Dulungan hornbill count climbs to 68 amid Panay threats

By Albert Balbutin Jr., Haribon Foundation

Community volunteers and conservation groups counted 68 Rufous-headed Hornbills, locally known as Dulungan, in the Central Panay Mountain Range on Aug. 21, 2026.

The figure marks the third year of the coordinated annual count, following 62 birds tallied in 2024 and 59 in 2025.

The Central Panay Mountain Range, a Key Biodiversity Area, is the last refuge on Earth for the species, scientifically named Rhabdotorrhinus waldeni.

“Numbers are stable but not yet showing a certain upward trend,” said David Quimpo, Conservation Research Manager at the Haribon Foundation.

“More community work and Dulungan counts must be made in the coming years,” Quimpo said. “Due to their small numbers and limited area they are still considered Endangered on the IUCN Red List and Critically Endangered in our Philippine Red List.”

The Philippine Red List is established under Department of Environment and Natural Resources Administrative Order 2019-09.

An estimated 1,000 to 3,000 mature Dulungan remain worldwide, with more than 95% of the global population concentrated in Central Panay.

The species is already considered extinct in Guimaras and functionally extinct in Negros.

The International Union for Conservation of Nature Red List downlisted the Dulungan from Critically Endangered to Endangered in October 2025, citing a slower rate of population decline over a 25-year period.

The change was attributed to sustained conservation work by Haribon, the Philippine Biodiversity Conservation Foundation, the Philippine Initiative for Conservation of Environment and the People, and the Provincial Government of Antique.

Quimpo said the downlisting does not mean the species is safe.

“With the current threats faced by the species in Panay Island, which is the only island where the species is considered as functionally breeding… downlisting may give an impression that the species is now doing okay, which is not true due to the new arising threats across its range,” Quimpo said.

Among those threats are wind energy project proposals covering portions of Ibajay in Aklan and Pandan in Antique, both inside the Key Biodiversity Area where Dulungan are found.

Haribon said in a statement that renewable energy development should avoid intact forest habitat.

“We should not destroy critical habitats that hold carbon and provide us with water to produce clean power,” the organization said.

“True climate solutions protect biodiversity by placing clean energy projects on already degraded lands or near existing urban areas, ensuring we don’t destroy one natural defense to build another,” Haribon said.

Three road network projects are also under way across the mountain range: the Pandan-Ibajay road, the Laua-an-Capiz road, and the Valderrama-Lambunao road in Iloilo.

Haribon acknowledged that roads connect communities to schools, markets and other services, but said they can also fragment forests that provide water and other ecosystem services.

“To protect both people and nature, we need a middle ground,” Haribon said. “This includes identifying low-impact routes that connect people without endangering the forests around us.”

Illegal pet trade remains an additional threat, though most reported cases involving Dulungan have been caught locally within the Philippines. Other Philippine hornbill species have been documented in international wildlife trafficking cases.

This year’s count included locals from Culasi and Sibaste, among the sites with the highest historical Dulungan numbers, Quimpo said.

“We were also joined by locals from Culasi and Sibaste, which are sites considered areas with the most numbers of Dulungan from previous studies,” Quimpo said. “The northern portion of CPMR is considered a stronghold of the Dulungan’s remaining population.”

The northern Central Panay Mountain Range spans Sebaste and Culasi in Antique, and Malinao and Madalag in Aklan.

The Sebaste local government declared a Critical Habitat in surrounding forests following Haribon’s ForClim project in 2013, and local communities have continued annual counts there since.

Known locally as “Farmers of the Forest,” Dulungan disperse seeds throughout their habitat, supporting overall forest health.

During breeding season, Dulungan pairs seal the female inside natural tree holes, including those in large balakbakan trees (Shorea negrosensis), leaving a narrow opening through which the male delivers food until the chicks fledge.

Conservationists say formalizing the Central Panay Mountain Range as a Protected Area under the National Integrated Protected Areas System Act of 1992 and the Expanded NIPAS Act of 2018 remains a critical step to secure the species’ habitat and shared watersheds.

“Coordination and agreement from different government agencies such as the DENR, NCIP, as well as LGUs are key towards the declaration of CPMR as a Protected Area,” Quimpo said.

“Currently, most of the LGUs are supportive, and we have assisted the DENR in drafting the bill for CPMR, but further consultation and coordination with local IP groups is needed,” Quimpo said.

Portions of the proposed protected area lie within the ancestral domain of Indigenous peoples’ communities.

Once the bill is finalized, communities plan to lobby a member of Congress to sponsor it for legislation.

The annual count is part of Haribon’s Safeguarding Central Panay Mountain project, which is supported by Rainforest Trust and BirdLife International and works with Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities, local governments and the public.

This year’s count was conducted with Haribon, Conservation International-Philippines, the Philippine Biodiversity Conservation Foundation, the Philippine Initiative for Conservation of Environment and the People, DENR PENRO Antique, CENROs Culasi and Belison, Sibalom Natural Park, Northwest Panay Peninsula Protected Landscape, and the University of Antique-Tibiao Campus.