Top 20 Most Common Bird in Palawan

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.

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.

The Palawan hornbill (Anthracoceros marchei), known as Talusi in the Philippine language Cuyunon, is a largish (approximately 70 centimetres (28 in) long, weighing 750 grams (26 oz), more than 92% of bird species) forest-dwelling bird. Its plumage is predominantly black, with a white tail, a dark green gloss on its upper parts and a large creamy-white beak with a casque typical of the hornbill family. It emits loud calls which can be transcribed as kaaww and kreik-kreik. Nine species of hornbill are found in the Philippines, and the Palawan hornbill is endemic to Palawan island, but has also been recorded on the nearby islands of Balabac, Busuanga, Calauit, Culion and Coron. Most visiting birdwatchers travel to St Paul's National Park, Palawan, to see this bird, but it is now uncommon. It acts as a bio-indicator due to its sensitivity to environmental changes. It is officially classified as "vulnerable", and its numbers have reduced by at least 20% in the last 10 years due to habitat destruction, hunting for food, and the live bird trade. The Palawan hornbill consumes mostly fruit, but also occasional insects and vertebrates. Due to its large size and home range, it is an important vector of seed dispersal for large-seeded trees. Many ground-dwelling seed-eating mammals live beneath such trees, and in areas where hornbills have become rare, consume such a large percentage of the fallen seeds that they threaten the trees' survival. It is usually seen in pairs or small noisy family groups, and it has a communal roosting site. It is most usually observed in fruiting trees at the forest edge, but also feeds on insects and small reptiles.

The ashy-fronted bulbul (Pycnonotus cinereifrons) is a member of the bulbul family of passerine birds. It is endemic to Palawan in the Philippines. Its natural habitat is subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests. Until 2010, the ashy-fronted bulbul was considered as a subspecies of the olive-winged bulbul.

The slender-billed crow (Corvus enca) is a Passerine bird of the family Corvidae, in the genus Corvus. The violet crow has been found to be distinct genetically and separated as Corvus violaceus. It is found in Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, and the Philippines. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical moist lowland forest and subtropical or tropical mangrove forest.

The grey-rumped 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 dull dark blue with a moderate green gloss. The rump is paler due to the white margins of feathers forming the uppertail coverts. The throat and upper breast are 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.

The lovely sunbird (Aethopyga shelleyi) is a bird species in the family Nectariniidae. It is endemic to the Philippines. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests and subtropical or tropical moist montane forests.

The rufous-tailed tailorbird (Orthotomus sericeus) is a species of bird formerly placed in the "Old World warbler" assemblage, it but now placed in the family Cisticolidae. It is found in Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, and Thailand. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical moist lowland forest and subtropical or tropical mangrove forest.

The black-naped oriole is medium-sized and overall golden with a strong pinkish bill and a broad black mask and nape. The adult male has the central tail feathers tipped yellow and the lateral ones are more broadly yellow. The female has the mantle colour more greenish or olive. The juvenile has a streaked underside. The nestling has dull greenish with brown streaks. The head and nape are more yellowish and the undertail coverts are yellow. Several variations exist in the populations that have been separated as subspecies. The subspecies in the Andamans, O. c. andamanensis has all black wings while O. c. macrourus of the Nicobars has a very broad nape band so that only the top of the head is yellow. The wings are all black with a yellow primary covert patch. The calls of the Andaman and the Nicobar subspecies are said to be quite different, the latter having a more modulated call note. In the Southeast Asian populations some geographic trends include a reduction of yellow on the forehead and a decreased brightness in the yellow plumage from north to south. Females from southern populations are more greenish on the back and tail and there are no yellow spots on the tips of the secondaries as in northern populations. The usual call is a nasal niee or myaa and the song (diffusus) is a fluty iwee wee wee-leeow. They have a dipping flight.

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.

The species has a distinctive yellowish supercilium and rufous crown. The throat is yellowish with brown streaks. Call is a loud repeated chonk-chonk-chonk-chonk-chonk somewhat reminiscent of a common tailorbird. They forage in small flocks and creep and clamber in low vegetation. They breed in the pre-monsoon season from February to July and build a loose ball shaped nest made from grasses and leaves.

The pygmy flowerpecker (Dicaeum pygmaeum) is a species of bird in the family Dicaeidae. It is endemic to the Philippines. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical moist lowland forest and subtropical or tropical moist montane forest.

