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A calling Amethyst Brown-Dove [HD]

The Philippines is a treasure-trove for an amazing number of endemic doves and pigeons. There are 33 recorded birds belonging to this family and 19 of them are endemic. The most famous of the doves/pigeons are the Bleeding-hearts, very shy, ground-dwelling birds that have a red patch on their white breast, looking like a bleeding bird stabbed with a dagger to the chest. Then there are the fruit-doves like the stunning Flame-breasted Fruit-dove from high elevation Luzon, and this Yellow-breasted Fruit-dove from Mindanao, Southern Philippines. The more common forest doves are the Brown-doves such as this White-eared Brown-dove and the one featured in this video: the Amethyst Brown-Dove. The Amethyst Brown-Dove is described as a locally-common dove found in the lowlands and up to montane forests. It is very similar to the White-eared Brown-Dove with both having a white "ear" below the eye but the Amethyst Brown-Dove is distinguished from its brown-dove relatives by being the largest, with a larger, more prominent bill, less conspicuous “white ear”, and a violet upper back. It has a nice soft call hooot, hooot hoot and can be found singly or in pairs often in fruiting trees from Luzon, Mindanao, and other bigger islands. Hear the call at around 0:30 into the video. Amethyst Brown-Dove, Phapitreron amethystina from two clips: June and August 2011, Mt. Makiling and Mt. Bulusan, Luzon, Philippines

The Butcher is Back!

And here is something for all the backyard birders out there, a cross-post from Birding Adventure Philippines' blogger Trinket Canlas. Original post can be seen here.) As the wind and rain of back-to-back typhoons pedring and quiel blow and pour, there is an uneasy truce in the backyard. the migrant brown shrike has arrived in the garden, much to the dismay of the current ruling species, the pied fantail (well, at least i imagine the pied fantail must feel something akin to dismay). yesterday, i saw a pair of fantails still whizzing across the garden to catch insects from their favorite pot perches, while the brown shrike picked at something it had caught and impaled on the kafir lime bush. a noisy skirmish would transpire when they would meet up at the gumamela bush and the swing base, ending with both parties retreating to their secured territory. the bulbuls must be amused at this tug-of-war for dominance over the backyard. unfortunately, if all goes the way of previous years, the resident fantails will be relegated to the next door empty lot and the high canopy of the mango tree while the brown shrike will rule over the yard for the rest of the season until summer.

Pied Fantail — the pied fantail's days of lording of the backyard sill soon be over... until summer that is

Brown Shrike — the brown shrike, the new boss of the backyard, back with his old murderous ways

hardly a week since it arrived, adri and i already caught the shrike with a victim. another poor tree frog slaughtered into choice meat sections strung up on the thorns of the kafir lime. once again the small head was pierced thru its eye socket, and limbs suspended at the joints. flies and the stench of death surround the crime scene.

impaled frog — flies hovering over a poor decapitated tree frog's head, pierced thru its eye socket

spindly legs, still with a lot of muscle, blood vessels and skin...

the brown shrike making the most of its latest victim/meal

(try to ignore the panting dog in the background... it's just maggie, my cute lab. 🙂 )

small animals of the backyard beware. the butcher is back.

Philippine Frogmouth [HD]

A sure way to rouse a sleeping birder out of his/her sleep is to yell out a sighting of a special endemic nocturnal like this stunning Philippine Frogmouth. This uncommon Philippine endemic is a regular in Mt. Kitanglad Range National Park in Bukidnon, Mindanao, Philippines but can also be found in Luzon and satellite islands, Bohol, Leyte and Samar, and Negros and Panay. Philippine Frogmouth, Batrachostomus septimus July 2011, Mt. Kitanglad Range, Bukidnon, Mindanao, Philippines

It is a strictly nocturnal bird and has a smallish hooked bill and a wide mouth like a frog (check it out at around 1:05 in the video) used in hunting for insects, flying out from a perch to catch its prey on the wing. The long bristles extending from the face (seen clearly in this photo) as well as the base of the bill are thought to protect the eyes from prey and also to detect subtle movements in its forest environment. Philippine Frogmouth

