Avian Diversity in Mt. Matutum Protected Landscape, Philippines

This study was conducted to assess the species diversity and endemism of birds in Mt. Matutum Protected Landscape (MMPL). A combination of mist netting and transect walk methods was done in the six sampling sites of MMPL. Eighty-one bird species belonging to nine orders and 35 families with 35 endemic species consisting of 30 Philippine endemic and five Mindanao endemic (43.21% endemism) were documented. Species richness, abundance, and endemism were recorded to be higher in site 4 (undisturbed lowland dip-terocarp forest) while higher species diversity was recorded in site 2 (disturbed montane forest). The Philip-pine endemic species, Macronous striaticeps (brown tit-babbler) was the dominant and most abundant spe-cies. Bray-Curtis cluster analysis showed that sites 3 and 6 had the highest similarity percentage (>48%) while Kruskal-Wallis test showed no significant difference between samples in disturbed and undisturbed sites. One vulnerable species, Ficedula basilanica (little slaty flycatcher) was recorded in sites 2, 4, and 5. Hunting and conversion of forest to farmland were the observed threats to the birds of MMPL.The presence of vulnerable species, the moderately high number of endemic species, and the presence of disturbance in-dicate the strong need for protection of the bird fauna and bird habitats in MMPL.