Guided Birding and nature tours to the Philippines
Bird Videos
Mr. and Mrs. Mindanao Wattled Broadbill [HD]
Feb 10th
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
Ashy Ground Thrush [HD]
Jan 30th
This is a video of the uncommon and seldom seen Ashy Ground Thrush, Zoothera cinerea from one of our birding tours last November – December 2011. The tour lasted for 21 days and covered the three major islands of Luzon, Mindanao and Palawan as well as the less visited islands of Bohol and Negros.
We discovered the presence of this highly secretive bird in a park within busy Manila last September and we even found a nest with 3 chicks! (Be sure to check the discovery here). As of our latest tour this month, the adult was still seen in the area and so we hope that this little known endemic will still continue to find a safe refuge and stay in the city.
Ashy Ground Thrush, Zoothera cinerea
La Mesa EcoPark, Quezon City, Manila, Philippines, November 2011
Philippine Falconet – 1, Click Beetle – 0
Jan 12th
This is a Philippine Falconet, our country’s smallest endemic raptor, devouring a click beetle. It first started with tearing off the head, then slowly dismembering the poor beetle’s legs while it was still alive and kicking (literally). When the beetle was dead, the cute but deadly falconet started to chow down on the juicy inside of the beetle while clamping anh holding the beetle’s exoskeleton in its powerful claws like a kid holding an ice cream cone.
This endemic is often observed hawking insects from a dead tree outside TREES Hostel right at the start of the Forestry Trail at Mt. Makiling in UP Los Banos. At the time this video was taken, there were a total of 8 falconets perched on the tree!
Philippine Falconet, Microhierax erythrogenys
December 2011, Mt. Makiling Forest Reserve, Laguna, Luzon, Philippines
The Uncommon Little Slaty Flycatcher [HD]
Jan 5th
This is a video of the uncommon Little Slaty Flycatcher, Ficedula basilanica digiscoped in the remaining forests of PICOP, a former logging concession in Surigao del Sur, Eastern Mindanao.
This endemic flycatcher is a lowland Mindanao endemic, preferring the understory of forests and second growth. It has a very soft call and can be a challenge to see and photograph. This individual came quite close during one of our birding tours last December. The male individual came close, preening and showing off its characteristic blue grey plumage and the white spot above the eye. The female individual with rufous plumage shown near the end of the video clip was a lot closer and would not even fit the frame. 
Little Slaty Flycatcher, Ficedula basilanica
December 2011, PICOP, Surigao del Sur, Mindanao, Philippines
Digiscoping a common garden bird:
Pied Fantail [HD]
Dec 15th
This is a Pied Fantail, a common, garden and urban bird in the Philippines. Locally called maria capra, it is very territorial and has been observed to attack cats, even dogs while protecting its air space. It usually perches on exposed branches and flies out to catch insects on the wing.
This was taken from our backyard, where there is an abundance of insects attracted by the poop from Trinket’s two dogs. A couple of years back, whenever the migratory season is in its full swing and the backyard Brown Shrike arrives (see related story here), this Pied Fantail gets bullied and is relegated to the periphery of the yard. But this season, there are now two of them, and they do not allow the Brown Shrike to lord over the garden. In fact, the perch you’re seeing in the video used to be the favorite perch of the Brown Shrike!
This is one of my early attempts in (video) digiscoping with my new rig: a Swarovski ATM 80 HD, 25-50x eyepiece, Swarovski Universal Camera Adapter (UCA) coupled with a Panasonic GF1 and a 20 mm lens.
Interested in digiscoping? Make sure to check our website again soon for a Digiscoping 101 blog post from Filipino premiere bird guide and digiscoper Nicky Icarangal. He will be sharing the basics of digiscoping as well as some techniques and secrets to improve your digiscoping skills. Or just “like” us in Facebook here, so you can receive instant notifications when we update our blog or just subscribe to our RSS Feeds at the bottom of this page.
Hope you enjoy this video and happy birding!
– Adri
Pied Fantail, Rhipidura javanica
December 2011, Manila, Philippines
For more Bird Videos and Photographs, please check out our galleries here.
