3 weeks ago
12
Upgrade to High-Speed Internet for only ₱1499/month!
Enjoy up to 100 Mbps fiber broadband, perfect for browsing, streaming, and gaming.
Visit Suniway.ph to learn
Cristina Chi - Philstar.com
March 10, 2026 | 3:31pm
Philippine Eagle chick 32 as shown in the file photo.
Philippine Eagle Foundation
MANILA, Philippines — The Philippine Eagle Foundation has named its newest hatchling Bayani, the first chick the foundation has announced since two consecutive hatchling losses in 2024 and 2025.
Bayani, the 32nd chick in PEF's conservation breeding program, is the offspring of Philippine eagles Dakila and Sinag and was produced through cooperative artificial insemination at the National Bird Breeding Sanctuary in Davao City. The name, which means "hero" in Filipino, was chosen by adopter Nico Herth, owner and CEO of German firm Procon Grumbach.
PEF announced the name of the chick today at three months old. Its two predecessors did not survive that long.
Chick 30, the first eagle ever hatched at the breeding sanctuary, died on Nov. 29, 2024, at 17 days old. A necropsy pointed to yolk sac retention, a bacterial condition. The chick had developed labored breathing and sneezing three days before it died.
Riley, or Chick 31, lasted roughly three months. PEF had called Riley's January 2025 hatching its first documented unassisted natural hatch in nearly four decades of conservation work. But the chick died in April, and a necropsy later found signs of infection and a compromised immune system.
Both deaths led PEF to review its health and nutrition protocols.
The Philippine eagle Sinag fathered all three chicks — Chick 30 with a female named Pin-pin, and both Riley and Bayani with Dakila.
The Philippine Eagle is classified as critically endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature, with an estimated 400 breeding pairs left in the wild across Mindanao, Luzon, Samar and Leyte.
The species takes five to seven years to reach sexual maturity and produces only one egg every two years.
Habitat loss from illegal logging and land conversion continues to shrink the forest range each pair needs to survive.
