The Visayan fantail (''Rhipidura albiventris'') is a

fantail Fantails are small insectivorous songbirds of the genus ''Rhipidura'' in the family Rhipiduridae, native to Australasia, Southeast Asia and the Indian subcontinent. Most of the species are about long, specialist aerial feeders, and named as "f ...

endemic 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 ...

on islands of

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 ...

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 ...

Guimaras Guimaras (), officially the Province of Guimaras (; ), is an island province in the Philippines located in the Western Visayas region. The capital is Jordan, while the largest local government unit is the municipality of Buenavista. The provin ...

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 ...

and Ticao. Until recently, it was considered

conspecific Biological specificity is the tendency of a characteristic such as a behavior or a biochemical variation to occur in a particular species. Biochemist Linus Pauling stated that "Biological specificity is the set of characteristics of living organism ...

with the blue-headed fantail and Tablas fantail.

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-tailed bird of forest . Dull blue on the head, chest, back, and shoulder, with some paler blue streaking on the chest and crown. Has a white belly and a rufous lower back, outer tail feathers, and wing, with dark central tail feathers and a dark edge to the wing. Often cocks and fans tail while foraging. Similar to Black-naped Monarch, but has rufous rump and tail. Voice is a single, nasal 'jep' note given at intervals or sped up into a rapid series." It is differentiated from the blue-headed fantail and Tablas fantail with its white belly and generally lighter coloration.

Ecology and behavior

The diet of the Mindanao blue fantail consists of insects. It is often observed in mixed flocks with other birds such as

Black-naped monarch The black-naped monarch or black-naped blue flycatcher (''Hypothymis azurea'') is a passerine bird belonging to the family of monarch flycatchers found in southern and south-eastern Asia. They are sexual dimorphism, sexually dimorphic, with the ...

Flame-templed babbler The flame-templed babbler (''Dasycrotapha speciosa'') is a species of bird of the family Zosteropidae, in the genus ''Dasycrotapha''. It is one of the most remarkable and distinctive birds with its complex head markings with orange crown tufts, b ...

White-vented whistler The white-vented whistler (''Pachycephala homeyeri'') is a species of bird in the family Pachycephalidae. It is found in the southern Philippines and a few islands of Malaysia. Its natural habitats are tropical moist lowland forest and tropical ...

, Lemon-throated leaf warbler, sunbirds and flowerpeckers. Breeding has been recorded from February to May. Nest is cup shaped and is relatively open.Lays 2 eggs.

Habitat and conservation status

Its habitat is in tropical moist

primary Primary or primaries may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Music Groups and labels * Primary (band), from Australia * Primary (musician), hip hop musician and record producer from South Korea * Primary Music, Israeli record label Work ...

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 ...

and

forest edge A woodland edge or forest edge is the transition zone (ecotone) from an area of woodland or forest to fields or other open spaces. Certain species of plants and animals are adapted to the forest edge, and these species are often more familiar to h ...

both in the lowlands to montane areas up to 1,800 meters above sea level. IUCN has assessed this bird as a

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 ...

. However, it is said to be already extinct on

and possibly extinct on

and

Ticao Island Ticao Island is an island with a total land area of . It is one of the three major islands of Masbate province in the Philippines. It is separated from the Bicol Peninsula by the Ticao Pass. The other two major islands are Masbate Island () ...

owing to massive

deforestation Deforestation or forest clearance is the removal and destruction of a forest or stand of trees from land that is then converted to non-forest use. Deforestation can involve conversion of forest land to farms, ranches, or urban use. Ab ...

on those islands.

References

* Sánchez-González, L.A., and R.G. Moyle. 2011. Molecular systematic and species limits in the Philippine fantails (Aves: Rhipidura). Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 61: 290–299.

External links

Image at ADW
Visayan fantail Endemic birds of the Philippines Fauna of the Visayas Visayan fantail Visayan fantail {{Rhipiduridae-stub