The Bagobo babbler or Bagobo robin (''Leonardina woodi'') is a monotypic 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 lightweigh ...

with its taxonomy undergoing numerous changes and is currently classified as

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 Norther ...

or an old world flycatcher. 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 elsew ...

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 ...

only found in

Mindanao Mindanao ( ) ( Jawi: مينداناو) is the second-largest island in the Philippines, after Luzon, and seventh-most populous island in the world. Located in the southern region of the archipelago, the island is part of an island group of ...

. It habitat are in moist montane forests up to 2030 meters above sea level. It is named after the

Bagobo The Lumad are a group of Austronesian indigenous people in the southern Philippines. It is a Cebuano term meaning "native" or "indigenous". The term is short for Katawhang Lumad (Literally: "indigenous people"), the autonym officially adopte ...

tribe.

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 e ...

describes the bird as "A seldom-seen medium-sized ground. Rufous-brown above from the crown to the tail, gray below with a white throat and rufous from the lower belly to the base of the tail. Note the sturdy black bill, long legs, and large feet. Somewhat similar to

Long-tailed bush warbler The long-tailed bush warbler (''Locustella caudata'') is a species of grass warbler (family Locustellidae). It was formerly included in the "Old World warbler Old World warblers are a large group of birds formerly grouped together in the bird f ...

(which is endemic to

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 ...

) but lacks the pale brow and doesn’t cock its tail. Voice consists of very high-pitched whistles and some harsh rasping notes." Not much else is known about this bird owing to its very secretive nature. Even the taxonomy of this bird is still unclear as it has been moved from different families - once placed in the Old World babbler family Timaliidae, later placed in

Pellorneidae The jungle babblers are a family, Pellorneidae, of mostly Old World passerine birds belonging to the superfamily Sylvioidea. They are quite diverse in size and coloration, and usually characterised by soft, fluffy plumage and a tail on average th ...

, but molecular studies show it belongs to the family

. It is possible that it belongs to a completely new family.

Habitat and Conservation Status

It is found primarily in moist mid-montane and montane forests ranging from 500 - 2,000 m. It is low-lying bird never reaching heights 5 meters above the forest floor. IUCN has assessed this bird as a

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

but there is a great lack of knowledge on any population statistics. The population was previously presumed to be threatened being declared Vulnerable up until 1996. However, recent fieldwork and research by

BirdLife International BirdLife International is a global partnership of non-governmental organizations that strives to conserve birds and their habitats. BirdLife International's priorities include preventing extinction of bird species, identifying and safeguarding ...

has revealed this species to be more abundant than previous. This bird has a fairly limited range but it is fairly common in its habitat. It is not as threatened as other Philippine endemics as its montane habitat is less prone to deforestation as compared to lowland forests. Despite this, deforestation still occurs in these areas its just not to the extent of lowland forest.

References

* Collar, N. J. & Robson, C. 2007. Family Timaliidae (Babblers) Pp. 70 – 291 in; del Hoyo, J., Elliott, A. & Christie, D.A. eds. ''

Handbook of the Birds of the World The ''Handbook of the Birds of the World'' (HBW) is a multi-volume series produced by the Spanish publishing house Lynx Edicions in partnership with BirdLife International. It is the first handbook to cover every known living species of bird. T ...

'', Vol. 12. Picathartes to Tits and Chickadees. Lynx Edicions, Barcelona. * del Hoyo, J.; Elliott, A.; Christie, D. 2007. ''Handbook of the Birds of the World, vol. 12: Picathartes to Tits and Chickadees''. Lynx Edicions, Barcelona, Spain. {{Taxonbar, from=Q2226326 Bagobo babbler Endemic birds of the Philippines Birds described in 1905 Taxonomy articles created by Polbot