The stripe-headed rhabdornis or stripe-headed creeper (''Rhabdornis mystacalis''), also known as the stripe-sided rhabdornis, is a species of

bird Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class (biology), class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the Oviparity, laying of Eggshell, hard-shelled eggs, a high Metabolism, metabolic rate, a fou ...

currently placed in the

starling Starlings are small to medium-sized passerine (perching) birds known for the often dark, glossy iridescent sheen of their plumage; their complex vocalizations including mimicking; and their distinctive, often elaborate swarming behavior, know ...

family, Sturnidae. It is

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found only 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 foun ...

to the

Philippines The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. Located in the western Pacific Ocean, it consists of List of islands of the Philippines, 7,641 islands, with a tot ...

Description and taxonomy

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 e ...

describes the bird as "A medium-sized, long-billed bird of primary lowland and foothill forest with a white throat and belly, brown wings and tail, a black mask, a dark crown finely streaked white, and black sides broadly streaked white. Sometimes joins mixed-species flocks, where it often investigates under bark with its long bill. Resembles the other rhabdornis species, but usually found at lower elevations, and has a dark crown streaked with white rather than a gray crown. Voice consists of high-pitched chips, sometimes sped up into a chatter."

Subspecies

Three

subspecies In Taxonomy (biology), biological classification, subspecies (: subspecies) is a rank below species, used for populations that live in different areas and vary in size, shape, or other physical characteristics (Morphology (biology), morpholog ...

are recognized: * ''R.m. mystacalis —'' Found on

Luzon Luzon ( , ) is the largest and most populous List of islands in the Philippines, island in the Philippines. Located in the northern portion of the List of islands of the Philippines, Philippine archipelago, it is the economic and political ce ...

Catanduanes Catanduanes (; ), officially the Province of Catanduanes (), is an island province located in the Bicol Region of Luzon in the Philippines. It is the 12th-largest island in the Philippines, and lies to the east of Camarines Sur, across the M ...

Masbate Masbate, officially the Province of Masbate (Masbateño language, Masbateño: ''Probinsya san Masbate''; ), is an island Provinces of the Philippines, province in the Philippines located near the midsection of the nation's archipelago. Its provi ...

Panay Panay is the sixth-largest and fourth-most populous island in the Philippines, with a total land area of and a total population of 4,542,926, as of 2020 census. Panay comprises 4.4 percent of the entire population of the country. The City of Il ...

and

Negros Negros (, , ) is the fourth largest and third most populous island in the Philippines, with a total land area of . The coastal zone of the southern part of Negros is identified as a site of highest marine biodiversity importance in the Coral Tr ...

* ''R.m. minor —''Found on

Mindanao Mindanao ( ) is the List of islands of the Philippines, second-largest island in the Philippines, after Luzon, and List of islands by population, seventh-most populous island in the world. Located in the southern region of the archipelago, the ...

Basilan Basilan, officially the Province of Basilan (; ; ; ), is an island province of the Philippines located primarily in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region. Basilan Island is the largest and northernmost of the major islands of the Sulu Archipelago ...

Samar Samar ( ) is the third-largest and seventh-most populous island in the Philippines, with a total population of 1,909,537 as of the 2020 census. It is located in the eastern Visayas, which are in the central Philippines. The island is divided in ...

Leyte Leyte ( ) is an island in the Visayas group of islands in the Philippines. It is eighth-largest and sixth-most populous island in the Philippines, with a total population of 2,626,970 as of 2020 census. Since the accessibility of land has been ...

Biliran Biliran, officially the Province of Biliran (Waray language, Waray-Waray: ''Probinsya han Biliran''; ; ), is an island province in the Philippines located in the Eastern Visayas Regions of the Philippines, region (Region VIII). Biliran is one of ...

Bohol Bohol (), officially the Province of Bohol (; ), is an island province of the Philippines located in the Central Visayas Regions of the Philippines, region, consisting of the island itself and 75 minor surrounding islands. It is home to Bohola ...

Dinagat Islands Dinagat Islands ( Cebuano: ''Mga Pulo sa Dinagat''; Surigaonon: ''Mga Puyo nan Dinagat''; Kabalian: ''Mga Puyo san Dinagat''; Waray: ''Mga Purô han Dinagat''; Filipino: ''Mga Islang Dinagat''), officially the Province of Dinagat Islands, is ...

and Calicoan Island The subspecies minor is smaller and has a shorter bill.

Ecology and behavior

Feeds on a varied diet including insects, fruits and seeds. Forages in flocks of up to 20 individuals and also joins smixed species flocks. Birds collected in breeding condition with enlarged gonads in February to July. Nests in small tree cavities. Not much else is known about this despite its relative comonness.

Habitat and conservation status

Its natural

habitat In ecology, habitat refers to the array of resources, 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 manifestation of its ...

s at tropical moist lowland

primary forest An old-growth forest or primary forest is a forest that has developed over a long period of time without Disturbance (ecology), disturbance. Due to this, old-growth forests exhibit unique ecological features. The Food and Agriculture Organizati ...

and

secondary forest A secondary forest (or second-growth forest) is a forest or woodland area which has regenerated through largely natural processes after human-caused Disturbance (ecology), disturbances, such as Logging, timber harvest or agriculture clearing, or ...

up to 1,000 meters above sea level. The

IUCN Red List The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species, also known as the IUCN Red List or Red Data Book, founded in 1964, is an inventory of the global conservation status and extinction risk of biological ...

has assessed this bird as

least-concern species A least-concern species is a species that has been evaluated and categorized by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as not being a focus of wildlife conservation because the specific species is still plentiful in the wil ...

as it is still common throughout its large range. The population is still decreasing due to the habitat loss and deforestation in the

. More studies are recommended to better understand this species, population and conservation status.

References

External links

eBird Website
stripe-headed rhabdornis stripe-headed rhabdornis Taxonomy articles created by Polbot {{Muscicapoidea-stub Endemic birds of the Philippines