied Whistler Pachycephala philippensis boholensis and Metallic-winged Sunbird Aethopyga pulcherrima decorosa, and the forests in Rajah Sikatuna National Park are also essential for their conservation.

Site description Rajah Sikatuna National Park is about 8 km inland from the national road of Bilar, in the low mountain range in the south of the Bohol Island. Practically all of the significant forest on Bohol is inside this park, with only patches of intermingled plantations and dipterocarp forest elsewhere on the island. The park is characterised by rolling hills with remnant natural forest on steep limestone terrain, surrounded by plantation forest, deforested hills and grassland. Limestone (molave) forest covers c.60% of the park, grassland c.15%, forestry and agro-industrial plantations c.5%, and permanent agricultural areas c.10%. Four natural springs, the Logarita, Anislag, Mabugnao and Aghuban springs, flow down from the park and provide the water supply to the surrounding municipalities. There is a small settlement composed of approximately a hundred households, and about 10% of the park has been converted to agricultural land. The park is an attractive destination for tourists because of the chocolate hill formations, the heavily forested hills and the extensive network of good trails.

Populations of IBA trigger species

Protected areas

Protected area	Designation	Area (ha)	Relationship with IBA	Overlap with IBA (ha)
Rajah Sikatuna	Protected Landscape	11,034	protected area contains site	9,023

Habitats

Other biodiversity The park also holds six species of large mammals: Philippine Tarsier Tarsius syrichta, Long-tailed Macaque Macaca fascicularis, Philippine Flying Lemur Cynocephalus volans, Malay Civet Viverra tangalunga, Common Palm Civet Paradoxurus hermaphroditus and Wild Pig Sus philippensis. Caves in the park are important for bats and swiftlets.

Management considerations There are currently problems in Rajah Sikatuna National Park with the collection of firewood and rattans, the hunting and trapping of wildlife, and the clearance of the forest for kaingin in the eastern portion of the park, although these threats are being controlled by DENR.

Protection status Proclaimed on 10 July 1987 by Proclamation No. 129 and designated as a National Park.

Conservation response The Soil and Water Conservation Foundation, a local NGO, has conducted a nine-month survey and assessment of Rajah Sikatuna, but a management plan has not yet been prepared for the park. The DENR is engaged in an active and successful programme of reforestation around the edges of the park, with large mahogany plantations dating back to the 1960s.

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References Brooks et al. (1995); Lambert (1993).

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Recommended citation  BirdLife International (2013) Important Bird Areas factsheet: Rajah Sikatuna Protected Landscape. Downloaded from http://www.birdlife.org on 20/05/2013

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