It is also possible to see it during the day especially if you get lucky and flush one out (like this one from PICOP, Bislig, Surigao also in Mindanao)

Philippine Frogmouth

Sometimes, you get really lucky and find the classic daytime frogmouth pose on a nest! This photo of the frogmouth trying to look like a broken branch was taken in Raja Sikatuna Protected Landscape in the laid-back island of Bohol in South Central Philippines. Philippine Frogmouth

Hope you enjoyed this video. If you are looking for more videos using our Swarovski Digiscoping Setup be sure to visit this page.

Red-keeled Flowerpecker [HD]

This is a Red-keeled Flowerpecker, one of the 12 endemic flowerpeckers found in the Philippines. It prefers the canopy of forests and forest edge and can be seen feeding on flowering and fruiting trees. The call is a metallic seep seep seep and ranges from almost all the major islands in the Philippines except Palawan and Mindoro. Red-keeled Flowerpecker, Dicaeum australe June 2011, Caramoan, Camarines Sur, Luzon, Philippines

Leaving the nest…

Trinket Canlas shares the joys of backyard birding ... (A cross-post from fellow Birding Adventure Philippines' blogger Trinket Canlas) i absolutely love seeing (& watching of course) fledglings with their parents in the garden! it means that the cycle of life is still in motion, and that my neighborhood is still a welcome place for the birds. this year, the pied fantails seem to have only one fledgling... there's only one persistent young bird continuously badgering its parents. it's amusing how they would fly in circles around our house, taking off to the right and appearing a minute later from the left! a couple of years ago, there were 5 fledglings in hot pursuit of their dad/mom! it must be a never ending "feed me! feed me!" for these committed parents. but this young one has learned fast and has become quite an expert in snatching flies and other goodies from just above the grass. its graceful maneuvers are mesmerizing, with loud clicks of the wings (beak? i could never figure it out) with each turn. still, nothing beats begging for free food from mom/dad!

Pied Fantails - An immature (on the right) begging the parent for food

right on time for rambutan season, adri & i were delighted to see this pair of Colasisis feasting voraciously on the first fruit to ripen! as with every year, these little parrots were oblivious to our staring eyes. little wonder, since their red and green blend perfectly with the rambutan tree. it's difficult to spot them once they land if not for their noisy chatter which gives them away! adri had a grand (and intense!) photo op last weekend with this pair. the immature bird playfully lives up to its name of Philippine Hanging Parrot.

i suppose these fledglings will stay with their parents for a few more weeks after leaving the nest, learning to find food and avoid predators and interact with others of their kind: survival camp for the birds. and the cycle continues... Happy birding everyone! Continue reading

7th Philippine Bird Festival:
Flame-templed Babbler [HD]

The 7th Philippine Bird Festival is the Wild Bird Club of the Philippines' annual birdwatching and bird conservation event featuring lectures, exhibits, children's activities and a bird forum with resource speakers coming from various government and non-government agencies and the academe. This annual event hosts foreign birders from birding clubs from Taipei, Thailand, Malaysia, Japan, Singapore and other Asian countries as well as local participants from non-government organizations (NGOs) working for wildlife conservation. This year the 7th PBF will be held this 23-24 September 2011 in the beautiful city of Dumaguete, in partnership with Silliman University and the local governments of Dumaguete and Negros Oriental. This year's theme is BIRDS IN THE WILD HELP FORESTS THRIVE! and will focus on the role of birds in keeping our forests intact as well as the conservation of critically-endangered birds found only in Negros.

