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Philippine Birds
Summary of avian diversity
A guide to identifying birds
Characteristics of Class Aves
1. Body usually spindle shaped, with 4 divisions: head, neck,
trunk, and tail
2. Limbs paired; forelimbs usually modified for flying, hind
limbs adapted for various locomotory functions such as
perching, walking, swimming, also for grasping prey; foot
usually with 4 toes
3. Epidermal covering of feathers and leg scales; thin
integument of epidermis and dermis; no sweat glands; oil
gland at root of tail; pinna of ear rudimentary
Characteristics of Class Aves 4. Fully ossified skeleton with air cavities; skull bones fused
with one occipital condyle; each jaw covered with horny
sheath, forming a beak; no teeth; ribs with strenghtening
processes; tail not elongate; sternum well developed with
keel or reduced with no keel; single bone in middle ear
5. Nervous system well-developed, with brain and 12 pairs of
cranial nerves
6. Circulatory system of 4-chambered heart, with the right aortic
arch persisting; reduced renal portal system; nucleated red
blood cells
Characteristics of Class Aves 7. Endothermic
8. Respiration by slightly expansible lungs, with thin air sacs
among the visceral organs and skeleton; syrinx (voice box)
near junction of trachea and bronchi
9. Excretory system of metanephric kidney; ureters open into
cloaca; no bladder; semisolid urine; uric acid main
nitrogenous waste
10.Sexes separate; testes paired, with the vas deferens
opening into cloaca; females with left ovary and oviduct only;
copulatory organs in some
Avian Topography External parts of a bird mapping regions of
avian body and notable features (crest)
Distinct characters indicative of its name - blue-naped, white-bellied, blue-rumped, black-
necked, red-breasted, red-crowned
Unique avian characters lore, auriculars, scapulars, primaries, secondaries, tertials, alula,
culmen, gonys (A ridge along the mid-ventral line of the lower
mandible of certain birds), rictus, supercilium
Topography
Avian body form
Size and shape
Long or short neck, long or short legs
Sparrow-like or Thrush-like or Crow-like
Pigeon-like or Chicken-like or Duck-like
Reference point for comparative size
Distinct avian groups - Swifts, Hawks, Kingfishers, Parrots, Rails, Terns,
Plovers
Plumage patterns
Stiff flight feathers (remiges & retrices)
Contour and Down (natal or definitive)
Filoplumes, Semiplumes and Bristles
Plumage patterns pied, streaked, hooded, barred, silvery, striated, spotted,
banded, masked, bibbed, ringed, browed,
winged
Juvenile and Adult, Winter and Summer
Plumage colors pigment or structural
Types of tail
Color of Soft parts
Natural colors buff, rufous, citrine, ashy, cinnamon, slaty, olive, scarlet, sooty
Structural colors glossy and metallic
Soft parts and other unique features
Wattles, comb, eye-ring (circumorbital), gular skin, cere, bare skin on head
Color of soft parts bill, tarsus and iris
Soft parts in birds
Types of bird Feet
PALMATE 3 front toes webbed, hind toe unwebbed
TOTIPALMATE all 4 toes webbed
SEMIPALMATE (half-webbed) - anterior toes joined by
narrow webbing
LOBATE toes with lobed webbing
Types of bird feet:
RAPTORIAL toes muscular and heavily clawed (talon)
ANISODACTYLOUS hind toe longer, nail elongated
HETERODACTYLOUS inner (3rd) toe reversed
ZYGODACTYLOUS outer toe (1st) toe reversed SYNDACTYLOUS front toes joined at base PAMPRODACTYLOUS all toes in front or pointing forward
Distinguishing features in tarsus
scuttellate (scaly) tarsus reticulate tarsus
leg spur booted tarsus
Distinguishing features
Metallic band of speculum on ducks
Casque on hornbills
Operculum on pigeons and doves
Tarsal spur on pheasants and junglefowl
Elongated toes on jacanas
Gular pouch on pelicans and frigatebirds
Facial disk on owls
Tube-nose on shearwaters and petrels
Wing shape and Flight
Broad and round OR narrow and pointed
Slotted for soaring OR long for gliding
Wings barred, spotted, blotched, banded
Soaring thermals, dynamic soaring waves,
Straight flapping flight or undulating pattern
Silent or noisy, short burst or sustained
Sweeping flight pattern, sallying/ fly-catching
Beak adapations: netting (fish)
Beak adaptations: netting (insect)
Beak adaptations: sifting
Beak adaptations: spearing
Beak adaptations: spearing
Beak adaptations: probing
Beak adaptations: probing
Beak adaptations: probing
