|Location||Philippines, Region IVa|
|Central coordinates||121o 54.00' East 14o 49.00' North|
|IBA criteria||A1, A2|
|Altitude||0 - 350m|
|Year of IBA assessment||2001|
Site description The Polillo Island group lies about 25 km off the eastern coast of Luzon, and is composed of 24 scattered islands and islets, most of which are inhabited. The largest island is Polillo (76,100 ha), followed by Patnanugan (4,100 ha) and Jomalig. In the 1960s, large scale logging operations stripped the islands of forest. As a result, old growth lowland rainforest is reduced to less than 200 ha on Polillo Island, where primary or disturbed lowland forest is protected in two watershed reserves recognized by DENR (in Polillo and Panukulan), and in a watershed forest in Burdeos. There are areas of degraded forests at Anibawan and Burdeos adjacent to the Panukulan watershed reserve, which is one of the few remaining intact secondary forests in northern Polillo. The watershed reserves are interconnected by patches of second growth along the ridges that form the central mountains of Polillo, which results is a network of forest patches and corridors of secondary forest and second growth vegetation, mixed with plantations. Mt Malulod, the highest point at 350 m, is largely deforested, but a few forest patches survive and many areas are now covered by mixed coconut plantation and secondary forest. On Patnanungan Island, most of the original forest has been converted to coconut plantations, although some isolated patches of lowland rainforest survive, and many of the plantations are now abandoned and being overrun by second growth. Minasawa Island Game Refuge and Bird Sanctuary contains relatively good beach forest. The best quality closed canopy forests in the islands are well protected in the Polillo watershed in the center of the main island, as they provide valuable potable water for the municipality of Polillo.
|Species||Season||Period||Population estimate||Quality of estimate||IBA Criteria||IUCN Category|
|Philippine Cockatoo Cacatua haematuropygia||resident||2001||present||-||A1||Critically Endangered|
|Philippine Duck Anas luzonica||resident||2001||present||-||A1||Vulnerable|
|Chinese Egret Egretta eulophotes||non-breeding||2001||present||-||A1||Vulnerable|
|Ceyx melanurus||resident||2001||present||-||A1||Not Recognised|
|Protected area||Designation||Area (ha)||Relationship with IBA||Overlap with IBA (ha)|
|Polilio||Watershed Forest Reserve||131||protected area contained by site||131|
|IUCN habitat||Habitat detail||Extent (% of site)|
|Artificial - terrestrial||major|
Other biodiversity Mammals recorded in the area include endemic species such as Philippine Brown Deer Cervus mariannus, Philippine Warty Pig Sus philippensis and Large Rufous Horseshoe Bat Rhinolophus rufus. Some of the smaller islands of this IBA are reported to have roosting colonies of flying foxes which may include the threatened endemic Golden-crowned Flying Fox Acerodon jubatus. The coastal areas around this IBA are said to support several species of marine mammals, including the endangered Dugong Dugong dugon. The globally threatened endemic Gray’s Monitor Lizard Varanus olivaceus and Sailfin Lizard Hydrosaurus pustulatus are known to occur in the area. The Green Smooth-scaled Gecko Pseudogekko smaragdinus, Polillo Calotes Calotes marmoratus sanchezi and Polillo Forest Frog Platymantis polilloensis are known only from this IBA.
Protection status This IBA includes Polillo Watershed Forest Reserve and two proposed additional protected areas under the NIPAS, Panukulan Watershed Forest Reserve and Minasawa Island Game Refuge and Bird Sanctuary. Polillo Watershed Forest Reserve was established by virtue of Proclamation No. 72 on 9 August 1966, covering an area of 130 ha. Minasawa Game Refuge and Bird Sanctuary was declared by PWAO No. 7 on 15 September 1964 and covers 4 ha.
References References: Alcala (1986); Alcala and Brown (1998); Gonzalez (1997); Gonzales and Dans (1996).
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Recommended citation BirdLife International (2014) Important Bird Areas factsheet: Polillo Islands. Downloaded from http://www.birdlife.org on 29/08/2014
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