Philippine conservation nonprofit CCIPH and Indigenous Iraya Mangyan forest patrollers documented a Mindoro bleeding-heart pigeon, providing the first confirmed image of the critically endangered species in two decades.Two independent ornithologists confirmed the identification based on the bird’s orange-red breast marking, iridescent green plumage, and other distinctive features.The image was recorded at an elevation above 900 meters (about 3,000 feet), higher than the species’ typical lowland range of 400-88 m (1,300-2,600 ft).Experts called for expanded camera-trap surveys, a comprehensive population. assessment, stronger habitat protection, and measures to address logging, poaching and accidental trapping.
A camera trap on the Philippine island of Mindoro has photographed one of the country’s rarest birds, confirming that the critically endangered Mindoro bleeding-heart pigeon still survives in the wild.
Captured in August in the Puerto Galera rainforest, the image is the first confirmed photograph of the species Gallicolumba platenae in two decades, according to the nonprofit organization Center for Conservation Innovation Ph Inc. (CCIPH).
“For an extremely rare and secretive species, a single image can carry enormous weight,” CCIPH researchers wrote in a Sept. 3 announcement. “It confirms that the bird continues to survive within the landscape.”
