Country/territory: Philippines
IBA criteria met: A1, A2 (2001)
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Area: 11,683 ha
Site description (2001 baseline)
Mt Balatukan is in eastern Misamis Oriental Province, in north-eastern Mindanao. It rises steeply to a long ridge with several peaks of almost 2,000 m and one of 2,442 m. The mountains retain extensive forest cover, and old growth forest is estimated to cover 6,500 ha. This is mainly montane forest, including mossy forest. The extent of primary lowland forest has been greatly reduced by logging and kaingin activities, and in 1997 this forest type was reported to be almost absent from the mountain. There are some areas of residual forest and cogon grassland.
Key biodiversity
Several of the threatened and restricted-range species of the Mindanao and Eastern Visayas Endemic Bird Area have been recorded on or near to Mt Balatukan, mainly during a collecting expedition to nearby Civoleg and Daggayan in 1961. There are several recent records of Philippine Eagle from the vicinity of the mountain, and it is likely that the forests there support a significant population of this critically endangered bird. The extensive montane forests in the IBA are likely to prove to be important for many more species of conservation concern. A subspecies of Snowy-browed Flycatcher, Ficedula hyperythra daggayana is only known from Daggayan.
Non-bird biodiversity: There have been no surveys of the mammals on the mountain, but it may support many of the endemic Mindanao species which occur at high elevations.
Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2024) Important Bird Area factsheet: Mount Balatukan (Philippines). Downloaded from
https://datazone.birdlife.org/site/factsheet/mount-balatukan-iba-philippines on 22/11/2024.