Leyte ( / ˈ l eɪ t i , ˈ l eɪ t eɪ / LAY -tee, LAY -tay ) is an island in the Visayas group of islands in the Philippines . It is eighth-largest and sixth-most populous island in the Philippines, with a total population of 2,626,970 as of 2020 census.
50-497: The three fairy-bluebirds are small passerine bird species found in forests and plantations in tropical southern Asia and the Philippines . They are the sole members of the genus Irena and family Irenidae , and are related to the ioras and leafbirds . These are bulbul -like birds of open forest or thorn scrub, but whereas that group tends to be drab in colouration, fairy-bluebirds are sexually dimorphic, with
100-511: A tui -sized bird) and several bones of at least one species of saddleback -sized bird have recently been described. These date from the Early to Middle Miocene ( Awamoan to Lillburnian , 19–16 mya). In Europe, perching birds are not too uncommon in the fossil record from the Oligocene onward, belonging to several lineages: That suboscines expanded much beyond their region of origin
150-470: A clearer picture of passerine origins and evolution that reconciles molecular affinities, the constraints of morphology, and the specifics of the fossil record. The first passerines are now thought to have evolved in the Southern Hemisphere in the late Paleocene or early Eocene , around 50 million years ago. The initial diversification of passerines coincides with the separation of
200-633: A discontinuous distribution from India to Java and Vietnam . In India the species is present in the southwest of the country and in the northeast. From Burma it has a continuous distribution (in suitable habitat) throughout most of Southeast Asia, and down into Borneo and Sumatra , as well as on the Andaman Islands . The species is rare in Sri Lanka . The Philippine fairy-bluebird is found on Luzon , Polillo , Leyte , Samar , Mindanao , Dinagat and Basilan . The Palawan fairy-bluebird
250-483: A distinct super-family Certhioidea . This list is in taxonomic order, placing related families next to one another. The families listed are those recognised by the International Ornithologists' Union (IOC). The order and the division into infraorders, parvorders, and superfamilies follows the phylogenetic analysis published by Carl Oliveros and colleagues in 2019. The relationships between
300-469: A dozen and other species around five or six. The family Viduidae do not build their own nests, instead, they lay eggs in other birds' nests. The Passeriformes contain several groups of brood parasites such as the viduas , cuckoo-finches , and the cowbirds . The evolutionary history of the passerine families and the relationships among them remained rather mysterious until the late 20th century. In many cases, passerine families were grouped together on
350-462: Is a guitar-shaped lake hemmed by the cloud-capped Anonang-Lobi mountain ranges. Kalanggaman Island in Palompon, Leyte is a virgin island with pure white sand. The ecological atmosphere of the island had been preserved by the municipality. The Sto. Nino Shrine and Heritage Museum boasts the painting of the fourteen stations of the cross done by Filipino artists and a bas-relief of the legend of
400-460: Is any bird of the order Passeriformes ( / ˈ p æ s ə r ɪ f ɔːr m iː z / ; from Latin passer 'sparrow' and formis '-shaped') which includes more than half of all bird species. Sometimes known as perching birds , passerines generally have an anisodactyl arrangement of their toes (three pointing forward and one back), which facilitates perching. With more than 140 families and some 6,500 identified species, Passeriformes
450-482: Is currently divided into three suborders: Acanthisitti (New Zealand wrens), Tyranni , (suboscines) and Passeri (oscines or songbirds). The Passeri is now subdivided into two major groups recognized now as Corvides and Passerida respectively containing the large superfamilies Corvoidea and Meliphagoidea , as well as minor lineages, and the superfamilies Sylvioidea , Muscicapoidea , and Passeroidea but this arrangement has been found to be oversimplified. Since
500-420: Is endemic to the island of Palawan . The fairy-bluebirds are dependent upon fruit-producing forests, but all three species seem to exist in a wide range of forests, both evergreen and semi-evergreen. Within forests they are generally found in the canopy. Pairs or small groups (individuals are seldom seen alone) of fairy-bluebirds forage widely to obtain food. Fruit, particularly figs in the genus Ficus , are