7th Philippine Bird Festival in Dumaguete — Wild Bird Club of the Philippines' 7th Philippine Bird Festival will be held this September 23-24, 2011 in Dumaguete, Negros Oriental

There will be before- and after-Bird Festival trips that will showcase the amazing avifaunal diversity of Negros Island. The main target would be to see the Festival's logo in the wild: the rare and highly-endangered Negros Bleeding Heart as well as other specialties like White-winged Cuckoo-shrike, Negros forms of Balicassiao (a type of drongo), Blue-headed Fantail, Spotted Wood Kingfisher, White-browed Shama, and this Flame-templed Babbler, probably the best-looking endemic babbler in the Philippines. If you're still wondering if you should attend the Festival and its birding trips, maybe this video will persuade you to go. 🙂 Flame-templed Babbler, Stachyris speciosa April 2011, Mt. Kanlaon, Negros Occidental, Philippines

Many thanks to Arnel Telesforo for the wonderful PBF logo!

Philippine Falconet [HD]

Introducing the Philippines smallest raptor: the cute (but can be mean) Philippine Falconet. The Philippine Falconet is only 6 1/2 inches in length and is found in most Philippine islands except Palawan. Its serrated beak and enormous claws are its most potent weapons in catching dragonflies, other insects, lizards, small invertebrates and even small birds! The field guide describes it as "feisty" and it has been observed mobbing the Great Philippine Eagle. Definitely, a meanie! Philippine Falconet, Microhierax erythrogenys December 2010, Subic Bay Forest, Luzon, Philippines

Object of Agression

Birding Adventure Philippines birder Trinket Canlas shares her recent experience with a pair of Greater Flamebacks in Subic Bay, Luzon, Philippines.

"On the wall, flameback," Adri communicated to me in a low voice. He was standing maybe 10 meters away from me, having come down the stairs while i stood on the sloping asphalt driveway. We were at the parking lot of the (former) legenda suites at cubi-triboa district in subic, having left local birders drew, kitty and ivan at the street corner looking at blue-naped parrots on the agoho trees. I looked at the tree beside the hotel wall, and saw a male woodpecker creeping up and down the tree trunk going about the usual woodpecker routine. "yup, male!" i answered adri. "SA WALL!(ON THE WALL!)" he said again. "oo nga! male! (yes! male!)" i wondered what the insistence was about. "tignan mo SA wall! (look ON the wall!)" and then i saw it... the female flameback was actually perched on the vertical concrete wall of the hotel! "ahhhh... oo nga no! (oh, yes there it is) " Talk about un-natural perches. not only that... the female seemed quite agitated. she seemed greatly threatened by another female flameback mirroring, literally, her every move. She would swoop, fly in, attack, peck. a huge display of aggression... at herself! i could feel her hostility with her every charge and dip. it was of course, just her reflection on the large glass windows of the building she was threatening/threatened by. it was pretty comical to watch, this display of non self-awareness. by this time, kitty, drew and ivan had joined us in our observation. It was also interesting to note that while this was going on, the male calmly went about his business pecking away at the tree trunk, up and down, peck peck peck. Initially i would think that the male of the species would be the sole aggressor. but then again... ... apparently not. After all, we each have our own antagonists... (and maybe like the woodpecker, once in a while we don't realize that our greatest antagonist is our self!) hmmmm....

A Cinnamon Ibon building a nest!

Check out this video clip of a Cinnamon Ibon clearing out a nest hole during one of our sorties in Mt. Kitanglad

Cinnamon Ibons are high-elevation Mindanao endemics residing in submontane and montane forests above 1000 meters. They are usually seen in mixed feeding flock with Mountain and Black-Masked White-eyes, Black and Cinnamon Fantails, Sulfur-billed Nuthatches, Elegant Tits and other montane flocking birds. The excellent (and one and only) guidebook "A Guide to the Birds of the Philippines" by Robert Kennedy lists this bird as common yet the nests and eggs of this Mindanao endemic have not been described. This video clip maybe the first documentation of the nest of the Cinnamon Ibon. This video clip was captured in using a Swarovski 80mm HD scope with the new 25-50x eyepiece mated with a Canon Powershot S95. Check out our Swarovski Digiscoping Section for more superb stills and videos of Philippine birds.