Pink-bellied Imperial-Pigeon [HD]
Nov 28th
This is one of the uncommon endemic pigeons of the Philippines: a Pink-bellied Imperial Pigeon videoscoped by our lead guide Nicky Icarangal in a birding trip with Singaporean birders (check out a portion of their trip report here) in Mt. Kanlaon, Negros Island, Central Philippines.
It is a big pigeon, measuring up to about 17 inches and is the only pigeon in the Philippines with a green breast and a pink belly. The female Black-chinned Fruit-dove also has a green breast but it is much smaller and the belly is dark green as well. It prefers fruits and will feed singly or with other pigeons or hornbills in feeding trees. It can be found in good intact forests from the lowlands up to 1500 meters in most of the Philippine islands except Palawan. Unfortunately, due to its large size is has become an easy target for hunters and has become particularly rare in Luzon.
Pink-bellied Imperial Pigeon, Ducula poliocephala
April 2011, Mt. Kanlaon National Park, Negros Occidental, Philippines
by Nicky Icarangal using a Swarovski 80mm ATM HD, 25-50x eyepiece, Swarovski Universal Camera Adapter, Canon Powershot S95
Colasisi (Philippine Hanging Parrot)
Nov 25th
This is a video of a pair of Colasisis, sometimes called Philippine Hanging Parrots. They are the smallest parrots in the Philippines with an average length of only 6 inches. These cute, little green bullets are found in most islands in the Philippines (except Palawan). They live in a variety of habitats; from lowland forests up to 1000 meters, mossy forests up to 2500 meters, even in wooded parks and gardens in the cities.
Both male and female have red patches on the forehead but only the males have a red patch on the breast while the female has blue patches near the eyes. These parrots feed on blossoms and juices from flowering and fruiting trees like coconuts, bananas, fig trees, and this rambutan tree in the video.
Colasisi (Philippine Hanging Parrot), Loriculus philippensis
October 2011, Quezon City, Philippines
a family of Black-chinned Fruit-Doves
Nov 3rd
This is a video of a family of Black-chinned Fruit-doves seen during one of our sorties in one of our favorite birding destinations in Luzon: Mt. Makiling.
The Black-chinned Fruit-dove is one of the 19 endemic doves / pigeons in the country. Their soft and hollow rooooooo can sometimes be heard resonating in the lowland forests of all the major islands in the Philippines. The field guide lists this bird as an uncommon; the best way to look for this endemic is to find fruiting trees in the forest where they feed regularly.
The first part of the video shows an immature while the adults can be seen in the later part. The adult male is white on the head and the neck/upper breast (seen on the right side) while the female with the greenish neck is a bit hidden on the branches on the left. You can also hear a Spotted Wood Kingfisher calling in the background.
Happy birding!
Black-chinned Fruit-doves, Ptilinopus leclancheri
May 2011, Mt. Makiling Forest Reserve, Luzon, Philippines
Red-bellied Pitta: Jewel of the Philippine Forest Floor [HD]
Oct 20th
Pittas belong to this majestic, very colorful group of birds that live on the moist tropical rainforest floors of Asia, Australia and Africa. They are brightly adorned with different shades of red, green and blue feathers but despite their stunning plumage, they can be incredibly hard to see – hopping away into the dark forest floor with the slightest movement, or staying still looking like a dried leaf or branch.
There are 5 species of pittas found in the Philippines, 2 of them are endemic: the Steere’s (Azure-breasted) Pitta and the largest of all Philippine pittas, the Whiskered Pitta. One out of the 5 is a rare migrant (Blue-winged Pitta) while the remaining two are resident pittas that can be found also in other countries: the Hooded Pitta and this Red-bellied Pitta, Pitta erythrogaster
This calling Red-bellied Pitta was videoscoped in a mountain resort a few hours south of Manila. You can also hear other birds in the background: the loud and pulsing call (like a sewing machine badly needing an oil change) of the Grey-backed Tailorbird, the coooing White-eared Brown-dove and the melodious call of a White-browed Shama. Click on the links to see the other birds or visit our galleries here.
Red-bellied Pitta, Pitta erythrogaster
May 2011, Mts. Palay palay – Mataas na Gulod National Park, Cavite, Luzon, Philippines
A calling Amethyst Brown-Dove [HD]
Oct 13th
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
