Bicol Ground Warbler

The Bicol ground warbler (Robsonius sorsogonensis) is a species of passerine bird in the family Locustellidae. It is endemic to the island of Luzon in the Philippines. Its natural habitat is subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests. It is threatened by habitat loss. The Bicol ground warbler was described by the ornithologists Austin L. Rand and Dioscoro S. Rabor in 1967 and given the binomial name Napothera sorsogonensis. The specific epithet is from the name of the province Sorsogon in the Bicol Region of the Philippines where the species was first discovered. It was initially believed to belong to the Old World babblers family Timaliidae and given the English name "grey-banded babbler" but this was changed to "Bicol ground warbler" when its taxonomic position was better understood. It is now placed in the genus Robsonius that was introduced by the English ornithologist Nigel J. Collar in 2006.