550-906: Is more scant before the Pleistocene, from which several still-existing families are documented. Apart from the indeterminable MACN -SC-1411 (Pinturas Early/Middle Miocene of Santa Cruz Province, Argentina), an extinct lineage of perching birds has been described from the Late Miocene of California, United States: the Palaeoscinidae with the single genus Palaeoscinis . "Palaeostruthus" eurius (Pliocene of Florida) probably belongs to an extant family, most likely passeroidean . Acanthisitti – New Zealand wrens (1 family containing 7 species, only 2 extant) Tyranni – suboscines (16 families containing 1,356 species) Passeri – oscines (125 families containing 5,158 species) The Passeriformes
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#1732764891159600-458: Is notable for the geothermal electric power plants near Ormoc. The island was known to 16th-century Spanish explorers as Tandaya. Its population grew rapidly after 1900, especially in the Leyte and Ormoc valleys. The island was once the location of Mairete , a historic community which was ruled by Datu Ete. Before being colonized by Spain, the island was once home to indigenous animist Warays to
650-537: Is proven by several fossils from Germany such as a presumed broadbill ( Eurylaimidae ) humerus fragment from the Early Miocene (roughly 20 mya) of Wintershof , Germany, the Late Oligocene carpometacarpus from France listed above, and Wieslochia , among others. Extant Passeri super-families were quite distinct by that time and are known since about 12–13 mya when modern genera were present in
700-472: Is sexually dimorphic in its plumage, the male being much brighter than the female, but the Philippine fairy-bluebird exhibits much less difference and the female is almost as bright as the male. The deep colour is provided by specialised naked feather-tip barbs. Although the fairy-bluebirds are highly visible in sunlight, they are much less visible in the shade of the forest. The Asian fairy-bluebird has
750-442: Is the long-tailed widowbird . The chicks of passerines are altricial : blind, featherless, and helpless when hatched from their eggs. Hence, the chicks require extensive parental care. Most passerines lay colored eggs, in contrast with nonpasserines, most of whose eggs are white except in some ground-nesting groups such as Charadriiformes and nightjars , where camouflage is necessary, and in some parasitic cuckoos , which match
800-459: Is the short-tailed pygmy tyrant , at 6.5 cm (2.6 in) and 4.2 g (0.15 oz). The foot of a passerine has three toes directed forward and one toe directed backward, called anisodactyl arrangement. The hind toe ( hallux ) is long and joins the leg at approximately the same level as the front toes. This arrangement enables passerine birds to easily perch upright on branches. The toes have no webbing or joining, but in some cotingas ,
850-545: Is the largest order of birds and among the most diverse clades of terrestrial vertebrates , representing 60% of birds. Passerines are divided into three suborders : Acanthisitti (New Zealand wrens), Tyranni (composed mostly of South American suboscines), and Passeri (oscines or songbirds). Passerines originated in the Southern Hemisphere around 60 million years ago. Most passerines are insectivorous or omnivorous , and eat both insects and fruit or seeds. The terms "passerine" and "Passeriformes" are derived from
900-657: The Corvida and numerous minor lineages make up songbird diversity today. Extensive biogeographical mixing happens, with northern forms returning to the south, southern forms moving north, and so on. Perching bird osteology , especially of the limb bones, is rather diagnostic. However, the early fossil record is poor because passerines are relatively small, and their delicate bones do not preserve well. Queensland Museum specimens F20688 ( carpometacarpus ) and F24685 ( tibiotarsus ) from Murgon, Queensland , are fossil bone fragments initially assigned to Passeriformes . However,
950-559: The Mahagnao Volcano Natural Park attracts visitors with its lakes, craters, hot springs, multi-colored mud, virgin forests and lagoon. It was proclaimed as a national park in 1937. Like other regions in the Philippines, the area enjoys a temperate climate. It has an elevation of 1,200 meters above sea level and an area of 635 hectares, within the boundaries of Burauen, La Paz and McArthur towns. Lake Danao
1000-636: The Old World warblers and Old World babblers have turned out to be paraphyletic and are being rearranged. Several taxa turned out to represent highly distinct lineages, so new families had to be established, some of theirs – like the stitchbird of New Zealand and the Eurasian bearded reedling – monotypic with only one living species. In the Passeri alone, a number of minor lineages will eventually be recognized as distinct superfamilies. For example,
