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Spotted Wood-Kingfisher

This is one of the most colorful endemic kingfishers in the Philippines, Spotted Wood Kingfisher, Actenoides lindsayi. It is endemic to Luzon and Negros and Panay, with the Luzon race, both male and female featured at the start of the video while the moseleyi from Negros at 4:20. It is sexually dimorphic, meaning the male looks different from the female. The male featured at around 0:15 to 3:05 has a turquoise blue eyebrow and malar stripe while the female (at around 3:07) has green eyebrows and malar stripe. The moseleyi race from Negros and Panay differs from the the Luzon race by having black margins of feathers on the back and wings. The Spotted Wood Kingfisher is strictly a forest kingfisher and feeds on insects, other invertebrates as well as small vertebrates. It is very active pre-dawn, giving its loud ringing whistles and trills. The best place to look for this kingfisher will be Mt. Makiling in Luzon and Mt. Kanlaon or Twin Lakes in Negros Island. Spotted Wood Kingfisher, Actenoides lindsayi Mt. Makiling, Laguna, Luzon and CENTROP, Silliman University, Dumaguete, Negros

Palawan Scops Owl

This is a Palawan Scops Owl, an uncommon mainland Palawan endemic ranging in forest and forest edge. Just like a lot of the Philippines' owls, this one is poorly-known and few documentations about the breeding, behavior and ecology of this species exist. The Palawan Scops Owl prefers to stay in bamboo thickets and dense understory and often quite close to the ground. It is the only small eared owl in Palawan but sometimes the bigger and more rufous, small-island specialist Mantanani Scops Owl can also occur at times. Best way to locate this uncommon owl is by its very faint, hard to hear, snore-like harsh growl. Palawan Scops-Owl, Otus fuliginosus Sabang, Puerto Princesa, Palawan

Flame-crowned Flowerpecker

Here is a Flame-crowned Flowerpecker, one of the endemic flowerpeckers of the Philippines (check related story here). This is strictly a montane species occurring only in mossy forests in mountains above 800 meters. This is from the subspecies anthonyi ranging only in Northern Luzon. The other subspecies of Flame-crowned Flowerpecker has no yellowish breast and flanks and can be found in the high-elevation mountains of Mindanao. Flowerpeckers are mostly fruit and flower eaters and they are one of the best dispersal agents for semi-parasitic mistletoes (yes, we have mistletoes in the Philippines! Check out related stories here) This is a video clip from Mt. Polis, Mountain Province, the Cordilleras, Northern Luzon, Philippines. You can hear the calls of a Mountain Tailorbird in the background. 🙂 Flame-crowned Flowerpecker, Dicaeum anthonyi Mt. Polis, Mountain Province, Luzon, Philippines

A calling Falcated Ground Babbler

This is a Falcated Ground-Babbler, one of the most gorgeous and most sought-after Palawan endemics. This lowland, uncommon and very secretive skulker prefers to stay near the ground in dense foliage, turning leaves and dried litter in search of small invertebrates and grubs. This endemic has a loud, conspicuous song consisting of melodious whistles and babbling notes will often respond to playback. Hear it for yourself. 🙂 Falcated Ground-Babbler, Ptilocichla falcata Sabang, Puerto Princesa, Palawan, Philippines

Rufous Hornbill

This is the most majestic and biggest of all Philippine Hornbills - the Great Rufous Hornbill, Buceros hydrocorax. Hornbills are the best, cheapest and the most natural way to re-grow our forests: They are "Farmers of the Forests" as hornbills distribute the seeds of the fruits they fed on. Hornbills are characterized by the huge and often colourful bills and they have this fascinating breeding behaviour of sealing the female inside holes of giant trees, while the male gathers food for the female and the chicks. Sadly, hornbill populations are declining due to habitat loss resulting to unavailability of huge nesting trees, poaching for the pet trade and hunting for food. In this video, you can see an adult male Rufous Hornbill at the beginning and at the end of the video while an immature one can be seen hopping about at around 0:46. Rufous Hornbill, Buceros hydrocorax PICOP, Surigao del Sur, Mindanao, Philippines

Variable Dwarf Kingfisher

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

A calling Rufous Paradise-Flycatcher [HD]

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.

A calling Whiskered Pitta

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

White-lored Oriole

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

Golden-crowned Babbler

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