The Luzon water redstart (''Phoenicurus bicolor''), also known as the Luzon redstart, is a species of

bird Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the laying of hard-shelled eggs, a high metabolic rate, a four-chambered heart, and a strong yet lightweig ...

in the family

Muscicapidae The Old World flycatchers are a large family, the Muscicapidae, of small passerine birds restricted to the Old World (Europe, Africa and Asia), with the exception of several vagrants and two species, Bluethroat (''Luscinia svecica)'' and Northe ...

. It is

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found else ...

to the

Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...

found primarily on

Luzon Luzon (; ) is the largest and most populous island in the Philippines. Located in the northern portion of the Philippines archipelago, it is the economic and political center of the nation, being home to the country's capital city, Manila, as ...

with no records in

Mindoro Mindoro is the seventh largest and eighth-most populous island in the Philippines. With a total land area of 10,571 km2 ( 4,082 sq.mi ) and has a population of 1,408,454 as of 2020 census. It is located off the southwestern coast of Luz ...

since 1965. Its natural

habitat In ecology, the term habitat summarises the array of resources, physical and biotic factors that are present in an area, such as to support the survival and reproduction of a particular species. A species habitat can be seen as the physical ...

s are

tropical moist lowland forest Tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests (TSMF), also known as tropical moist forest, is a subtropical and tropical forest habitat type defined by the World Wide Fund for Nature. Description TSMF is generally found in large, discon ...

, subtropical or tropical moist

montane forest Montane ecosystems are found on the slopes of mountains. The alpine climate in these regions strongly affects the ecosystem because temperatures fall as elevation increases, causing the ecosystem to stratify. This stratification is a crucial ...

, and

river A river is a natural flowing watercourse, usually freshwater, flowing towards an ocean, sea, lake or another river. In some cases, a river flows into the ground and becomes dry at the end of its course without reaching another body of w ...

s. It is threatened by

habitat loss Habitat destruction (also termed habitat loss and habitat reduction) is the process by which a natural habitat becomes incapable of supporting its native species. The organisms that previously inhabited the site are displaced or dead, thereby ...

. This species was formerly placed in the

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial nom ...

''Rhyacornis'' but was moved to ''

Phoenicurus ''Phoenicurus'' is a genus of passerine birds in the Old World flycatcher family Muscicapidae, native to Europe, Asia and Africa. They are named redstarts from their orange-red tails ('start' is an old name for a tail). They are small insectivor ...

'' based on the results of a molecular phylogenetic study published in 2010.

Description

EBird eBird is an online database of bird observations providing scientists, researchers and amateur naturalists with real-time data about bird distribution and abundance. Originally restricted to sightings from the Western Hemisphere, the project ...

describes the bird as "A fairly small bird of fast-flowing streams through foothill and montane forest or scrub. Slaty-blue with a rufous belly and tail. Female is a duller version of the male. Somewhat similar in color to Blue-headed Fantail, but has a shorter tail and is usually restricted to streams. Also similar to Blue Rock-Thrush, but smaller, with a dark tail. Song is a slightly ascending series of notes run together to sound like a quavering whistle." They exhibit

sexual dimorphism Sexual dimorphism is the condition where the sexes of the same animal and/or plant species exhibit different morphological characteristics, particularly characteristics not directly involved in reproduction. The condition occurs in most an ...

which males have the red belly and vents with the females having a plainer and more uniform blue plumage. Its primary diet includes small invertebrates.

Habitat and Conservation Status

It inhabits the sides of clean, fast-flowing mountain streams and rivers, above 300 m. Adjacent habitat includes tropical montane forest, pine forest or just scrub and scattered trees. Records from

Dalton Pass Dalton Pass, also called Balete Pass, is a zigzag road and mountain pass that joins the provinces of Nueva Ecija and Nueva Vizcaya, in central Luzon island of the Philippines. It is part of Cagayan Valley Road segment of Pan-Philippine Highway ( ...

between August and December indicate that some birds wander post-breeding. IUCN has assessed this bird as

near-threatened A near-threatened species is a species which has been categorized as "Near Threatened" (NT) by the International Union for Conservation of Nature as that may be vulnerable to endangerment in the near future, but it does not currently qualify f ...

with the population estimated at 2,500 to 9,999 mature individuals and continuing to decline. Its main threat is

habitat degradation Habitat destruction (also termed habitat loss and habitat reduction) is the process by which a natural habitat becomes incapable of supporting its native species. The organisms that previously inhabited the site are displaced or dead, thereby ...

caused by pollution of its streams through

mining Mining is the extraction of valuable minerals or other geological materials from the Earth, usually from an ore body, lode, vein, seam, reef, or placer deposit. The exploitation of these deposits for raw material is based on the economic ...

and dumping of trash and agro-chemicals. It is also affected by legal and

illegal logging Illegal logging is the harvest, transportation, purchase or sale of timber in violation of laws. The harvesting procedure itself may be illegal, including using corruption, corrupt means to gain access to forests; extraction without permission, o ...

and conversion of forest into farmland. It occurs in a few protected areas such as Northern Sierra Madre Natural Park, Maria Aurora National Park, Balbalasang-Balbalan National Park, Mount Pulag National Park and Mt. Iglit-Baco National Park (which is also the stronghold of the

Tamaraw The tamaraw or Mindoro dwarf buffalo (''Bubalus mindorensis'') is a small hoofed mammal belonging to the family Bovidae. It is endemic to the island of Mindoro in the Philippines, and is the only endemic Philippine bovine. It is believed, howe ...

). However, as with most areas in the

, protection from hunting and illegal logging is lax. Conservation actions proposed include surveys of suitable mountain streams to clarify its distribution, population status and the influence of pollution and siltation on population. Research its ecological requirements and seasonal movements to facilitate conservation planning. Propose formal protection for other key sites. Stricted enforcement on controlling river pollution, mining and logging. Monitor water quality and habitat conditions in areas downstream of mining operations. Campaign for a ban on mining in key areas for this species.

References

Luzon water redstart Birds of Luzon Luzon water redstart Taxonomy articles created by Polbot {{Muscicapidae-stub