BIODIVERSITAS ISSN: 1412-033X Volume 23, Number 2, February 2022 E-ISSN: 2085-4722 Pages: 671-678 DOI: 10.13057/biodiv/d230208 Diversity and conservation status of avifauna in Mount Lantoy Key Biodiversity Areas (KBA) in Cebu Island, Philippines ARCHIEBALD BALTAZAR B. MALAKI 1,2,4, , STEVE MICHAEL T. ALCAZAR 1,2,4, , EDGARDO P. LILLO 1,3,4  , RAAMAH C. ROSALES 4,5, , BERNARDO R. REDOBLADO 1,4 , JOHN LOU DIAZ 1,4 1 Cebu Technological University, Forestry Department, College of Agriculture, Forestry and Environment (CAFÉ). Purok Tabay, Minglanilla 6646, Cebu, Philippines. Tel. 032-490-2235,  email: archiebaldbaltazar.malaki@ctu.edu.ph 2 School of Environmental Science and Management (SESAM), University of the Philippines Los Banos (UPLB). College, Laguna 4301, Philippines.  email: stevemichael.alcazar@ctu.edu.ph 3 College of Forestry and Natural Resources (CFNR), University of the Philippines Los Banos (UPLB). College, Jose R Velasco Avenue, Laguna 4301, Philippines.  email: edgardo.lillo@ctu.edu.ph 4 Cebu Technological University (CTU), Department of Science and Technology (DOST), Niche Centers in the Regions (NICER). Lamacan, Argao 6021, Cebu, Philippines 5 Cebu Technological University. Main Campus, Cor. M.J. Cuenco Ave., R. Palma St., Cebu City 6000, Philippines.  email: raamah.rosales@ctu.edu.ph Manuscript received: 24 October 2021. Revision accepted: 15 January 2022 Abstract. Malaki ABB, Alcazar SMT, Lillo EP, Rosales RC, Redoblado BR, Diaz JL. 2022. Diversity and conservation status of avifauna in Mount Lantoy Key Biodiversity Areas (KBA) in Cebu Island, Philippines. Biodiversitas 23: 671-678. A study on the bird community in Mount (Mt.) Lantoy Key Biodiversity Areas (KBA) was carried out to determine its diversity and conservation status to conserve, protect, and rehabilitate forest habitat within the KBA. The study was conducted across three sampling sites. By using transect, point count, and mist nets, we found 1,340 individuals belonging to 31 orders, 32 families, and 44 species within the study sites. There were five dominant bird species, i.e., Hypsipetes philippinus (J.R.Forster, 1795), Phapitreron leucotis (Temminck, 1823), Psilopogon haemacephalus (P.L.S.Müller, 1776), Nectarinia jugularis (Linnaeus, 1766), and the endangered Kittacincla cebuensis (Steere, 1890). We also found rare bird species within the study site, such as Haliastur indus (Boddaert, 1783), Geopelia striata (Linnaeus, 1766), Monticola solitarius (Linnaeus, 1758), Oriolus chinensis (Linnaeus, 1766), Dendrocopos maculatus (Scopoli, 1786), Pycnonotus goiavier (Scopoli, 1786), and Rallina eurizonoides (Lafresnaye, 1845). We also found six Philippine endemics, including K. cebuensis, Ninox rumseyi (Rasmussen et al. 2012), H. philippinus, D. maculatus, Loriculus philippensis (Statius Muller, 1776), and Caprimulgus manillensis (Walden, 1875). Based on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, two species are Endangered, and 42 species are Least Concern (LC). Using the "Checklist of the Birds of the Philippines," we found two species are Endangered, two species are Near Threatened, and 40 species are LC. The diversity of birds in Mt. Lantoy KBA was moderate. We considered that this KBA is highly exposed to various forest or habitat disturbances such as land-use conversion, charcoal making, firewood gathering, slash-and-burn method of cultivation, and infrastructure development. There is a need to strictly implement the policies governing the utilization of forest resources to augment the diversity of the study site. Keywords: Cebu Island, conservation status, diversity and composition, Key Biodiversity Area, Mount Lantoy, point count method INTRODUCTION With over 20,000 endemic species, the Philippines is considered one of the 17 “megadiversity” countries, of which the country collectively claimed two-thirds of the earth’s biological diversity (Mittermeier et al. 1999). However, as one of 34 global biodiversity hotspots, the high biodiversity and endemism of the Philippines are under an elevated level of threats (Conservation International 2009; Obeña and Buot 2019). Among the significant islands of the Philippines, Cebu is regarded as one of the baldest islands in the Central Visayas (Collar et al. 1999). The Cebu Island has a forest cover of less than 1% of its total land coverage (Mallari et al. 2001). Birdlife International (2012) recorded 604 bird species in the country, and two of these species and 12 subspecies are endemic to the Island, making Cebu one of the nine Endemic Bird Areas (EBA) in the Philippines (Collar et al. 1999; Mallari et al. 2001). The nearly complete deforestation of Cebu Island has seemingly led to numerous birds and other wildlife (Brooks et al. 1995). Mount (Mt.) Lantoy Key Biodiversity Areas (KBA) is identified as one of the 117 Important Bird Areas (IBA) in the Philippines by the Haribon Foundation (2014) and Birdlife International (2012). This KBA, located in the southern part of Cebu, particularly in Argao municipality, was ranked 106 th of the 206 Conservation Priority Areas (CPA) (Conservation International 2009). Because of the presence of globally threatened species of the country, including the Cebu black-shama Kittacincla cebuensis (Steere, 1890), Cebu hawk-owl Ninox rumseyi (Rasmussen et al. 2012), Everett's white-eye Zosterops everetti everetti (Tweeddale, 1878), and White-vented whistler Pachycephala homeyeri (W.Blasius, 1890) (Dutson et al.