Setting Footprints: Why sayaw birds are in Mindanao

THE PLIGHT OF FEATHERED SALIVA WEAVERS

When night came, the sayaw birds took refuge perching on live distribution power lines in the town proper of ‪ Bansalan‬, Davao del sur.

Stay away from beneath the wires, or else you will got marked of birds' poop. I got one on my left arm when I just passed by. The next day, this spot of town smelled like hell.

The busyadors (bird's nest gatherer) and the local government of El Nido, Palawan now wondered where their birds are as they now experienced a rapid decline of bird nests production. Well, the feathered saliva weavers are now wandering south of Mindanao, some of them are shown in the photos here that I took during one of my travels in Davao del Sur. In the past, I saw also a big flock of this bird perching all over the power distribution wires in Pueblo, Zamboanga City of westernmost part of Mindanao. This year, a big swarm of them were seen flocking in the city proper of Digos City of Davao del sur and in Valencia City of Bukidnon. A big flocks were also reported seen in Cebu City, which could be on a stopover on their way to Mindanao.

A phenomenal displacement of sayaw birds from El Nido forcing a swarm of these saliva weavers to wander off all over Mindanao as if they were shooed or pushed away by a huge unseen force

It seems that the swarm of balinsasayaw birds were shooed or pushed away by a huge unseen force in Palawan or nearby surroundings. I doubt this was caused by the intense heat we recently experienced this summer end. I'm rather bothered and wondering about how gigantic the magnetic disturbances and intense radar radio waves were produced by the electronic surveillance installations of the world's superpowers in the West Philippine Sea (South China Sea) in their quest for reconnaissance in manipulation with their ultimate ultra-high-powered toys. Could it be only a coincidence that while tensed situation in the West Philippine Sea has escalated that birds were scampering away from Palawan. Our weather condition could have been affected also. It's getting erratic that tornadoes, huge downburst, and abrupt whips of so strong wind drafts are now here.

Let's call the animal behavior scientists and electro-radiation physicists to shed us light on how modern weapons tweaked the pulses of electromagnetic waves, radio waves, and infused radiation. Who cares if these would affect radically the human behavior. We will soon find out the answer when it's already too late. Hala!

Sayaw is also known as the balinsasayaw (swallow/swiftlets) somewhere else in the country

These birds are known to weave their nests using only their own saliva. A large number of them are found in the rocky hillside karts of El Nido and Taytay towns in mainland Palawan. The town of El Nido even got its name from this famed bird nest. El Nido is the Spanish word for "The Nest." The nest is the main ingredient used in making the savored dish called nido soup (nest soup) commonly priced at PHP 200 per soup bowl in some restos in Palawan.

The nests are harvested by the busyadors and sold for PHP80,000 to PHP150,000 per kilogram (as of 2016) depending on their quality. In the market, nests are classified on its quality and graded as primera (Class A), buena (Class B), or segunda (Class C). Those nests that are in bits and pieces are considered in poor quality and are classified as sinisa (Class D).