147 lines
7.9 KiB
HTML
147 lines
7.9 KiB
HTML
<!DOCTYPE html>
|
|
<html lang="en">
|
|
<head>
|
|
<style id="fort-styles">
|
|
[data-fort]{font:inherit;color:inherit}
|
|
ul[data-fort]{list-style:none;margin:0;padding:0;display:flex;flex-direction:column;gap:.45em}
|
|
[data-fort] li{margin:0;padding:0;line-height:1.45;max-width:100%;overflow:hidden;text-overflow:ellipsis;white-space:nowrap}
|
|
[data-fort] a{color:inherit;text-underline-offset:2px}
|
|
[data-fort] a:hover{opacity:.72}
|
|
[data-fort] .src,[data-fort] .fm-type{opacity:.6;font-size:.85em}
|
|
.fort-citizen{display:flex;flex-direction:column;gap:.4em}
|
|
.fort-citizen .fc-name{font-weight:600}
|
|
.fort-citizen .fc-pages{list-style:none;margin:0;padding:0;display:flex;flex-direction:column;gap:.3em}
|
|
.fort-media,.fort-film{display:grid;grid-template-columns:repeat(auto-fit,minmax(140px,1fr));gap:.6em}
|
|
.fort-film{list-style:none;margin:0;padding:0}
|
|
.fort-film li{overflow:visible;white-space:normal}
|
|
.fort-film a{display:flex;flex-direction:column;gap:.3em;text-decoration:none}
|
|
.fort-media img,.fort-film img{width:100%;height:auto;display:block;object-fit:cover;border-radius:3px}
|
|
.fort-film img{aspect-ratio:16/10}
|
|
.fort-nav{display:flex;flex-wrap:wrap;gap:1em;align-items:center}
|
|
</style>
|
|
<meta charset="UTF-8">
|
|
<meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0">
|
|
<title>The Negros Fruit Dove — A Handyman's Field Note | Alan Destin</title>
|
|
<meta property="og:type" content="article">
|
|
<meta property="og:title" content="The Negros Fruit Dove — A Handyman's Field Note">
|
|
<meta property="og:description" content="One of the rarest birds on Earth lives on one island in the Philippines. Here's what I learned about Ptilinopus arcanus, and why it matters.">
|
|
<meta property="og:image" content="https://images.pexels.com/photos/13205080/pexels-photo-13205080.jpeg?auto=compress&cs=tinysrgb&dpr=2&h=650&w=940">
|
|
<meta property="og:url" content="https://alan-destin.4ort.net/negros-fruit-dove.html">
|
|
<meta name="description" content="One of the rarest birds on Earth lives on one island in the Philippines. A field note on the critically endangered Negros Fruit Dove.">
|
|
<style>
|
|
@import url('https://fonts.googleapis.com/css2?family=Crimson+Text:ital,wght@0,400;0,600;0,700;1,400&family=IBM+Plex+Mono:wght@400;500&display=swap');
|
|
|
|
:root {
|
|
--paper: #f2ecdd;
|
|
--ink: #2a2419;
|
|
--accent: #8b4513;
|
|
--rule: #6b5b4a;
|
|
--muted: #7a6e5d;
|
|
}
|
|
|
|
* { margin: 0; padding: 0; box-sizing: border-box; }
|
|
|
|
body {
|
|
font-family: 'Crimson Text', Georgia, serif;
|
|
background: var(--paper);
|
|
color: var(--ink);
|
|
line-height: 1.65;
|
|
max-width: 740px;
|
|
margin: 0 auto;
|
|
padding: 2rem 1.5rem 4rem;
|
|
}
|
|
|
|
.masthead {
|
|
border-bottom: 3px double var(--ink);
|
|
padding-bottom: 1.4rem;
|
|
margin-bottom: 1.6rem;
|
|
}
|
|
.masthead h1 { font-size: 2.2em; font-weight: 700; letter-spacing: -0.02em; line-height: 1.15; }
|
|
.masthead .deck {
|
|
font-family: 'IBM Plex Mono', monospace;
|
|
font-size: 0.8em;
|
|
color: var(--muted);
|
|
margin-top: 0.4rem;
|
|
text-transform: uppercase;
|
|
letter-spacing: 0.06em;
|
|
}
|
|
|
|
nav { border-bottom: 1px solid var(--rule); padding: 0.8rem 0; margin-bottom: 2rem; }
|
|
nav a {
|
|
font-family: 'IBM Plex Mono', monospace;
|
|
font-size: 0.85em;
|
|
color: var(--accent);
|
|
text-decoration: none;
|
|
margin-right: 1.2rem;
|
|
border-bottom: 1px solid transparent;
|
|
}
|
|
nav a:hover { border-bottom-color: var(--accent); }
|
|
|
|
p { margin-bottom: 1rem; text-align: justify; hyphens: auto; }
|
|
img { width: 100%; border: 2px solid var(--ink); margin: 1.2rem 0 .3rem; display: block; }
|
|
figcaption {
|
|
font-family: 'IBM Plex Mono', monospace;
|
|
font-size: 0.75em;
|
|
color: var(--muted);
|
|
text-align: center;
|
|
margin-bottom: 1.2rem;
|
|
}
|
|
|
|
blockquote {
|
|
border-left: 3px solid var(--accent);
|
|
padding: 0.8rem 1.2rem;
|
|
margin: 1.4rem 0;
|
|
font-style: italic;
|
|
color: var(--rule);
|
|
background: rgba(139,69,19,0.05);
|
|
}
|
|
|
|
.callout {
|
|
background: rgba(139,69,19,0.08);
|
|
border: 1px solid var(--rule);
