|Location||Philippines, Region X|
|Central coordinates||125o 4.00' East 8o 44.00' North|
|IBA criteria||A1, A2|
|Altitude||0 - 2,442m|
|Year of IBA assessment||2001|
Site description Mt Balatukan is in eastern Misamis Oriental Province, in north-eastern Mindanao. It rises steeply to a long ridge with several peaks of almost 2,000 m and one of 2,442 m. The mountains retain extensive forest cover, and old growth forest is estimated to cover 6,500 ha. This is mainly montane forest, including mossy forest. The extent of primary lowland forest has been greatly reduced by logging and kaingin activities, and in 1997 this forest type was reported to be almost absent from the mountain. There are some areas of residual forest and cogon grassland.
Key Biodiversity Several of the threatened and restricted-range species of the Mindanao and Eastern Visayas Endemic Bird Area have been recorded on or near to Mt Balatukan, mainly during a collecting expedition to nearby Civoleg and Daggayan in 1961. There are several recent records of Philippine Eagle from the vicinity of the mountain, and it is likely that the forests there support a significant population of this critically endangered bird. The extensive montane forests in the IBA are likely to prove to be important for many more species of conservation concern. A subspecies of Snowy-browed Flycatcher, Ficedula hyperythra daggayana is only known from Daggayan.
Non-bird biodiversity: There have been no surveys of the mammals on the mountain, but it may support many of the endemic Mindanao species which occur at high elevations.
|Species||Season||Period||Population estimate||Quality of estimate||IBA Criteria||IUCN Category|
|Philippine Eagle Pithecophaga jefferyi||resident||2001||present||-||A1||Critically Endangered|
|Spotted Imperial-pigeon Ducula carola||resident||2001||present||-||A1||Vulnerable|
|Ceyx melanurus||resident||2001||present||-||A1||Not Recognised|
|Blue-capped Kingfisher Actenoides hombroni||resident||2001||present||-||A1||Vulnerable|
|Azure-breasted Pitta Pitta steerii||resident||2001||present||-||A1||Vulnerable|
|Philippine Leafbird Chloropsis flavipennis||resident||2001||present||-||A1||Vulnerable|
|IUCN habitat||Habitat detail||Extent (% of site)|
|Artificial - terrestrial||-|
Protection status The CENRO offices of Gingoog City and Cagayan de Oro City have proposed the Mt Balatukan range for protection as a Natural Park under the NIPAS.
References Haribon Foundation (1998).
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Recommended citation BirdLife International (2016) Important Bird and Biodiversity Area factsheet: Mount Balatukan. Downloaded from http://www.birdlife.org on 27/05/2016
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