PH037
Mount Calavite


Country/territory: Philippines

IBA criteria met: A1, A2 (2001)
For more information about IBA criteria, please click here

Area: 5,000 ha

Haribon Foundation

Site description (2001 baseline)
Mt Calavite is on a mountainous headland at the north-western tip of Mindoro Island. Until recently the area was a wilderness, with the north and north-west sides forested to the beach, but much of the forest has been cleared for agriculture. There are now large tracts of cogonal grassland, with second growth lowland forest patches confined to gullies and very steep slopes. Several hundred families reside inside Mt Calavite National Park, and most of them are engaged in farming. The area also has some value as a watershed and water source for the small town of Paluan.

Key biodiversity
Several of the threatened and restricted-range lowland forest species of the Mindoro Endemic Bird Area were collected on the west slope of Mt Calavite in the past. Although the area of lowland forest which remains there is probably small, it is likely that these forests are still important for the conservation of the highly threatened Mindoro endemics that are confined to lowland forest.

Non-bird biodiversity: There have been recent reports of sightings of the Mindoro endemic Tamaraw Bubalus mindorensis in Mt Calavite National Park.


Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2024) Important Bird Area factsheet: Mount Calavite (Philippines). Downloaded from https://datazone.birdlife.org/site/factsheet/mount-calavite-iba-philippines on 22/11/2024.