Beak adaptations: probing, hammering
Beak adaptations: husking
Beak adaptations: nut cracking
Beak adaptations: seed cracking
Bill adaptations: meat tearing
Beak features: casque
fruit eaters
Head features: facial disc
Head features: frontal shield
Head features: gular pouch
Tail features: streamer
Tail features: forked
Tail features: loose webbing
Head features: bare skin around eyes, neck wattles, crest
Beak features: tubular nose
Tail features: Needle tail
tail features: racquet
Sexual dimorphism
Most monogamous birds are sexually monomorphic sexes look alike
Some birds are sexually dimorphic sexes look different, often are polygamous
Generally males more colorful and females have drab coloration sunbirds, pheasants
Some females are colorful painted-snipe
For raptors, females are large than males
Calls and Songs Unique vocalizations indicative of species
Familiarity be used for field identification
Call single notes, short and repetitive
Alarm or threat call, flight call, territorial
Song elaborate notes and melodious
For courtship and display, show fitness
Calls vary with island populations dialect
Trophic & Feeding guilds
Frugivore or Nectarivore or Graminivore
Piscivore or Insectivore or Vermivore
Bark-gleaning or Foliage-gleaning
Sweeper or Sallier, Probing or Stabbing
Arboreal or Terrestrial or Aquatic
Canopy or Understorey or Forest floor
Omnivore as mixed insectivore-frugivore
Arboreal insectivore-frugivore (AIF)
Nests and Nesting
Open cup-nest or Cavity-nester
Primary cavity-nester (woodpeckers)
Secondary cavity-nester (parrots, owls)
Elaborate penduline purse nest (sunbirds)
Simple pile of twigs (pigeons), heronry
Woven cup-shaped nest (flycatchers)
Folded leaves stitched together (tailorbird)
No nest, brood parasitism (cuckoos)
Residency Status
Resident (sedentary) or Migratory
Endemic to Philippines
Endemic to Faunal region or EBA
Island endemic or Mountain endemic
Near endemic - Philippines & some islands
Non-endemic resident with endemic race
Non-endemic resident, race occur beyond
Restricted-range species (
Migratory birds
Some birds breed on temperate regions Summer breeding grounds (165 species)
Migrate south to tropics to evade scarcity of food in winter Winter feeding grounds
Winter migrant regular visitor
Passage visitor (thru Asian flyway)
Accidental Vagrant (noted once or twice)
Most shorebirds, waders and waterfowl
Some raptors, passerines, owls, cuckoos
Montane & lowland forms
Tall mountain massifs and volcanic peaks offer distinct montane and lowland forests
Montane forests occur above 1,000 masl
Birds restricted to lowland rainforests hornbills, bleedinghearts, babblers
Birds restricted to montane forest bullfinch, lorikeet, shortwing, island thrush
Montane and lowland congeneric species scops-owls, white-eyes, whistlers
Phases and Races
Color phases black and white forms of same species reef egret, hawk-eagle
Geographic variation among island and mountain populations of a single species
Vary in size or color from nominate form
Monotypic Vs. Polytypic
Colasisi has 10 races or subspecies
Philippine Cockatoo uniform on all islands
Avian taxonomy
Non-passerines and Passerines (songbirds)
29 avian families in Order Passeriformes
50 families in 18 orders (Kennedy et al., 2000)
Peters et al., 1985 based on morphology
Sibley & Monroe 1991 on biochemical
Babblers, Warblers, Flycatchers and Creepers combined into Muscicapidae
Hornbills as separate Order Bucerotiformes
Water birds shorebirds and wading birds
1. Order Procellariformes
Tube-noses, Gulls, Terns, Petrels and Shearwater
Wedge-tailed Shearwater (Procellariidae)
2. Order Pelecaniformes
Brown Booby (Sulidae)
Spot-billed Pelican (Pelicanidae)
Waterbirds
3. Order Podicipediformes
Grebes (Podicipedidae)
Little Grebe
4. Order Anseriformes - Ducks (Anatidae)
Tufted Duck
Philippine Duck
5. Order Gruiformes
Slaty-breasted Rail (Rallidae)
Water birds
6. Order Ciconiiformes
Woolly-necked Storck (Ciconiidae)
Black-faced Spoonbill (Threskiornithidae)
Chinese Egret (Ardeidae)
7. Order Charadriiformes
Bridled Tern (Sternidae)
Pheasant-tailed Jacana (Jacanidae)
Water birds
Order Charadriiformes
Redshank (Scolopacidae)
Red-necked Phalarope
(Phalaropodidae)
Oriental Plover (Charadriidae)
Pied Avocet (Recurvirostridae)
Land Birds
8. Order Galliformes
Tabon Scrubfowl (Megapodidae)
Palawan Peacock-Pheasant (Phasianidae)
Red Junglefowl
Gamefowl
Raptors
9. Order Falconiformes
