We had noticed that Toyota Motor Philippines had advertised its premises on the road to Tagaytay at Sta. Rosa, Laguna as a “bird sanctuary”. We got in touch with one of their Administrative Officers and were told to write to the Toyota Motor Philippines Development Foundation for permission to go birding.

Lala Aguillera, the Company’s forestry officer, was assigned to accompany us. She showed us a planted wooded area to the left of the parking lot near the Tagaytay Road entrance, a landscaped space past a little creek with a man-made lagoon, and a large grassland area which had been partly cleared. We were also driven down a track past another creek to the perimeter fronting one of the phases of Bel-Air Estate. A rather clogged river flowed along the perimeter on this site.

In general the areas that were least disturbed had the most wildlife. The grassland and the mature trees dotting it yielded the biggest number of birds.

Mike pointed out to Lala Aguilera the benefits to wildlife of maintaining the grassland. We recommended the planting of “native” tree species where trees were being grown, particularly fruit-bearing species, including Ficus. No to gmelina and exotic mahogany, we said; yes to native gumamela and Heliconia, . One of Toyota’s environment-related ventures is to plant a tree in the area for every Toyota vehicle sold; this is one of the activities of the company’s Development Foundation.

We also stressed that setting up a “butterfly sanctuary” was not such a good idea. Wild-butterfly gardening was the better bet.

We hope to return to Toyota Sta Rosa, not least to check out the “blue bird” that a company employee had seen while biking in the early morning. And he said there were Colasisis in the trees at the perimeter to see.