Tag: kitanglad

Little Pied Flycatcher [HD]

This Little Pied Flycatcher is a fairly common inhabitant of the forest canopy, understory and edge usually in montane forests. This video is of a male individual taken in Mt. Kitanglad Range National Park in Bukidnon, Mindanao, Southern Philippines. The female is more drab with greyish head and back and lacking the black and white plumage of the male.

This bird can also be seen in the high elevation mountains of Negros (belonging to the endemic subspecies rabori), so it is also possible to see this bird in one of the post-birding trips of the 7th Philippine Bird Festival: BIRDS IN THE WILD HELP FORESTS THRIVE!

Thanks for viewing and Happy Birding!

Little Pied Flycatcher, Ficedula westermanni
September 2010, Mt. Kitanglad Range National Park, Bukidnon, Mindanao, Philippines

Dung-on-a-twig: Mistletoe and Birds
[Part 3]

This is the last installment for our series on mistletoes and birds.

This Fire-breasted Flowerepecker from Mt. Kitanglad demonstrates the same behavior exhibited by this Pygmy Flowerpecker from Mt. Makiling and and this Buzzing Flowerpecker from Mt. Polis. On the first and second segments of the video, the bird poops out the very sticky substance containing mistletoe seeds then wipes it off a branch. This is how mistlestoes are propagated and just shows the importance of birds in regenerating our forests.

This Fire-breasted Flowerpecker is a high-elevation, uncommon, resident bird that ranges from the Himalayas to Southern China, Taiwan, Southeast Asia and the Philippines.

Fire-breasted Flowerpecker, Dicaeum ignipectus
September 2010 & January 2011, Mt. Kitanglad, Bukidnon, Philippines

Tongue-rolling Red-eared Parrotfinch [HD]

Here is a video of a pair of one of my favorite birds : the Red-eared Parrotfinch.

Red-eared Parrotfinches are high-elevation Mindanao endemics that favor the forest understory and cogon and sunflower patches near the forest edge. Though the field guide for Philippine birds lists it as a “locally common” bird, it can be difficult to spot as it prefers the dense underbrush and its green plumage and small size blends well in its surroundings.

The first segment maybe the first ever video of an immature parrotfinch while the rapid ticking call tik-tik-tik-tik of the male bird can be heard at around 1:00. Tongue-rolling at around 1:20. The calls of Philippine Bulbul and Mountain White-eyes can also be heard in the background.

Aside from the Red-eared Parrotfinch, Mt. Kitanglad in Mindanao is also good for the Great Philippine Eagle, Apo and Grey-hooded Sunbirds, Cinnamon Ibon, funky-looking Apo Mynah, and many more. Check out our Birds from Mindanao gallery for more.

For more videos, using our Swarovski Digiscoping Rig, please visit our videos page here.

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.