This is a Variable Dwarf Kingfisher, Ceyx lepidus margarethae, one of the seven small kingfishers that can be found in the Philippines. This resident gem is from the endemic subspecies margarethae and can can be found only in the islands of Negros, Cebu, Camiguin Sur, Mindanao and other smaller islands in the central and southern Philippines. Other subspecies of the Variable Dwarf-Kingfisher can be found in the Moluccas and New Guinea. This small, three-toed kingfisher generally prefers a more forested habitat perching low in the undergrowth and flies out fast like a blue bullet to catch insects and grubs on the ground. Unlike its equally stunning cousins the Indigo-banded and Silvery Kingfishers, this kingfisher is usually not associated with water, and usually dives into streams to bathe but not to forage.
Variable Dwarf Kingfisher, Ceyx lepidus margarethae
Mt. Kanlaon, Murcia, Negros, Philippines
This is a Rufous Paradise-Flycatcher, an uncommon Philippine (near) endemic that can be found in Luzon, Mindanao and other bigger islands in the Central Philippines. This individual was videoscoped in the lowland forests of PICOP in Surigao del Sur, Mindanao in one of our tours there this year. This is from the race cinnamomea, ranging in Mindanao and the southern part of the Philippines, while unirufa, the one ranging in Luzon has longer central tail feathers. In Mindanao, they are often found in mixed feeding flocks together with the stunning Celestial Monarch, Short-crested Monarch, Blue Fantail, and sometimes the rare Mindanao Wattled Broadbill.
Meet the Philippines' ultimate forest floor jewel: Whiskered Pitta.
This calling Whiskered Pitta measures 9 inches and is a highly localized and uncommon Luzon endemic. It is the largest pitta in the Philippines (second largest is this equally stunning Steere's (Azure-breasted) Pitta),) and can be found in the mid to high elevation forests of the Sierra Madres, Cordilleras in Luzon. It is almost twice the size of the smaller but similarly-looking Red-bellied Pitta, click for the video here), and prefers to stay in the ground, turning up leaf and forest floor litter in search of worms, insects and other small invertebrates.
This was taken last March in wet and rainy Camp Sawa, Northern Luzon with a group of Singaporean birders. Check out Nicky's hand-held video at around 1:20 with a small compact point and shoot Canon s95. 🙂
Whiskered Pitta, Pitta kochi
Camp Sawa, Penablanca Protected Landscape, Cagayan, Philippines
A continuation of our Camp Sawa series...
A White-lored Oriole singing from the forests of Camp Sawa, Northern Sierra Madre, Cagayan, Luzon, Philippines. In the Philippine's field guide, this is treated as a subspecies of Philippine Oriole, Oriolus steerii but the distinct differences in plumage and calls of this bird make it a good candidate as "bank bird" or an "arm-chair tick" in the future.
It prefers to stay in the canopy of forest and forest edge and feed on a varied diet of fruits, lizards and insects. For those who have limited time and opportunity, the most accessible place to look for this beautiful endemic is in the lowland forests of Subic Bay in Bataan, Luzon.
White-lored Oriole, Oriolus albiloris
Camp Sawa, Penablanca Protected Landscape, Cagayan, Luzon, Philippines
Another bird video from Camp Sawa, Penablanca Protected Landscape, Cagayan.
This is a video of a pair of Golden-crowned Babblers, Stachyris dennistouni, just one of the many birds that can be found in Camp Sawa, the new site in the Sierra Madre Mountains, Northern Luzon, Philippines.
These Golden-crowned Babblers belong to the Timaliidae family, a loose collection of Old World birds, and as one birder has put it: "a dust-bin" for birds who are poorly-known in terms of their genetic lineage. But advances in avian systematics and taxonomy are now placing our Philippine Stachyris babblers (like this stunning Flame-templed Babbler) in the white-eye family, Zosteropidae. The Philippines has around 10 Stachyris babblers (again, depending on the taxonomy) such as this Luzon Striped-Babbler and this Rusty-crowned Babbler , so if the current study holds true, we will lose 10 of our babblers but will have gained 10 new white-eyes! 🙂
Golden-crowned Babbler, Stachyris dennistouni
Camp Sawa, Penablanca Protected Landscape, Cagayan Valley, Luzon, Philippines
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
The Philippines is home to a number of flowerpeckers, small, stout passerine birds, with short thick decurved bills designed for eating small fruits as well as to sip nectar from flowers. They are really small and very active birds and is usually found in a mixed feeding flock together with other birds such as sunbirds, white-eyes, tits and fantails. Here in the Philippines, most flowerpeckers can be seen in the forests , from lowland up to montane areas, while the common ones can sometimes be found in secondary growth and some backyard gardens. They are one of the primary seed dispersal agents for small berries as well as mistletoes, parasitic plants that grow on the crowns of other plant species and depend on birds for propagation.
This one here is a Palawan Flowerpecker carrying a small berry. This one ranges in Palawan only. It is one of the more common flowerpeckers and sometimes it can be seen in the gardens in the capital city of Puerto Princesa.
This is a high elevation Mindanao endemic - Olive-capped Flowerpecker and can be found only in forests above 900 meters. The most reliable site for this flowerpecker is in Mt. Kitanglad Mountain Range, home of the mighty Philippine Eagle.
Then this is probably the most common endemic flowerpecker - Red-keeled Flowerpecker. It ranges all over the country except Palawan and is believed by field biologists to bully the ultra-rare Cebu Flowerpecker in Cebu.
