Mountain Scops-Owl

Chunky tree-dweller with blood-red eyes. Spectacular male is decked out in midnight black and electric blue. Female is dark turquoise with dark wingtips. Gathers at fruiting and flowering trees. A species of lowland and foothill evergreen forests, though will occasionally venture into gardens and plantations. Song includes various notes, often paired, such as “wit!” and “wi’wit!” Gives “tik” calls when flying overhead.

Small bird that resembles a combination of a dove, a swallow, and a plover. Soft gray-brown with a tan wash on the throat and black lores. Black-and-white wing pattern prominent in flight. Flight agile and erratic, resembling a bat or swallow; frequently flies in flocks at dusk. Favors rocky or sandy islands in rivers, but can also be found in marshes, estuaries, and lakesides. Distinguished from other pratincoles in range by smaller size and gray plumage. Calls are a high rolling “chirrit!”, reminiscent of terns.

A stunning small bird of lowland and foothill scrub and gardens in the western Visayas. Male has a bright red head, back, and chest, a purple forehead, a broadening purple mustache stripe, a purple tail, black wings and belly, and a bright yellow patch on the lower back. Similar to Purple-throated, but larger; male lacks the purple throat, and female is mainly olive with distinctive reddish wings and tail. Call is a repeated high-pitched “chik!”