Image courtesy Asian Bird Fair

The 1st Asian Bird Fair will be held in Davao City later this year in conjunction with birdwatching clubs from: Thailand, Malaysia, Taiwan, China and Singapore. The plan is to promote birdwatching as a eco-adventure, recreational sport and to: encourage international friendship, collaboration and the exchange of experience & best practices among the birdwatching clubs of Asia; foster bird-watching as an eco-tourism activity; highlight bird festivals, bird fairs and bird races in the Asia region; and, promote the host cities/countries – their natural beauty, eco-adventure activities, wild bird conservation and cultural heritage.

In conjunction with the 1st Asian Bird Fair, a birdwatching adventure tour will take place in the forests and wetlands of the provinces of Bukidnon and Surigao del Sur, to the North & West of Davao City.

The Philippines Tourism Minister, Joseph “Ace” Durano, was in the U.K. recently, extolling the virtues of birdwatching vacations around the Philippines. There is no doubt that the Philippine islands, and nearby Borneo, offer some of the most exciting and diverse environments where to photograph some of the World’s rarest birds.

Anecdotal evidence collected during the past decade suggests that the Philippines in particular is enjoying a resurgence in many bird populations. For example, just last weekend, on Manila Bay, a unusually large flock of 228 birds, identified as black-napped terns, was observed frolicking and fishing about two miles out from the Manila Yacht Club.