This is a Buzzing Flowerpecker, a fairly drab-looking frugivore that gives a continuous high-pitched buzzing call. It ranges Luzon, Mindanao, Samar and Leyte and Bohol.
This picture is from Mindanao ...
while this video is from Mt. Polis in Luzon. Notice the difference.
Then, there is this Pygmy Flowerpecker, the smallest flowerpecker in the Philippines. It is characterized by its very thin bill, narrow white throat and can be found all throughout the Philippines except in the island of Panay.
There are a few more endemic flowerpeckers like this Flame-crowned Flowerpecker(left) and this Bicolored Flowerpecker(right). The Flame-crowned Flowerpecker ranges in the high elevation mountains of Luzon and Mindanao. The one on the left was taken in Mt. Polis, Luzon while the Bicolored Flowerpecker is a lowland flowerpecker distinguished from the Red-keeled by its very stout bill.
Other endemic flowerpeckers include the Striped Flowerpecker - similar to a Grey-streaked Flycatcher but this one wags its tail sideways - found in most islands through the Philippines; the uncommon lowland fruigivore Olive-backed Flowerpecker - found in Luzon, Mindanao, Samar and Leyte; the ultra rare Cebu Flowerpecker - found only in the remaining forests of Cebu, a small island in Central Philippines; the highly localized Whiskered Flowerpecker found only in the highlands of Mindanao; Scarlet-collared Flowerpecker from Mindoro and Visayan or Black-belted Flowerpecker, a split from Red-keeled Flowerpecker, found in Negros.
There are two non-endemic flowerpeckers: this gorgeous Orange-bellied Flowerpecker ranging from most Philippine islands
And this Fire-breasted Flowerpecker from high elevation mountains of Luzon and Mindanao.
So next time you go out birding, make sure you pay attention to these small flowerpeckers, they maybe your next tick! 🙂
Next post, more videos from this excellent new site in Northern Luzon: Camp Sawa.
This year is probably the best year for the Philippine Eagle-Owl. The year started with a sighting of a family of Philippine Eagle-Owls right in busy Manila, with the mother and father eagle-owl guarding a immature roosting in a planters box (check out Birding Adventure Philippines' Trinket Canlas blogpost about this encounter here). Several of our tours this year also saw these very hard-to-find endemic in its usual habitat - forest and forest edge in Subic. And now, another local birder has reported another Philippine Eagle-Owl family - in a very unusual place - in a rock shelter containing the oldest work of art in the Philippines: the Angono Petroglyphs in Angono/Binangonan, Rizal just in the outskirts of Manila. So for birders going there, you get to see the owl and also the petroglyphs, experiencing both natural and cultural history just in one place.
This is the place for both the oldest works of art and the largest owl in the PhilippinesThere are 127 human and animal figures engraved on the rockwall dating back to 3000 BC.
The Philippine Eagle-Owl is the largest owl in the Philippines, and one of the largest owls in the world. Measuring up to 20 inches, it preys on small rodents like rats, mice and shrews and also small lizards. Check out the skulls from the pellets we have recovered from the site.
A skull, lower jaw and smaller bones of a poor rodent...
This species, just like many of the Philippines' nocturnal birds, is very poorly known with very little information on breeding habits and ecology. In the video, the first part features the adult female guarding the newly-fledged immature from a nearby tree. The immature can be seen at around 2:30 minutes into the video.
Philippine Eagle-Owl,Bubo philippensis
Angono Petroglyphs, Angono, Rizal, Luzon, Philippines
This Indigo-banded Kingfisher is a Philippine endemic found in freshwater streams of Luzon and its satellites, Mindoro, Panay, Negros and Cebu. This little jewel prefers to perch low over water on rocks or branches and dives head first to catch small fish and small crabs. The one in the video is a female individual videoscoped in one of the streams from Mt. Makiling, Laguna, Luzon, Philippines. The male individual has two indigo bands on the breast.
Indigo-banded Kingfisher,Alcedo cyanopecta
November 2011, Mt. Makiling, Laguna, Luzon, Philippines
They say a picture is worth a thousand words. What more if it is a video?!? Especially if it is a video of a pair of one of Mindanao's most sought-after birds: the funky-looking Mindanao Wattled Broadbill. Mr. Broadbill sports a pinkish, light purple breast and belly (real men wear purple!) while Mrs. Broadbill has a plain white breast and belly. They both have light blue bills and legs and of course the striking brilliant blue wattle around their eyes. They are described as uncommon but they are not as easy to see. They are sometimes given away by their noisy wing beats in flight and their loud bill snapping when perched.
Some birders/taxonomists have split this species from the Visayan Wattled Broadbill seen in Bohol, Leyte and Samar. The birds from Bohol and Samar differ from the Mindanao birds by having a light purple wing patch instead of the yellow wing patch as seen here in the video.
This pair was videoscoped in one of our birding tours last January in the forests of PICOP, Surigao del Sur, Eastern Mindanao, Philippines with a Swarovski ATM 80mm HD, 25-50x eyepiece, Canon Powershot S95 with a Swarovski Universal Camera Adaptor.
Mindanao Wattled Broadbill,Eurylaimus steerii
January 2012, PICOP, Surigao del Sur, Mindanao, Philippines
This is a high elevation Mindanao endemic - 
Then this is probably the most common endemic flowerpecker - 
while this video is from Mt. Polis in Luzon. Notice the difference.
Then, there is this 
And this 
So next time you go out birding, make sure you pay attention to these small flowerpeckers, they maybe your next tick! 🙂
Next post, more videos from this excellent new site in Northern Luzon: Camp Sawa.
