


Top 20 Most Common Bird in Davao Oriental
Davao Oriental harbors an abundance of avian species due to its diverse terrains, ranging from coastal beaches to mountain forests. The 20 most common birds exhibit distinguished characteristics such as vibrant plumage, unique calls, and niche adaptations, reflecting the region's rich biodiversity.

Most Common Bird

1. Olive-backed Sunbird
In most subspecies, the underparts of both male and female are bright yellow, the backs are a dull brown colour. The forehead, throat and upper breast of the adult male is a dark, metallic blue-black. In the Philippines the males of some subspecies have an orange band on the chest, in Wallacea and northern New Guinea some subspecies have most of the underparts blackish, and in southern China and adjacent parts of Vietnam most of the underparts of the male are greyish-white.


2. Large-billed Crow
The overall size (length: 46–59 cm; 18–23 in.) and body proportions vary regionally. In the far northeast in Japan, the Kuriles and the Sakhalin peninsula, it is somewhat larger than the carrion crow. All taxa have a relatively long bill with the upper one quite thick and arched, making it look heavy and almost raven-like. Generally, all taxa have dark greyish plumage from the back of the head, neck, shoulders and lower body. Their wings, tail, face, and throat are glossy black. The depth of the grey shading varies across its range.


3. Little Egret
The small size of the little Egret makes the bird easily recognizable among larger species that share the same range. The egret is seen almost anywhere there are small fish including marshes, estuaries, and rivers. The bird often searches for food by itself but prefers to build nests in communities, occasionally with other bird species.

4. Collared Kingfisher
The collared kingfisher is 23 to 25 cm (9.1 to 9.8 in) long and the male weighs 51 to 90 g (1.8 to 3.2 oz), while the female weighs 54–100 g (1.9–3.5 oz). It varies from blue to green above while the underparts can be white or buff. There is a white collar around the neck, giving the bird its name. Some races have a white or buff stripe over the eye while others have a white spot between the eye and bill. There may be a black stripe through the eye. The large bill is black with a pale yellow base to the lower mandible. Females tend to be greener than the males. Immature birds are duller than the adults with dark scaly markings on the neck and breast. It has a variety of calls which vary geographically. The most typical call is a loud, harsh and metallic "kee-kee-kee" repeated several times.


5. Yellow-vented Bulbul
The eyebrow buzz (Pycnonotus goiavier), is a common songbird from the family of the buulbuuls. The eyebrow bulge is found in large parts of Southeast Asia and the Indian Archipelago.

6. Pied Triller
The pied triller (Lalage nigra) is a species of bird in the family Campephagidae. It is found in Brunei, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, and Thailand.


7. White-eared Brown Dove
Adult individuals have a black sub-ocular line starting from the gape to the nape (McGregor, 1909) followed by a white line from the posterior border of the eye to the nape (Carino, 2009; McGregor, 1909). In general, these birds have brown feathers but the crown is pale gray and the chin and upper throat is tawny (Baptista et al., 2017). In addition, lower breast and abdomen are slightly pale yellow which is much paler than the posterior part, the under tail-coverts are dark pearl-gray and the wings are brown with the primaries having pale edges, and the rectrices each having a wide gray band on the terminal end (McGregor, 1909). These birds are also characterized by short bills (Carino, 2009; Hachisuka, 1941), and greenish bronze collar (Carino, 2009; McGregor, 1909) or green or blue iridescence on the nape (P. Simpson, pers. Commun., September 11, 2017).


8. Asian Glossy Starling
The Malayan purple starling (Aplonis panayensis) is a starling species from the Indian Subcontinent and the Indian Archipelago. It is a common bird that sometimes occurs en masse in cities. The bird is one of the noisiest bird species.

9. Brahminy Kite
The brahminy kite is distinctive and contrastingly coloured, with chestnut plumage except for the white head and breast and black wing tips. The juveniles are browner, but can be distinguished from both the resident and migratory races of black kites in Asia by the paler appearance, shorter wings, and rounded tail. The pale patch on the underwing carpal region is of a squarish shape and separated from Buteo buzzards. The brahminy kite is about the same size as the black kite (Milvus migrans) and has a typical kite flight, with wings angled, but its tail is rounded unlike the Milvus species, red kite, and black kite, which have forked tails. The two genera are, however, very close. The call is a mewing keeyew.


10. Spotted Dove
The spotted Dove is a medium-sized bird that is swift in flight. It prefers to live year-round in warm climates in suburban areas, especially in parks. Their nests are mostly made out of sticks and they like to dine on insects and seeds.

11. Philippine Coucal
The Philippine coucal (Centropus viridis) is a species of cuckoo in the family Cuculidae. It is endemic to the Philippines.


