These islands, in the centre of the Philippine archipelago north of Panay (see EBA 152, also for map), have been identified as a Secondary Area on account of three restricted-range species which occur there (and elsewhere, but with no clear affinities to any one other EBA): Mantanani Scops-owl Otus mantananensis, also occurring on small islands off Palawan (EBA 156), the Sulus (EBA 155) and Borneo (Secondary Area s097); Streak-breasted Bulbul Ixos siquijorensis (classified as Endangered) which is extinct on Cebu (EBA 153) and also occurs on Siquijor (Secondary Area s096); and Celestial Monarch Hypothymis coelestis (Endangered), patchily distributed on Luzon (EBA 151) and Mindanao (EBA 154), possibly extinct on Negros (EBA 152) and present in the Sulus (EBA 155). The widespread Rufous-lored Kingfisher Todirhamphus winchelli (Endangered) has also been recorded on these islands. There is forest left on Sibuyan (100-150 km², over half of the island's land area); the island rises to a considerable altitude (2,050 m), but logging severely threatens remaining areas of lowland forest (Goodman and Ingle 1993; see also Goodman et al. 1995).

Stattersfield, A. J., Crosby, M. J., Long, A. J. and Wege, D. C. (1998) Endemic Bird Areas of the World. Priorities for biodiversity conservation. BirdLife Conservation Series 7. Cambridge, UK: BirdLife International.

Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2025) Endemic Bird Area factsheet: Tablas, Romblon and Sibuyan. Downloaded from https://datazone.birdlife.org/eba/factsheet/394 on 04/01/2025.