Tag Archives: palawan

Enchanting El Nido episode 9 – Palawan hornbill

Enchanting El Nido episode 09 – Palawan hornbill
El Nido Resorts
El Nido, Palawan, Philippines

The Palawan hornbill, scientific name Anthracoceros marchei, is locally called a kalaw. It’s a medium-sized hornbill thats black all over except for the white tail. Males are larger and have reddish-brown eyes, while females are smaller and have dark gray-brown eyes. The Palawan hornbill is a noisy bird that can be found in all forest storeys, secondary growth, mangroves, cultivated land, and bushlands close to forests. It is a Palawan endemic, found only in mainland Palawan, the Calamian island group, and the Balabac island group. If you’re staying in Lagen Island Resort, the Palawan hornbills loud calls will serve as your own personal wakeup call as this bird begins its day at first light.

Palawan hornbills mainly eat fruit, but insects and lizards are also sometimes eaten. Pairs live in large tree holes well above the forest floor. During breeding season, the male locks the female inside the tree hole by blocking the entrance with feces and mud, leaving only a small opening for the females beak. During this time, the female is fully dependent on the male to feed her while she sits on the eggs full-time.

Sadly, the Palawan hornbill is now classified as vulnerable its numbers are decreasing because of logging and forest clearing, hunting for food and sport, and trapping for the pet trade. Hornbills are particularly affected during breeding season as capturing the males and cutting down large trees kills the females and chicks trapped inside tree holes.

Despite this alarming trend, there is still hope. We can all help in saving the Palawan hornbill in our own way. Don’t buy souvenirs such as hornbill feathers. Report pet shops that sell these birds. Its when we work together that we achieve something great.

Hornbill footage shot in Lagen Island Resort, El Nido, Palawan, Philippines

Host:
Kring Soriano
Environmental Officer

Opening animation:
Stompworks Studios
http://www.stompworks-studios.com

Created by:
El Nido Resorts
http://www.elnidoresorts.com

Enchanting El Nido episode 8 – giant trevally, scad, and bumphead parrotfish

Enchanting El Nido episode 8 – giant trevally, scad, and bumphead parrotfish

A voracious predator of fishes, the giant trevally (Caranx ignobilis) is the largest species of jackfish, growing to over a meter in length and prized as an angling fish for its fighting ability. They are supersonic swimmers of the open ocean and outer reefs, and are primarily pelagic. The Miniloc Resort House Reef is actually one of the only places in the Indo-Pacific where you can be assured of seeing these amazing animals on a regular basis.

At dusk, the giant trevally can usually be seen making rapid swimming passes through the school of ox-eye scads (Selar crumenophthalmus) at the Miniloc Resort House Reef, attempting to eat individuals. Though not a particularly colorful fish, the ox-eye scad is nonetheless very impressive when encountered in large schools of hundreds to thousands of individuals, including the resident school off the Miniloc Resort lagoon. They may not look it, and they may not particularly act it, but the giant trevally and the ox-eye scad are actually relatives, belonging to the same family Carangidae.

They may have the name of a bird, but parrotfishes most certainly belong in the sea. They got their name from their teeth, which have been fused into powerful beaks for rasping filamentous algae from the external skeletons of dead corals. The bumphead parrotfish (Bolbometopon muricatum) is the largest among the parrotfishes and is actually one of the largest reef fishes around, growing to a maximum size of over one a half meters in length. As with other parrotfishes, the bumphead parrotfish begins its adult life as a female, then later grows into a mature male with the characteristic bony protuberance on its forehead. Bumpheads can usually be found in large, noisy herds of 10 to 100 individuals that graze on algae on coral rock. While feeding, they ingest large amounts of calcium carbonate which they later defecate as crushed, white coral sand. In one year, a single parrotfish can convert as much as five tons of coral into sand, generating most of the sand associated with tropical reefs and beaches.

 

 

Host:
Rima de Dios
Environmental Officer

Fish footage:
University of the Philippines Marine Science Institute
http://www.msi.upd.edu.ph
(shot in South Miniloc and Miniloc Front dive sites)

Opening animation:
Stompworks Studios
http://www.stompworks-studios.com

Created by:
El Nido Resorts
El Nido, Palawan, Philippines
http://www.elnidoresorts.com

Enchanting El Nido episode 7 – Snake Island

Coming from Miniloc or Lagen Island Resort, it takes approximately 30 to 45 minutes to reach Snake Island by boat. The boat ride is the perfect opportunity to fully appreciate El Nido’s wonderful seascape as you pass by one majestic limestone cliff after another. In fact, it would seem that in no time at all, you’ll arrive at your destination.

The island gets its rather menacing name not because it is riddled with snakes, but because of the S-shaped sandbar that snakes its way from the island and connect it to the mainland. The sand bar is more clearly visible during low tide and people can actually walk across from one end to the other if the tide is low enough. It was formed by two opposing currents that met and deposited sand at their meeting point, giving it its characteristic shape.

The soil in Snake Island is very rich in heavy metals, making it toxic for the majority of plants. It is also quite poor in nutrients. Thus, only plants with a high tolerance for phytotoxic metals can survive. Also, carnivorous and parasitic plants with supplementary forms of nutrition aside from photosynthesis, such as the pitcher plant (Nepenthes philippinensis) and devil’s gut (Cassytha filiformis) can be found colonizing the area. The forest is dominated by stunted trees of Palawan mangkono (Xanthostemon speciosus). These trees, also called Palawan ironwood, are endemic to Palawan and produce some of the hardest woods in the Philippines, making them valuable sources of timber.

After a five-minute hike and without even breaking a sweat, you reach the view deck which offers a stunning view of Bacuit Bay.

El Nido Resorts
Miniloc and Lagen Islands
El Nido, Palawan, Philippines
http://www.elnidoresorts.com