Olango Island Wildlife Sanctuary, Philippines

Olango island is a sanctuary of the largest concentration of migratory birds in the Philippines. So far, there are 97 species of these birds are in the island, half of which are migratory and the rest are resident birds.

I was asking the people there in the sanctuary if I was on timing with the migration and I learned that the birds are flocking to the area between September to November and from February to April. As he was explaining, he pointed to me the bird resting on a branch just above my head. ( See the picture above). I can’t get a clearer picture because the bird was behind the leaves.

This is the observatory deck. You should bring powerful lens to get an excellent zoom portrait of the birds. My visit was a little bit off season so, I didn’t get much view of the birds.

Low tides are the best times to come here so, timing is very important to watch them en masse. They feed on small fish, snails, worms and other marine lives left on the sand flats after the water has receded. There were egrets, dowitchers, sandpipers, and plovers species that were sighted.

Seldom do I find fishes in an aquarium at the places I visited. Olango island is the exception. My guide took me here in Asinan, Sabang to view some species of decorative fishes. There were a lot of fishes but I selected only a few colorful ones to be photographed.

The walkway to and from the pier of Olango.

Tricycles and motorcycles abound just before you exit from the pier.

In the background is Lapu-Lapu city as seen from Olango island.

-oOo–

• Asinan
• decorative fishes
• DENR
• dowitchers
• egrets
• low tide
• migratory birds
• Olango island
• plovers
• Sabang
• sandpipers
• wildlife sanctuary