Category: Bird Videos

Rufous-lored Kingfisher [HD]

One of the main targets of a birding trip to the Philippines is to see the country's six endemic kingfishers. We have Philippine Dwarf Kingfisher for the major islands, Spotted Wood and Indigo-banded Kingfishers in Luzon, while Mindanao and its satellite islands have Silvery Kingfisher, Blue-capped Wood Kingfisher and the one featured here in this video: the Rufous-lored Kingfisher. The Rufous-lored Kingfisher usually inhabits the lowland forests of Mindanao, Bohol, Samar, Leyte and its satellite islands and feeds on small vertebrates such as lizards, frogs and other invertebrates. Like its relative in Luzon, the Spotted Wood Kingfisher, the Rufous-lored Kingfisher is very active in the early morning and is usually given away by its loud and harsh calls. These individuals were recorded during one of our birding trips to PICOP, Bislig, Surigao.

Rare Migrant to Luzon:
Ashy Drongo ssp leucogenis

Here is a video of an Ashy Drongo that Nicky videoscoped from Makiling a few months back. This is the subspecies leucogenis, a rare migrant to the Philippines, with just one other report a few years back in the local bird club's records. Incidentally, the previous sighting was also from the lowland forests of Mt. Makiling, Laguna. The other race leucophaeus shown below the video ranges only in Palawan where it is a common bird, often found in exposed perches. What big difference in terms of plumage! Possible split? 🙂 Ashy Drongo, Dicrurus leucophaeus leucogenis Mt. Makiling, Laguna, Luzon, Philippines Ashy Drongo, Dicrurus leucophaeus leucophaeus Coron, Busuanga Island, Palawan, Philippines

Ashy Drongo

Yellow-breasted Fruit-dove in Mt. Kitanglad [HD]

Here's sharing with you a short video clip of a Yellow-breasted Fruit-dove trying to collect twigs as nesting material. This was taken during one of our custom tours for Jeepney Projects Worldwide. Jeepney Projects Worldwide is a partnering of benefit art projects and regional conservation groups working to inspire support and restore lost habitat of critically endangered birds. They are doing an art benefit project for the Philippine Eagle Foundation in conserving the Philippines' national bird, the Great Philippine Eagle. The Yellow-breasted Fruit-dove is one of the five endemic fruit-doves found in the Philippines. It can be found allover the country except the Palawan region and inhabits forest and forest edge in lowland and montane forests usually taking advantage of fruiting trees. Locally called Punay, it is one of the most colorful fruit-doves in the Philippines. Which one do you think is prettier, this Yellow-breasted Fruit-dove or its high-elevation-Luzon-only cousin, Flame-breasted Fruit-dove? Yellow-breasted Fruit-Dove Ptilinopus occipitalis January 2011, Mt. Kitanglad, Bukidnon, Mindanao, Philippines Video by Nicky Icarangal, JR. Digiscoped with a Swarovski ATM 80 HD, Canon Powershot S95.

A pair of Greater Flamebacks

This is a pair of Luzon (Greater) Flamebacks "doing it" in Subic Bay, Zambales, Luzon, Philippines. These woodpeckers prefer forests and forests edge more commonly in lowland forests. Their strong bills are used for drilling holes into tree trunks to extract worms and insects. Luzon Flamebacks are found all over the Philippines with four races having distinctive characteristics. This pair is from the haematribon race and are considered as endemic subspecies found only in the islands of Luzon, Catanduanes and Marinduque. EDIT: The Greater Flamebacks have been split and the birds shown are now called Luzon Flamebacks. Luzon Flameback Chrysocolaptes haematribon August 2010, Subic Bay, Zambales and Bataan, Philippines Video by Nicky Icarangal, JR. Digiscoped with a Swarovski ATM 80 HD, Canon Powershot S95.

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.