


Top 20 Most Common Bird in Davao
Nestled in the Phillippines, Davao boasts a diverse mix of tropical rainforests, mountain ranges, and coastal areas, creating an appealing habitat for a variety of bird species. The 20 most common birds found here exhibit unique adaptations, mesmerizing plumage, and distinguished behaviors. From the attentive Philippine Eagle to the lively Colasisi, each displays an integral part of Davao's rich avian biodiversity.

Most Common Bird

1. 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.

2. 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.

3. 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.

4. 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.

5. Eurasian Tree Sparrow
The eurasian Tree Sparrow (Passer montanus) is a widespread sparrow of the European mainland that has been introduced to some parts of North America. Eurasian Tree Sparrow is very similar to the House sparrow (Passer domesticus) but it's smaller and neater. It prefers more natural habitats, at the edges of human activity, and inhabits farmlands, parklands, and open woods.

6. 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.


7. 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.


8. 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.


9. 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.


10. 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).


11. 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.


12. Philippine Pied Fantail
The Philippine pied fantail (Rhipidura nigritorquis) is a species of bird in the family Rhipiduridae. It was formerly considered conspecific with the Malaysian pied fantail. Its natural habitat is subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests.


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


14. Barn Swallow
A familiar sight in rural and semi-open areas, the small barn Swallow can often be spotted by its distinctly graceful flight as it travels low over fields. Seemingly unbothered by having human neighbors, they nest unafraid in barns, garages, beneath bridges or wharves. Interestingly enough, they have come to prefer these locations so much that you are unlikely to spot a nest in a place that is not a human-made structure.

15. Chestnut Munia
The chestnut munia or black-headed munia (Lonchura atricapilla) is a small passerine. It was formerly considered conspecific with the closely related tricoloured munia, but is now widely recognized as a separate species. This estrildid finch is a resident breeding bird in Bangladesh, Brunei, Cambodia, China, India, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Burma, Nepal, the Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand, Vietnam and Hawaii. It also has been introduced to all the Greater Antilles and Martinique in the Caribbean. Before 1995, it was the national bird of the Philippines, where it is known as mayang pula ("red maya") because of its brick red patch on the lower back which is visible only when it flies. (This distinguishes it from other birds locally called maya, notably the predominantly brownish "mayang simbahan" (tree sparrow) which is more common in urban areas.)


16. Pygmy Swiftlet
The pygmy swiftlet (Collocalia troglodytes) is a species of swift in the family Apodidae. It is endemic to the Philippines. Its natural habitat is subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests. At under 9 cm (3.5 in), it's the world's smallest swift. These miniature species, pygmy swiftlet of the Philippines weighs only 5 grams. in addition, swiftlets that nest in complete darkness rooted in caves have the ability to position an object by reflected sound, precisely used by animals such as dolphins and bats,This phenomenon is called echolocation.


17. Red-keeled Flowerpecker
The red-keeled flowerpecker or red-striped flowerpecker (Dicaeum australe) is a species of bird in the family Dicaeidae. It is endemic to the Philippines. Its natural habitat is subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests. The black-belted flowerpecker (D. haematostictum) was formerly regarded as a subspecies of this bird.


18. Guaiabero
Measuring around 15 cm (5.9 in) in length, it is a smallish, stout parrot with a large bill and stubby tail. The sexes differ in plumage. The adult male is green overall, with more yellowish underparts and a pale blue face and collar and wing primaries. The rump is yellow-green. The bill is grey-blue and with a darker tip, and the eyes dark brown. The adult female is also greenish, with a yellow collar and less blue on the face. It has black crescent markings on the nape and rump. Its bill is paler grey.


19. 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.


20. Philippine Magpie-robin
The Philippine magpie-robin (Copsychus mindanensis) is a species of bird in the family Muscicapidae. It is endemic to the Philippines. It used to be considered a subspecies of the Oriental magpie-robin. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical dry forests and subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests.
