New art for Philippine Eagle Week
Did you know that Philippine Eagles have one partner for life? Or that they need an area of forest that is almost three times the size of Makati to survive?
Philippine Eagle Week occurs every year from June 4 to 10, and is meant to help spread word about our National Bird. To help celebrate, I’m posting new illustrations and trivia on Philippine Wildlife Art on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter.
I’ve been designing advocacy materials about Philippine Eagles for 10 years, so I felt this could be another way to help further spread awareness about Philippine Eagles through my personal project at Philippine Wildlife Art.
In an illustration posted during last year’s Philippine Eagle Week or PEW, I shared art showing the word “haribon” in an ancient Filipino script baybayin. Haribon is a contraction of the Filipino word for Philippine Eagle: Haring Ibon or King of Birds.
Since then I’ve been posting artwork of this Critically Endangered species, in addition to over 40 other species found in the Philippines.
In 1995, the Haring Ibon was proclaimed the National Bird under Proclamation No. 615, s. 1995, referred to as a “biological indicator of the quality of our forest ecosystems.” This is true, because according to BirdLife International, each nesting pair needs an average of 6,800 hectares of forest to raise a single chick. This is almost the size of the entire city of Marawi, or about three times the size of the city of Makati.
If the forest has enough food and shelter for growing Haribon families, the forest will continue to support human lives as well.
The Haribon Foundation, named after a contraction of the Philippine Eagle’s Filipino name “Haring Ibon”, has been working to protect Philippine Eagles in the country since 1972. In those days the group was still called the Haribon Society, made up of birdwatchers and volunteers.
It was at Haribon where I would cultivate a passion for Philippine Eagles. As Haribon’s graphic designer for 7 years, I worked alongside Philippine Eagle expert J Kahlil Panopio in conceptualizing materials about the National Bird.
One of my first projects was to create bookmarks marketing the launch of the ‘State of Philippine Birds’ compiled by Kahlil for the Haribon Foundation. “State of Philippine Birds” was a research project that not only published some of the latest data on the plight of the Philippine Eagle, but also a few other threatened birds among the estimated 600 total bird species in the country.
A few years later, I would create my proudest work with consultation from Haribon’s bird experts including Panopio. A Philippine Eagle mascot named Gab-E.
Think about it. There is a bee that represents the Philippines’ most popular fast food chain (Jollibee), and a mouse named Mickey that is one of the world’s most popular cartoon icons for children. But what about a cute animal that is unique to the Philippines, and can be held, hugged, and embraced that also represents the country?
Gab-E, Haribon’s one and only physical mascot, is named after the town of Gabaldon in Nueva Ecija. Haribon had been working with communities there, and it was the Gabaldon community who chose the name Gab-E for the first Philippine Eagle spotted there since 1978: “Gabaldon Eagle.”
For the 25th Philippine Eagle Week in 2023, I’m posting more adorable Philippine Eagle characters based on my work on Gab-E in my personal art project entitled Philippine Wildlife Art. I’ve also printed and framed 4×6 artworks of the digital art, to be displayed among other creations at the Ninoy Aquino Parks and Wildlife Center in Quezon City.
The event begins this June 6 to 9, and is organized by the DENR Biodiversity Management Bureau. With the theme “Isang Libong Obra Para sa Haring Agila” (A thousand works for the Philippine Eagle), the event aims to gather artists and nature lovers around the National Bird.
Learn more about the Philippine Eagle, and the many artworks to be displayed, this Philippine Eagle Week at the Ninoy Aquino Parks and Wildlife Center in Quezon City, this June 6 to 9. Organized by the DENR Biodiversity Management Bureau in partnership with the Philippine Eagle Foundation, Philippine Fauna Art Society, Fernando B. Sena, Buenas Artes Art Facility, and the Haribon Foundation.
The proceeds from the artist registration fees will be used to assist communities in baranggay Salaysay, Davao City, where five (5) nesting sites of the Philippine Eagle are found.