The green imperial pigeon is a large, plump pigeon, 45 centimetres (18 in) in length. Its back, wings and tail are metallic green. The head and underparts are white, apart from maroon undertail coverts. Sexes are similar. The bird's call is deep and resonant, and is often the first indication of the presence of this treetop species.

The Palawan flowerpecker (Prionochilus plateni) is a species of bird in the family Dicaeidae. It is endemic to the Philippines. Its natural habitat is subtropical or tropical moist lowland forest. The scientific name commemorates the German zoologist Carl Constantin Platen.

The white-vented shama (Copsychus niger) is a species of bird in the chat and flycatcher family Muscicapidae. It is endemic to the Palawan, Balabac and Calamian in the Philippines. The species is sometimes placed in the genus Kittacincla, and is the sister species to the black shama of Cebu. The white-vented shama is 18 to 21 cm (7.1–8.3 in) long and has almost entirely black plumage except for white undertail coverts and four white feathers on the outer edge of the tail. Little is known about the species, which lives in primary on degraded rainforest and scrub.

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.

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.

The hooded pitta (Pitta sordida) is a passerine bird in the family Pittidae. It is common in eastern and southeastern Asia and maritime Southeast Asia, where it lives in several types of forests as well as on plantations and other cultivated areas. It is a green bird with a black head and chestnut crown. It forages on the ground for insects and their larvae, and also eats berries. It breeds between February and August, the pair being strongly territorial and building their nest on the ground. Incubation and care of the fledglings is done by both parents. The bird has a wide range, and the International Union for Conservation of Nature has assessed its conservation status as being of "least concern".

This species, like other bee-eaters, is a richly coloured, slender bird. It is predominantly green; its face has a narrow blue patch with a black eye stripe, and a yellow and brown throat; the tail is blue and the beak is black. The three outer toes are united around their bases. It can reach a length of 23–26 cm, including the two elongated central tail feathers which can jut two inches more than the remaining ten feathers. Sexes are alike. This species is usually found near water and like other bee-eaters it predominantly eats flying insects, especially bees (as large as the Xylocopa sp.), wasps and hornets, which are caught in the air by sorties from an open perch. They may also forage in flight over estuaries, backwaters and even over the sea but not far from the coast. This species probably takes bees and dragonflies in roughly equal numbers. The insects that are caught are beaten on the perch to kill and break the exoskeleton. This habit is seen in many other members of the order Coraciiformes. They call mainly in flight with a rolling chirping whistling teerp. The only confusable species within its range is the blue-cheeked bee-eater which however tends to be found in drier areas. The blue-tailed differs in having the rump and tail blue rather than green and black. The undertail feathers are bluish rather than green in the blue-cheeked. The blue cheek patch is much smaller while the chestnut on the throat and breast darker and covering a larger area. They breed in April to May in India nesting colonially with closely placed nest holes in a vertical mudbank or even burrowing into gently sloping land. They tend to choose sandy and sandy clay loams but avoid heavier clay loams. They also prefer clear mud banks without any vegetation cover. In Sri Lanka, they have been noted to breed in artificial sand dunes created by dredging of sea sand. The nest tunnel can run nearly 2 metres deep. About 5 to 7 near spherical eggs are laid. Both the male and the female take care of the eggs. The parents guard the nest to prevent intraspecific brood parasitism and extra pair copulation. These birds also feed and roost communally. One or two helpers may join the breeding pair after incubation begins. Although males and females appear similar to the human eye, males tend to have longer central tail feather extensions and UV reflectance studies demonstrate that healthy males had darker chestnut throats and brighter green body plumage while females showed brighter blue rumps and yellow chins.

The hair-crested drongo (Dicrurus hottentottus) is an Asian bird of the family Dicruridae. This species was formerly considered conspecific with Dicrurus bracteatus, for which the name "spangled drongo" – formerly used for both – is now usually reserved. Some authorities include the Sumatran drongo (D. sumatranus) in D. hottentottus as subspecies (Lepage 2003). It is native from Bangladesh, India and Bhutan through Indochina to China, Indonesia, and Brunei (BirdLife International 2008). Hair-crested drongos move in small flocks and are very noisy. The "spangled drongo," Dicrurus bracteatus is native on the east coast of Australia and its name is pejorative slang for a silly person. This may be due to its strange chattering and cackling. "Complete Book of Australian Birds" Reader's Digest.1977.