• Summary
• Text account
• Data table and detailed info
• Map
• Reference and further resources

Site description (2001 baseline)
Mt Isarog is a large, isolated peak in Camarines Sur Province, on the Camarines Peninsula in southeastern Luzon. The mountain is a dormant volcano that rises to 1,976 m. The vegetation there includes parang grasslands mixed with patches of secondary forest from the lowlands to 900m, lowland forest below about 1,000m, and montane forest above about 900 m,including mossy forest above 1,500 m. However, most of the remaining forest is montane, with closed canopy lowland forests restricted to very steep slopes within a narrow band around 890-1,000 m. There is limited tourism in the area mainly to Malabsay Falls of Naga City and the sulfur hot spring of Hiwacloy. Poor roads and security problems related to insurgency are major factors in limiting tourist numbers.

Key biodiversity
Many of the threatened and restricted-range birds of the Luzon Endemic Bird Area have been recorded on Mt Isarog, mainly during expeditions in 1961 and 1988. The substantial area of montane forest which remains there is likely to support important populations of montane species, such as the threatened Whiskered Pitta. The area of lowland forest there is now very small, and Mt Isarog has probably lost much of its value for the conservation of lowland forest birds. The sightings of Philippine Cockatoo in 1988 are particularly interesting, as they represent one of the very few recent records of this rapidly declining species on Luzon.

Non-bird biodiversity: Mt Isarog supports the only known population of the Isarog Shrew-Mouse Archboldomys luzonensis, Isarog Striped Shrew-rat Chrotomys gonzalesi, and Isarog Shrew-rat Rhynchomys isarogensis, as well as many other threatened Luzon endemics, including the Southern Luzon Giant Cloud Rat Phloeomys cumingi.

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Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2024) Important Bird Area factsheet: Mount Isarog National Park (Philippines). Downloaded from https://datazone.birdlife.org/site/factsheet/mount-isarog-national-park-iba-philippines on 23/12/2024.