Philippine Fairy-bluebird
PHILIPPINE FAIRY-BLUEBIRD
Irena cyanogastra
Family Oriolidae
Bird #279 - September 2010
This is a Philippine endemic. We saw first saw it in Bohol, at the Rajah Sikatuna Park. It was quite far away and we spotted it at the same time as the Scarlet Minivet. We ended up missing photos of both birds! And taking pictures of a drongo instead!
It is described as common and noisy. It has red eyes, blue on the head and wings.
There is a proposal to split the species. According to Moltesen et a. 2013 in Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution, "For Irenidae, the molecular phylogeny supports three distinct clades within Irena cyanogastra, (I. c. cyanogastra, I. c. ellae and </iI. c. hoogstraali), which differ by 3.88–4.44% mtDNA. As they are segregated in three different regions of the Philippines, and vary in the extent of black versus indigo plumage on upperparts and under- parts (Wells 2005a), we propose species status for these three sub-species.
According to this paper, all subspecies would become separate species.
Irena cynogastra cynogastra found in Luzon, Polilio and Catanduanes
Irena cynogastra ellae found in Bohol, Leyte and Samar
Irena cynogastra hoogstraali is found in Dinagat and Mindanao.
Not included in the sampling was Irena cynogastra melanchlamys found in Basilan
note: the number of this bird is out of sync
Read MoreIrena cyanogastra
Family Oriolidae
Bird #279 - September 2010
This is a Philippine endemic. We saw first saw it in Bohol, at the Rajah Sikatuna Park. It was quite far away and we spotted it at the same time as the Scarlet Minivet. We ended up missing photos of both birds! And taking pictures of a drongo instead!
It is described as common and noisy. It has red eyes, blue on the head and wings.
There is a proposal to split the species. According to Moltesen et a. 2013 in Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution, "For Irenidae, the molecular phylogeny supports three distinct clades within Irena cyanogastra, (I. c. cyanogastra, I. c. ellae and </iI. c. hoogstraali), which differ by 3.88–4.44% mtDNA. As they are segregated in three different regions of the Philippines, and vary in the extent of black versus indigo plumage on upperparts and under- parts (Wells 2005a), we propose species status for these three sub-species.
According to this paper, all subspecies would become separate species.
Irena cynogastra cynogastra found in Luzon, Polilio and Catanduanes
Irena cynogastra ellae found in Bohol, Leyte and Samar
Irena cynogastra hoogstraali is found in Dinagat and Mindanao.
Not included in the sampling was Irena cynogastra melanchlamys found in Basilan
note: the number of this bird is out of sync
