Bird of the Philippines: Mindanao Broadbill

Mindanao Broadbill (Eurylaimus steerii) is categorized by IUCN 2012 as vulnerable. BirdLife International 2012a, reported that population decline is primarily due to it's declining and fragmented population because of lowland deforestation, habitat destruction and forest fragmentation. Mindanao broadbill is a mindanao endemic and inhabits lowland forest with elevation below 1,200m.

Mindanao Broadbill has reportedly (pre 1980s) been to be seen in Mt. Matutum, (Birdlife International, 2012a), located in the province of South Cotabato, on the island of Mindanao, in the south of the Philippines. Mt. Matutum has been assessed as an Important Bird Area in 2001, and issuance of Presidential proclamation no. 552 declaring it as protected landscape (CEPF, 2012) making it a priority for conservation where it holds key birds species that are vulnerable to global extinction.

Habitat destruction has caused continued decline in the species population throughout its range thus, determining the true distribution, population and habitat preference of Mindanao Broadbill in Mt. Matutum is vital to initiate intervention measures.

Mindanao Broadbill belongs to order Passeriformes, family Eurylaimidae, genus Eurylaimus and species steerii. Other common english name is Wattled Broadbill.

Collar et al., 1999, gave a detailed description and field characteristics of Mindanao Broadbill describing it as a brightly coloured passerine with a measurement of 17cm long. The face heading towards the throat is black. The eyes are coloured green, surrounded by large skyblue wattle. It has a broad, pale blue bill. The crown is maroon-purple with a white nuchal collar on its border and the underparts are lilac. It has been recorded feeding on fruit, but there are also records of broadbill chasing and catching insects and beating them on a tree limb before swallowing.

Bird of the Philippines: Mindanao Broadbill

Mindanao Broadbill is widespread and fairly common over the island of Mindanao. It frequents the under and middle storeys of rainforests, deep woods, inside dense patches of remnant original dipterocarp forest and in mixed dipterocarp and secondary forests. It is a lowland bird with a highest recorded elevation of 1,200m (Birdlife International, 2012).