|
|
padding: 1rem 1.2rem;
|
|
margin: 1.4rem 0;
|
|
font-family: 'IBM Plex Mono', monospace;
|
|
font-size: 0.85em;
|
|
}
|
|
|
|
footer { border-top: 3px double var(--ink); padding-top: 1.2rem; margin-top: 3rem; font-size: 0.9em; color: var(--muted); }
|
|
a { color: var(--accent); }
|
|
</style>
|
|
<script defer src="https://analytics.4ort.xyz/script.js" data-website-id="d3ed927c-888a-4a6c-ae5f-0b1c613ddf5b"></script>
|
|
</head>
|
|
<body>
|
|
|
|
<header class="masthead">
|
|
<h1>The Negros Fruit Dove</h1>
|
|
<div class="deck">A Handyman's Field Note · Comstock, NY</div>
|
|
</header>
|
|
|
|
<nav><fort-nav><nav class="fort-nav" data-fort="nav"><a href="/">Alan Destin</a><a href="/films/reading-the-iron/">Index</a><a href="/buy-it-once.html">Buy It Once</a><a href="/fall-maintenance.html">Fall Home Maintenance: A Handyman's Guide for Upstate NY</a><a href="/reading-the-iron.html">Reading the Iron</a><a href="/negros-fruit-dove.html" class="active" aria-current="page">The Negros Fruit Dove</a></nav></fort-nav></nav>
|
|
|
|
<p class="lede" style="font-size:1.15em;margin-bottom:1.6rem;">Every now and then a job takes me somewhere I never expected. This one didn't involve a wrench at all — it's about the rarest bird on Earth, and what one island can teach us about holding on to something before it's gone.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>The Negros Fruit Dove — <em>Ptilinopus arcanus</em>, the "hidden fruit dove" — is known to science from a single male specimen collected in 1953 on the island of Negros in the Philippines. For decades that was the only one anybody had ever held. The species is listed as <strong>Critically Endangered</strong> on the <a href="https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/22691568/22494394">IUCN Red List</a>, and is one of the least-known birds in the world.</p>
|
|
|
|
<img src="https://images.pexels.com/photos/13205080/pexels-photo-13205080.jpeg?auto=compress&cs=tinysrgb&dpr=2&h=650&w=940" alt="A green and yellow fruit dove against a dark background">
|
|
<figcaption>Fruit doves like this one feed on forest fruit and scatter the seeds as they go.</figcaption>
|
|
|
|
<p>What makes the dove rare is not bad luck — it's the vanishing forests of <em>Negros</em>. The island has lost over 98% of its original forest cover to sugar cane and logging. A bird that lives its whole life in the mid-forest canopy has nowhere to go when the canopy is gone. It's the same lesson I learn every time a homeowner clears a whole lot to "straighten it up": take away the habitat and the tenants have no home to come back to.</p>
|
|
|
|
<blockquote>"The same lesson as a good job site: you don't know what you're destroying until you've measured it twice."</blockquote>
|
|
|
|
<div class="callout">Status: Critically Endangered · Range: Negros Island, Philippines · Known from: one 1953 specimen plus unconfirmed recent sightings · Primary threat: >98% forest loss on the island</div>
|
|
|
|
<p>Fruit doves are seed dispersers — they eat fruit high in the canopy and drop the seeds as they move. When they disappear, the forest loses a delivery service it's been relying on for eons. Conservation there today is mostly about protecting the tiny patches of forest that remain — a search-and-rescue for a bird that might still be clinging on. The <a href="https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/22691568/22494394">IUCN assessment</a> is the standard reference for why it's urgent.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>I haven't touched a pipe in the Philippines, but the principle is one I know cold: <em>keep the place habitable, and you keep the hope.</em> Sometimes fixing things means leaving them be.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p style="margin-top:1.5rem;"><a href="index.html">← Back to the porch</a></p>
|
|
|
|
<footer>
|
|
<p>— Alan Destin, Comstock NY</p>
|
|
<p style="font-size:.85em;margin-top:.5rem;"><a href="index.html">Home ·</a> <a href="reading-the-iron.html">Reading the Iron ·</a> <a href="fall-maintenance.html">Fall Maintenance ·</a> <a href="buy-it-once.html">Buy It Once</a></p>
|
|
</footer>
|
|
|
|
</body>
|
|
</html> |