Balanga holds 5th Ibong Dayo Festival

BALANGA CITY, Bataan – Hundreds of students, birdwatchers and visitors from all walks of life gathered this morning at the Balanga City Wetland and Nature Park for the 5th Ibong Dayo Festival here.

City Mayor Jose Enrique “Joet” Garcia III in his welcome message said more people are now appreciative and concerned of the environment due to the heightened communal activities for migratory birds in Balanga.

Department of Tourism-Regional Director 3 Ronaldo Tiotuico congratulated Balanga City for its recent huge win in the Pearl Awards of the Association of Tourism Officers of the Philippines in Bacolod City. Recently, Balanga City’s Ibong Dayo Festival emerged as the champion among all festivals for city category, followed by San Fernando City, Pampanga’s Giant Lantern Festival.

Dr. Carmela Española of the Institute of Biology in UP Diliman served as guest of honor in the said annual fest. “What distinguishes Bataan from other biodiversity-rich provinces is the escalating citizens’ pride that they are part of this province,” Española said. She also lauded the city for maintaining a healthy ecosystem that serves as habitat for endemic and migratory birds.

In 2011, the DOT has included the villages of Tortugas, Sibacan, and Puerto Rivas, of  this city as among the 13 official bird-watching sites in the Philippines. A tourism guidebook of the bird-watching sites in the country was also launched by the agency on the same year. The wetland park here is the first along the Manila Bay Area where birdwatchers can do birdwatching and have picnic with friends.

Balanga City is one of the favorite stops-over of thousands of migratory birds from Canada, China and other countries making the city the top 1 in bird cencus all over the Philippines.

Annually, the City Government of Balanga along with the Wild Bird Club of the Philippines, Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR)  and other agencies conduct the yearly bird census on January.

Last January 18 of this year, during the census of migratory waterbirds in Barangays Sibacan, Tortugas, Puerto Rivas Lote, Puerto Rivas Itaas, and Puerto Rivas Ibaba, the bird watchers saw Terns, Plovers, Black-winged Stilt, Sandpipers and Little, Intermediate and Large Egret as well as a rarely-seen Chinese Egret, fleeing the cold weather from their country of origin, as among those counted.

The yearly census aims to determine bird population and covers all Asian countries. The first census in the Philippines was conducted in 2004.