12. Pacific Swallow
The Pacific swallow (Hirundo tahitica) is a small passerine bird in the swallow family. It breeds in tropical southern Asia and the islands of the south Pacific. It is resident apart from some local seasonal movements. This bird is associated with coasts, but is increasingly spreading to forested uplands. The hill swallow was formerly considered conspecific. This species is a small swallow at 13 cm. It has a blue back with browner wings and tail, a red face and throat, and dusky underparts. It differs from the barn swallow and the closely related welcome swallow in its shorter and less forked tail. The Pacific swallow builds a neat cup-shaped nest, constructed with mud pellets collected in the beak, under a cliff ledge or on a man-made structures such as a building, bridge or tunnel. The nest is lined with softer material, and the clutch is two to three eggs. It is similar in behaviour to other aerial insectivores, such as other swallows and the unrelated swifts. It is a fast flyer and feeds on insects, especially flies, while airborne.


13. Zebra Dove
The zebra Dove is a small dove found in dense forests, open fields, farmlands, and similar suburban areas. Unlike other dove species, this ground-dwelling bird likes to forage alone or in pairs, but not in large groups. The call of this slender dove is often described as very pleasant. Very common in urban areas, they are quite comfortable around humans.

14. White-breasted Woodswallow
The White-breasted Woodswallow's plumage is dark grey on the head and neck, with white underparts, giving the species its common and scientific names, in contrast to the related great woodswallow whose upper side is a more glossy black. The stout bill of a woodswallow is bluish-grey with a black tip. White breasted woodswallows can also be identified by their short, black tail and grey feet. Their completely black tail makes them the only woodswallow lacking white on its tail. Males and females are identical in appearance. Juvenile woodswallows have a more brownish plumage around their head and mantle that is usually heavily striated. Juveniles have a buff tint on their chest and a brownish bill with a dark tip. White breasted woodswallows can grow to a maximum known size of 18cm and weigh between 35–45 grams. All 9 subspecies of Artamus leucorynchus are differentiated by small differences in color, overall size, wing length and bill size.


15. Barred Rail
The barred rail (Hypotaenidia torquata) is a species of bird in the rail family Rallidae. The species was formerly placed in the genus Rallus. The barred rail is widespread species, found across the Philippines, Sulawesi (Indonesia) and Salawati (western New Guinea). The species is common, but shy and difficult to see.


16. Rock Pigeon
The rock Pigeon is a wild ancestor of all domestic and feral pigeons, inhabiting coasts, cliffs, and caves. Pairs nest in rock crevices, often mating for life. They are known for their ability to fly very long distances to return to their homes, navigating using the sun's position and the earth's magnetic fields. Thanks to this ability, pigeons were used as messengers, particularly during World Wars I and II.

17. Ridgetop Swiftlet
The ridgetop swiftlet is 9–10 cm (3.5–3.9 in) in length with a square tail. The back and upper surface of the wings are a dark dull blue with a moderate green gloss. The rump is sometimes slightly paler due to the white margins of feathers forming the uppertail coverts. The throat and upper breast are dark grey with fine white scalloping merging into larger greyish chevrons over the lower breast and flanks, becoming white over the belly. There is sometimes a tuft of small feathers on the hallux, the rear facing toe. This species lacks the white spots on the inner webs of the tail feathers that are present in some Collocalia species.


18. Striated Grassbird
The striated grassbird (Megalurus palustris) is an "Old World warbler" species in the family Locustellidae. It was formerly placed in the family Sylviidae. It is now the only species placed in the genus Megalurus. It is found in Bangladesh, Cambodia, China, India, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan, the Philippines, Thailand, and Vietnam. Noisy and conspicuous, often sitting and calling exposed on tops of grasses, bushes and telephone wires. Note streaked crown and streaked upper breast. This species has an extremely large range, and hence does not approach the thresholds for Vulnerable under the range size criterion (Extent of Occurrence <20,000 km2 combined with a declining or fluctuating range size, habitat extent/quality, or population size and a small number of locations or severe fragmentation). The population trend is not known, but the population is not believed to be decreasing sufficiently rapidly to approach the thresholds under the population trend criterion (>30% decline over ten years or three generations). The population size has not been quantified, but it is not believed to approach the thresholds for Vulnerable under the population size criterion (<10,000 mature individuals with a continuing decline estimated to be >10% in ten years or three generations, or with a specified population structure). For these reasons the species is evaluated as Least Concern. The genus Megalurus formerly included additional species. A comprehensive molecular phylogenetic study of the grassbird family Locustellidae published in 2018 found that Megalurus was non-monophyletic. In the resulting reorganization, fives species were moved to the resurrected genus Poodytes and four species were moved to Cincloramphus leaving only the striated grassbird in Megalurus.


19. Common Moorhen
The common Moorhen is often found in slow-moving or standing-water aquatic ecosystems with dense vegetation coverage where they can hide and forage for food. If vegetation is dense enough, their large feet even enable them to walk across the floating plants. These birds are opportunistic feeders and will eat any food that is currently available.

20. Wandering Whistling Duck
Formerly named tree ducks, the wandering whistling duck has its new name because of their loud whistling calls and the whistling noise their wings make during flight. They have long necks and legs and look like a cross between a goose and a duck. They have a strong head and neck with a darker crown and hindneck. The breast contains black spotting and the feathers are mostly dark brown. They range in size from 54–60 cm in height and weigh on average 750 grams. They mainly feed on grasses, waterlilies, water plants and occasionally insects and aquatic vertebrae.
