Nesting Lowland White-eyes

Most of the migrants have left and it is the time for nesting for Philippine resident birds. We have recently stumbled upon these Luzon endemic Lowland White-eyes nesting in a nature park within busy Metro Manila (the new site for this amazing and uncommon Ashy Ground Thrush). Lowland White-eyes are common Luzon endemics (with a small population in the Lanyu Islands of Taiwan) that are found in forest, forest edge, even in gardens in cities. They move in noisy groups and sometimes in mixed flocks with Philippine Pygmy Woodpecker, Pied Triller, Golden-bellied Flyeater and Olive-backed Sunibird. We have observed at least two pairs of nesting white-eyes in a single tree, with one pair still sitting on the nest (first part of the video) and the other pair with two chicks on the nest. The cup-shaped nest can be found around 3 meters from the ground on a broad-leafed tree beside a small stream. The nest is made of small, dried twigs tightly woven around a small branch of the tree. The parents will first perch on a branch half a meter below the nest and then check out if there are potential threats and then will fly in to the nest and would take turns in delivering small berries to the chicks and would pick up and clean up the chicks' fecal sacs from time to time. Hopefully, in a few more days, the chicks would have fledged (and 3-4 new eggs hatched?) and we will have atleast two more white-eyes in La Mesa EcoPark. 🙂 Lowland White-eye, Zosterops meyeni La Mesa Ecopark, Quezon City,Metro Manila, Luzon, Philippines