Philippine Falconet (Falconidae)
Philippine Hawk-Eagle (Accipitridae)
Philippine Eagle
Land Birds
Pigeons & Doves
10. Order Columbiformes
(Columbidae)
Pink-bellied Imperial-Pigeon
Nicobar Pigeon
Yellow-breasted Fruit-dove
Luzon Bleedingheart
Land Birds
Parrots
11. Order Psittaciformes
Colasisi or Hanging Parrot (Psittacidae)
Philippine Cockatoo (Cacatuidae)
Mindanao Lorikeet (Loriidae)
Land Birds
Cuckoos & Coucals
12. Order Cuculiformes
(Cuculidae)
Red-crested Malkoha
Scale-feathered Malkoha
Rufous Coucal
Land Birds
Nocturnal Birds
13. Order Caprimulgiformes
Long-tailed Nightjar (Caprimulgidae)
Philippine Frogmouth (Podargidae)
14. Order Strigiformes
Philippine Scops-Owl (Strigidae)
Grass Owl (Tytonidae)
Land Birds
Kingfishers & Swifts
15. Order Apodiformes
Island Swiftlet (Apodidae)
16. Order Coraciiformes
Blue-tailed Bee-eater (Meropidae)
Hoopoe (Upupidae)
Spotted Wood Kingfisher (Alcedinidae)
Land Birds
Hornbills
*** some considered as
Order Bucerotiformes
Family Bucerotidae
Palawan Hornbill
Rufous Hornbill
Mindanao Tarictic Hornbill
Visayan Wrinkled Hornbill
Land Birds
Order Coraciiformes
Trogons & Woodpeckers
17. Order
Trogoniformes
Philippine Trogon (Trogonidae)
18. Order Piciformes
Coppersmith Barbet (Capitonidae)
Greater Flameback (Picidae)
Land Birds
Pittas & Broadbills
19. Order Passeriformes
1. Family Eurylaimidae
Visayan Wattled Broadbill
2. Family Pittidae
Whiskered Pitta
Blue-winged Pitta
Azure-breasted Pitta
Land Birds
Swallows & Wagtails
Order Passeriformes
3. Family Motacillidae
White Wagtail
Pechora Pipit
4. Family Artamidae
White-breasted Wood-swallow
5. Family Hirundinidae
Barn Swallow
Land Birds
Land Birds
6. Family Alaudiae
Larks
7. Family Corvidae
Crows
Larks and Crows
Graybirds & Orioles
Order Passeriformes
8. Family Campephagidae
Blackish Graybird
9. Family Oriolidae
Black-naped Oriole
Asian Fairy-Bluebird
10. Family Chloropseidae
Philippine Leafbird
Land Birds
Bulbuls & Babblers Order Passeriformes
11. Family Dicruridae
Balicassiao Drongo
12. Family Pycnonotidae
Mottle-breasted Bulbul
13. Family Timaliidae
Flame-templed Babbler
Chestnut-faced Babbler
Land Birds
Thrushes & Flycatchers
Order Passeriformes
14. Family Turdidae
Island Thrush
Cebu Black Shama
15. Family Muscicapidae
Mountain Verditer-Flycatcher
Snowy-browed Flycatcher
Land Birds
Monarchs & Whistlers
Order Passeriformes
16. Family Monarchidae
Black-naped Monarch
Rufous Paradise-Flycatcher
17. Family Pachycephalidae
Yellow-bellied Whistler
White-bellied Whistler
Land Birds
Warblers & Tailorbirds
Order Passeriformes
18. Family Sylviidae
Yellow-breasted Tailorbird
Grey-backed Tailorbird
Tawny Grassbird
Bright-capped Cisticola
Land Birds
Nuthatches & Creepers
Order Passeriformes
19. Family Paridae
Elegant Tit
White-fronted Tit
20. Family Rhabdornithidae
Striped-headed Philippine Creeper
21. Family Sittidae
Velvet-fronted Nuthatch
Land Birds
Shrikes & Starlings
Order Passeriformes
22. Family Laniidae
Brown Shrike
23. Family Sturnidae
Hill Myna
Coleto or Bald Starling
Crested Myna
Land Birds
Sunbirds & Flowerpeckers
Order Passeriformes
24. Family Nectariniidae
Crimson Sunbird
Plain-throated Sunbird
25. Family Dicaeidae
Olive-backed Flowerpecker
Red-keeled Flowerpecker
Pygmy Flowerpecker
Scarlet-collared Flowerpecker
Land Birds
White-eyes & Sparrows
Order Passeriformes
26. Family Estrildidae
Java Sparrow
27. Family Ploceidae
Tree Sparrow
28. Family Zosteropidae
Everetts White-eye
Cinnamon Ibon
Land Birds
Land Birds Crossbills, Finches and Buntings
29. Family Fringillidae
Crossbills, Finches
30. Family Emberizidae
Buntings
Problems with identification
Similar species search for distinguishing features, comparable size or unique behavior
Cryptic birds always hidden and hard to see
Congeners closely related, in same genus
Island and Mountain variations races may show striking differences in color and call (dialect)
Winter plumage migratory birds in between molts
Estimation of size difficulty in observing distance
Similarities of calls mimics or consistent in group
Birds as bio-indicators
Bird Species Diversity useful representation for overall biodiversity and basis for evaluation
Levels of endemism composition of endemics
Keystone species indicators of change
Threatened Island Endemics inherent rarity
Intolerant forest dependent present/absent
Restricted-range species limited distribution
BSD is inversely proportional to altitude