Animalia Life

Rhabdornis grandis
TAXONOMY
Rhabdornis grandis Salomonsen, 1953.
OTHER COMMON NAMES
English: Long-billed rhabdornis; French: Rhabdornis б long bec; German: Langschnabel-Rhabdornis; Spanish: Trepador Filipino Grande.
PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS
This species has an average length of 6.7 in (17 cm) and weighs about 3.3 oz (93 g). The male is larger than the female, but the sexes are similar in coloring, with black or dark brown bills and brown eyes, and olive-gray legs. Upperparts are patterned with gray, brown, black, and white, in characteristic streak patterns. The face has a black mask with white lines above and below. The lower breast and belly are white.
DISTRIBUTION
The Cordillera and Sierra Madre on Luzon Island.
HABITAT
Middle-elevation (330–3,300 ft; 100–1,000 m), tropical forest.
BEHAVIOR
The greater rhabdornis forages in groups or mixed-species flocks in the upper levels of forests. Greater rhabdornises will often flock with stripe-headed rhabdornises in flowering or fruiting trees.
FEEDING ECOLOGY AND DIET
Forages like other rhabdornis species, hopping and jumping along branches, searching for and eating insects among leaves, bark, and flowers. It will vary its diet with nectar, seeds, and fruit.
REPRODUCTIVE BIOLOGY
Nests in tree holes. Enlarged gonads in May.
CONSERVATION STATUS
Uncommon, but not threatened.
SIGNIFICANCE TO HUMANS
None known.

Other popular Animals