Lina's sunbird

Lina's sunbird (Aethopyga linaraborae) is a species of bird in the family Nectariniidae It is endemic to mountains in the island of Mindanao in the Philippines. It is one of the most striking sunbirds in the country with the male having an iridescent blue color and an orange spot on its yellow breast. It is named after Dioscoro S. Rabor's wife, Lina who would assist Dioscoro on expeditions.^[2] Its natural habitat is tropical moist montane forest above 1000m. It is threatened by habitat loss.

Lina's sunbird
Male
Female
Conservation status
Near Threatened  (IUCN 3.1)[1]
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Aves
Order:	Passeriformes
Family:	Nectariniidae
Genus:	Aethopyga
Species:	A. linaraborae
Binomial name
Aethopyga linaraborae Kennedy, Gonzales & Miranda, 1997

Description

A Philippine stamp in 2009 depicting the Lina's sunbird

EBird describes the bird as "A small, localized bird of montane forest in eastern Mindanao. Has a long, curved bill, an olive back, an orange mark in the middle of the chest and a bluish tail with white tips. Male has an iridescent blue crown, cheek, and wing, a green shoulder and rump, yellow underparts, and a small orange patch in front of the shoulder. Female has faint streaking on the underparts, a gray head, and golden-olive wings. Similar to Metallic-winged sunbird, but male has a blue wing and female a gray head. Voice includes a high-pitched jumbled song, a series of sharp 'chik!' notes, and an upslurred high-pitched whistle."^[3]

This species was formerly conspecific with the Apo sunbird but was split by Robert Kennedy, Pedro Gonzales and Hector Miranda in 1997. They decided to name this species after Lina Rabor whose husband is Dioscoro Rabor who is known for as the "Father of Philippine Biology and Conservation" and described 69 bird species

Ecology and behavior

This species has not yet been comprehensively studied. It is presumed to have a typical sunbird diet of primarily nectar and supplemented with the occasional insect.

Males in breeding condition with enlarged testes have been collected n May but this is not yet fully understood.^[4]

Habitat and conservation status

It occupies montane mossy forest from 970 to 2,000 m and above in the mountains of Eastern Mindanao.

IUCN has assessed this bird as near threatened making it the only Philippine sunbird that is not assessed as least concern as it r. It is restricted toDespite its limited range, it is said to be locally common in its range. As it occurs in rugged and inaccessible mountains, this has allowed a large portion of its habitat to remain intact. However, there it is still affected by habitat loss through deforestation, mining, land conversion and slash-and-burn - just not to the same extent as lowland forest. Mt. Tagubud in New Bataan, where it is mainly seen by birdwatchers, has faced considerable deforestation.