Sandy Scops-Owl

Tiny and active sunbird of forest edges, parks, and gardens. Endemic to the Philippines (excluding Palawan). Both sexes have a plain olive back, a yellow belly, and white tail edges that are flared out in flight. The male flashes an iridescent blue throat while the female has a yellow throat and eyebrow. Gives a fast, jumbled series of rising whistles and squeaks. Frequently-heard call, a rising “dweet”, is a familiar sound even in cities. Formerly grouped with other, closely related species under “Olive-backed Sunbird.”

Like many other cuckoos, this species is most often detected by its song, a short phrase of jumbled notes, often likened to “eat-your-choKY-pepper!”, with the latter half being significantly louder than the former half. Most adults are gray with black-barred white underparts and dark eyes. Some females are bright rufous above with dark bars across the wings and back. Juvenile is brownish above and often has faint white edging to the wing feathers. Averages smaller but also more compact and stumpy in shape than other similar cuckoos. Sings and forages in the canopy of lowland and foothill forests.

A striking medium-sized, ground-dwelling bird of wet forests with dense foliage. Extremely shy; best seen right at dawn when it sometimes visits road and trail edges. No other species in range shares its starkly contrasting black upperparts and largely orange belly. Also note its bright orange bill and eyering, which are shared with the Red-legged Thrush, but note the gray underparts on Red-legged Thrush. Song is a combination of brief up-slurred and down-slurred notes plus sweet whistles of varying length that are given slowly and repetitively.