No entry
was seen in the census period in the Philippines. However,
one of three birds found in Palawan Island in previous winter
still remained there over the summer and also intermittently
appeared til 25 January 2005.
Unfortunately, the fishpond where the spoonbills were usually
seen had been drained out by the local government on 4 February
2005 (Wild Bird Club of the Philippines). In addition, a
single bird was also seen in Batanes Islands on December
2004 and the previous record in the island was three birds
in 2001. It used to be very few Black-faced Spoonbills recorded
in the Philippines, the present records would be related
to the blooming of the population in recent years.
Moderator notes:
* The Palawan data was courtesy of Arnel Mallari (Iwahig
Penal Colony, Palawan) and sent by SMS monthly to Mike Lu.
Arne Jensen of the WBCP Records Committee wrote the final
report submitted to the Census.
* The Batanes data was sent in by Byron Peralta.
*A copy of the Census was sent to WBCP and can be borrowed
by members.