Of all the trees of the forest some stood among others that grows more than 400 feet in height and even younger trees of this specie stood at 20 feet that it would tend to capture people's attention.

These trees are known as 'Toog' (pronounced as to-og) in our local dialect or the Philippine rosewood, a type of hardwood which are commonly found on the lowlands near the ricefields and hills.

Some of them grow above the hills facing the sea, noting the type of soil these trees prefer, they are also self-seeded and was never planted by people.

I used to think this tree are the king of all the forest trees as photogenic they could be but they might be.

Is a Hardwood

To-og, a prefered hardwood in making roofing trusses, it is known for its pinkish small grained hardwood that would take 20 years to tame before it would stop fighting against nails or the sudden temperature changes of the roof.

In cutting this wood, only a few wood-cutters would dare for it's tall and hard to reach branches would often be a challenge to someone who seek this prized wood.

Also, the trees of our forest are protected from our local government and only a few of softer wood trees are allowed to be brought down.

The Home of the Eagles

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There are a lot of reasons why eagles choose this tree as its nesting site, apart from its smooth unclimbable trunk and awe inspiring height, there might be an unkown reason why that only those who dared to meet eagles knew like in one instance of my childhood we peaked at their nest and realized why.

Beyond the swampy rice fields, sharp grasses, steep hills, and untamed vines lies the eagle's nest.

And for the first time in my entire existence I came witness their natural home.

It was a normal day on one of our summer break when we visit our orchard far beyond the hills, I was twelve then and very eager to explore my own world, the opposite hill where our neighbors planted sweet potatoes and cassava were for some reason was chosen by this majestic creatures to nest.

Along with my siblings we dared to climb our neighbor's steep hill more than once even if our mother told us not to.

As eager as we are we took the risk of climbing a 30 feet tall coconut tree growing beside a Toog tree.

Our friend told us this hidden gem in their property, the eagle's nest, that is probably two generations old counting the age of the tree where the nest was.

The eagles have been nesting there for a long time and in that time we've seen them with their two chicks.

As a girl who stayed indoors so often and out only when at school it was a little bit too much to climb a tree high above a steep hill just to see the eagles but I tried still out of a spurt of the moment.

At that age I climbed a shorter coconut trees but not a tall tree so tall and I knew it would take all of me in climbing that tree.

Little did I know it had became a core memory of my childhood seeing the eagles upclose at 20 feet high above the tree and almost 70 feet above ground, the view was entirely different from there, I can see the entire Camotes sea, the next villages, the Mt. Pangasugan upclose, and the eagles.

The nest was built on top of the trunk where the main trunk separates into multiple stem sheilding the nest from wind and rain, a cluster of twigs formed the nest where two chicks laid and as the mother eagle noticed our presence it drops down from flying to guard the chick.

One of the little eagle was bigger than the other and as I observed them the mother eagle was glaring at me with its penetrating glare as I stared at them.

It took me minutes to finally accept the glare and went down of the tree.

We took turns in observing the eagles, and as we all decided to go down the hill, all of us were glad we climbed and dared to meet the majestic creatures of the forest.

The Philippine eagles are one of the tallest among the eagles and had longest wingspan.

I used to dislike the muddy fields, the sharp grasses, the ticks and the snakes in the forest but as I've observe the eagles I realized that they need the trees, the grass, and the forest to survive.

The forest is their home.

And I'm glad I met them in this lifetime, to see them upclose in their vulnerable state and approach them without being attacked.

I always dreamt of a life like this--to be a part of an adventure, to rise and soar with the eagles.

I thought of flying too if given a chance, I climbed trees since I was four but it had thrills in it similar to climbing mountains like a rush of adrenaline or a pump of happy hormones.

Perharps I climbed trees at a young age for a reason--and it is to see the eagles one day, the majestic creatures of the wild.

Disclaimer: I researched about Toog and Philippine eagles on google. No eagle was harmed in our visit, we merely looked. I don't have pictures of them but there are other eagles living nearby now too but it needs telescope to view them.

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ABOUT ME

@janesuiren is an introverted night owl who enjoys coffee a lot. An otaku and a foodie, she also lives inside the stories she dreams to publish one day. You can catch her admiring her rainy and picturesque hometown in Western Leyte, Philippines.

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