Urban Birding in LPPCHEA

This is a late narrative of a quick urban birding in Metro Manila particularly in Las Pinas-Paranaque Critical Habitat and Ecotourism Area (LPPCHEA). That was out of my 2-day round table meeting in Intramuros for our latest project on School of Living Tradition conducted by the National Commission for Culture and the Arts. So, doing a birding in a highly urbanized metropolis seemed not a good idea at all until I learned of this mangrove reservation area located north of coastal Manila highway.

I was in a hurry to catch up with an early morning taxi ride from my hotel in Intramuros in order not to squeeze in to the traffic game in Manila. It was only a 10-kilometer distance from Intramuros but the travel was around 40 minutes and yes, it was still dark in the area when I arrived. This time, I thought of blaming google for not giving enough information (as usual) of the protocols in going to LPPCHEA. Just when I was about to enter the reforestation site I was advised by the security guard to secure a permit first from the DENR office, which means I had to go back to Quezon City for the permit and then back again, otherwise I could not get inside the park.

Meanwhile, PPCHEA is a Protected Area as declared within the coasts of Las Pinas and Paranaque in Metro Manila. It is one of the very few birding sites in Manila, and is considered a critical habitat for variety of wildlife before it was considered for ecotourism purpose.

I spared the most important part of LPPCHEA, a site considered as an abode of the Philippine Duck, and just settled for a roadside birding in the place they call Freedom Trail.

From this point there are waders and other water birds dwelling. Below are some of the pictures I took, most of them just along the Freedom Trail of around 700 meters walk to and from the LPPCHEA entrance point.

I suspect there are a lot more inside and I could have recorded other special species inside had I been allowed to get into the denser portion of the mangrove forest. Nonetheless, it was a good consolation to do birding in Manila. At least LPPCHEA is a good venue for several birds to survive in a very complicated capital city.