My species lives in one country, which means means that we are endemic, and we only live on 4 of the Philippine Islands: Mindanao, Luzon, Leyte, and Samar. My ancestors used to inhabit all of Philippines, but increasing deforestation rates have diminished our habitat to just these four islands. I live on Mindanao, the biggest neighborhood of Philippine Eagles, and my wife and I are about to have our first child. Our nest is on a Zam tree, and just like everyone else's; it is about 35 feet over the forrest floor. Built by my parents, a lifelong couple, it is a big home compared to other birds around here: 1.2 meters x 1.2 meters, and the biggest one I've seen in 1.2 meters x 2.7 meters. I was raised is my nest by my mother, who spent 2/3 of her time in the nest with me, a very small nest, and it took 5 months for me too become independent and leave. (That is the average) Other Philippine Eagles have their nests on the sides of cliffs. One of my best friends, Carter, lives in the Cabuaya Forest, a forest dedicated to Philippine Eagles. It is 17,300 acres.
I am on the top of the food chain, meaning no one eats me, but for the past generations, humans have killed a lot of us- too many. 4 Eagles have been reportedly shot in Mindanao, and 3 young eagles have died from hunting traps. There are only 6 pairs of us on Leyte, and only 2 pairs of my species on Samar. On Luzon, there is probably about 52 pairs, while on Mindanao, the most populated, there is 53. A lot of us are located on Mount Apo, the most densely populated area for my species, but we are spread out over a range of about 146,000 square kilometers. Unfortunately, our total population trend is extremely dangerous: rapid decline. As the demand for timber increases with the human population, my habitat goes with it, so these lumbers are killing off my entire species.
My family is good friends with George and his family, they’re Hornbills. Sometimes we take their food, and they take ours. It is a mutualistic and symbiotic relationship! The Zam tree and our nest provide an example of a commensal relationship: We put our nest in the tree, and the tree isn’t affected. We always bring something back to our nest, and there are two different ways to get it. We can hunt with a partner, when one of us flies ahead as a decoy, and the other snatches up what we want. Or we can hunt by ourselves, which is more likely. We fly from tree to try searching for critters that could be hiding in one, if we find one, and then we use our big beaks and huge claws to pry the prey into exposure. I prefer to hunt alone, and my favorite is monkey, but we eat whatever is available, which makes us_____. Our menu ranges from frogs and snakes to monkeys and flying lemurs.
There are some limiting factors that limit my population. The independent ones consist of the forest and prey. As the amount of forest, or living space, decreases, our population decreases too. It limits the amount of Philippine Eagles born! When the forest is cut down, our preys’ habitats are destroyed too. So we do not have as much food. A dependent factor could be the deadly parasite called domanila s.p. It spreads throughout our population and has killed several of us already. In fact, my father died because of it. He died at age 28 even though we usually live from 25-60.