|Location||Philippines, Region IV|
|Central coordinates||120o 24.00' East 13o 29.00' North|
|IBA criteria||A1, A2|
|Altitude||0 - 1,515m|
|Year of IBA assessment||2001|
Site description Mt Calavite is on a mountainous headland at the north-western tip of Mindoro Island. Until recently the area was a wilderness, with the north and north-west sides forested to the beach, but much of the forest has been cleared for agriculture. There are now large tracts of cogonal grassland, with second growth lowland forest patches confined to gullies and very steep slopes. Several hundred families reside inside Mt Calavite National Park, and most of them are engaged in farming. The area also has some value as a watershed and water source for the small town of Paluan.
Key Biodiversity Several of the threatened and restricted-range lowland forest species of the Mindoro Endemic Bird Area were collected on the west slope of Mt Calavite in the past. Although the area of lowland forest which remains there is probably small, it is likely that these forests are still important for the conservation of the highly threatened Mindoro endemics that are confined to lowland forest.
Non-bird biodiversity: There have been recent reports of sightings of the Mindoro endemic Tamaraw Bubalus mindorensis in Mt Calavite National Park.
|Species||Season||Period||Population estimate||Quality of estimate||IBA Criteria||IUCN Category|
|Mindoro Bleeding-heart Gallicolumba platenae||resident||2001||present||-||A1||Critically Endangered|
|Spotted Imperial-pigeon Ducula carola||resident||2001||present||-||A1||Vulnerable|
|Mindoro Hornbill Penelopides mindorensis||resident||2001||present||-||A1||Endangered|
|Scarlet-collared Flowerpecker Dicaeum retrocinctum||resident||2001||present||-||A1||Vulnerable|
|Protected area||Designation||Area (ha)||Relationship with IBA||Overlap with IBA (ha)|
|Mount Calavite||Wilderness Sanctuary||18,150||protected area contains site||5,000|
|IUCN habitat||Habitat detail||Extent (% of site)|
|Artificial - terrestrial||-|
Protection status Mt Calavite and FB Harrison were declared together as a game refuge and bird sanctuary by virtue of Executive Order No. 9 on 28 January 1920. They are now proposed as a wildlife sanctuary under the NIPAS. Mt Calavite National Park (17,000 ha) was declared by Executive Order No. 9 on 26 January 1925.
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Recommended citation BirdLife International (2015) Important Bird Areas factsheet: Mount Calavite Wildlife Sanctuary. Downloaded from http://www.birdlife.org on 05/03/2015
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