Street sweepers save rare eagle

CLARK FREEPORT, Pampanga, Philippines  – An unknown variety of eagle was saved from large crows attacking it here at about Monday morning and brought to a private ranch for animals for treatment and recovery.

Vivencio David Jr., senior environment officer for parks and ecosystem of the Clark Development Corp. (CDC), said the eagle, which measures about one and a half feet long from tail to beak, had plucked feathers from both its wings but is in good health. The eagle has a white head and brown body.

Street sweepers initially spotted the eagle near the presidential Bahay na Puti, dubbed as the Malacañang of the North during the Arroyo administration, and four large black crows were attacking the eagle. 

The population of crows, which vanished during the eruption of nearby Mt. Pinatubo in 1991, has again surged and they are at times seen to fly in huge groups within the free port. 

In residential areas, the crows, some of them said to be more than a foot long, have been noted to carry off stray cats and then drop them afterwards. 

David said the street sweepers shooed off the crows which ganged up on the eagle, unable to fly after some of its wing feathers were plucked out by its attackers. 

He commended the sweepers for saving the eagle and turning it over to his office. “The eagle was already disabled but it was putting up a brave fight against the attacking crows, so we decided to name it Tapang. I think it was a case of turf war, as crows are known to be territorial,” David said.

He said Tapang was turned over to the management of Paradise Farm, a private tourism firm which also keeps animals, located at the Monicayao settlement for Aeta tribal folk within the Sacobia reservation of this free port.

David said that crows, known as scavengers, have apparently made the free port their territory amid the availability of scrap food from picnickers in parks, as well as other food from garbage cans of residents.

The birds have been noted to spill garbage containers outside households here. Crows are believed to have the capability to distinguish one individual from another and can bear a grudge when wronged.