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Philippine Spinetail
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Philippine Spinetail
Mearnsia picina
The Philippine spinetail (Mearnsia picina), also known as the Philippine needletail or Philippine spine-tailed swift, is a species of swift in the family Apodidae. It is endemic to the Philippines found in the islands of Mindanao and Visayas. Its natural habitat is tropical moist lowland forests. It is becoming rare due to habitat loss.
From the article Philippine spinetail on Wikipedia (CC BY-SA), quoted section by section
Description
Formerly placed in the genus Chaetura but is now in Mearnsia. This species is monotypic and has no subspecies.
Range & habitat
It appears to be reliant upon forested streams below 1,000 m and will tolerate secondary and selectively logged forest and even streamside vegetation within coconut plantations, close to forest edge. IUCN has assessed this bird as near threatened.This species' main threat is habitat loss with wholesale clearance of forest habitats as a result of logging, agricultural conversion and mining activities occurring within the range. The close association with lowland forests suggests that this species may be highly susceptible to habitat loss through commercial logging, conversion for agriculture and plantation forestry, as well as urban developments and mining
== References ==
Wikipedia: “Habitat and conservation status”
What it does
It is seen alone or in small groups in high up in the air. It is presumed to feed on flying insects. Nothing at all is known about its breeding habits.
Wikipedia: “Behaviour and ecology”
Listen
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Where it lives
Recorded sightings
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geo-referenced records in GBIF, from museums, herbaria and field observers.
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In the stacks
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Every page naming Mearnsia picina in the Biodiversity Heritage Library →
This page is assembled live from iNaturalist, GBIF, Wikipedia, the Source Library and the Internet Archive. It is not yet part of the hand-edited codex. iNaturalist taxon 6859.