Surprisingly loud chirps accompany a clumsy flurry of tiny wings as a wispy-haired chick breaks through its shell, its birth offering rare cause for celebration in the struggle to save the Philippine eagle from extinction.

Tropical rain forest destruction and relentless hunting have decimated the population of the majestic bird - one of the world's biggest and most powerful - with just hundreds believed to be left in the wild.

A small band of conservationists at a tiny sanctuary on the fringes of Davao, the southern Philippines' biggest city, is trying to ensure their survival by running the world's only breeding program for the eagles and by rehabilitating the wounded.