1050-456: The Palawan fairy-bluebird ( I. tweeddalii ) on the island of Palawan . The first scientists to examine fairy-bluebirds placed them in the genus Coracias , presumably on the strength of the iridescent blue plumage on the back. This was challenged in the 1820s by Thomas Horsfield and Coenraad Temminck , who suggested a relationship instead with the drongos . It was variously placed with
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#17327648911591100-771: The Philippine Sea of the Pacific Ocean , Samar to the northeast and the Dinagat Islands to the southeast forming Leyte Gulf . To the west is the Camotes Sea . Leyte is mostly heavily forested and mountainous, but the Leyte Valley in the northeast has much agriculture. The Leyte provincial capitol is the seat of the provincial government where there is a mural depicting the First Mass in
1150-464: The bulbuls and orioles as well. On the basis of the DNA-DNA hybridization studies of Sibley and Alhquist its closest relatives have now been identified as the leafbirds . This relationship was confirmed by a large molecular phylogenetic study published in 2019 found that the family Irenidae was sister to the family Chloropseidae containing the leafbirds. The leafbirds are sometimes included in
1200-631: The crows , do not sound musical to human beings. Some, such as the lyrebird , are accomplished mimics. The New Zealand wrens are tiny birds restricted to New Zealand , at least in modern times; they were long placed in Passeri. Most passerines are smaller than typical members of other avian orders. The heaviest and altogether largest passerines are the thick-billed raven and the larger races of common raven , each exceeding 1.5 kg (3.3 lb) and 70 cm (28 in). The superb lyrebird and some birds-of-paradise , due to very long tails or tail coverts, are longer overall. The smallest passerine
1250-445: The kinglets constitute a single genus with less than 10 species today but seem to have been among the first perching bird lineages to diverge as the group spread across Eurasia. No particularly close relatives of theirs have been found among comprehensive studies of the living Passeri, though they might be fairly close to some little-studied tropical Asian groups. Nuthatches , wrens , and their closest relatives are currently grouped in
1300-507: The scientific name of the house sparrow , Passer domesticus , and ultimately from the Latin term passer , which refers to sparrows and similar small birds. The order is divided into three suborders, Tyranni (suboscines), Passeri (oscines or songbirds), and the basal Acanthisitti . Oscines have the best control of their syrinx muscles among birds, producing a wide range of songs and other vocalizations, though some of them, such as
1350-402: The superb lyrebird has 16, and several spinetails in the family Furnariidae have 10, 8, or even 6, as is the case of Des Murs's wiretail . Species adapted to tree trunk climbing such as treecreepers and woodcreeper have stiff tail feathers that are used as props during climbing. Extremely long tails used as sexual ornaments are shown by species in different families. A well-known example
1400-526: The 1700s, was home to 38 Spanish Filipino families and 7,678 native families. Leyte is most famous for its role in the reconquest of the Philippines in World War II . The province was utilized by the Japanese as a hub for sexual slavery. Some sex slave sites included Tacloban and Burauen, where the Japanese kidnapped girls, teenagers, and young adults and forced them into becoming sex slaves under
1450-643: The Philippines , believed to have happened in Limasawa , and the landing of General Douglas MacArthur . The MacArthur Landing Memorial National Park in Red Beach, Palo , marks the 1944 landing by the American liberation forces. It also has a lagoon where a life-sized statue of Gen. MacArthur stands. Mahagnao Volcano Natural Park Located in Burauen , Leyte, about 66 km (41 mi) from Tacloban City,
1500-400: The accessibility of land has been depleted, Leyte has provided countless number of migrants to Mindanao . Most inhabitants are farmers. Fishing is a supplementary activity. Rice and corn (maize) are the main food crops; cash crops include coconuts, abaca, tobacco, bananas, and sugarcane. There are some manganese deposits, and sandstone and limestone are quarried in the northwest. Politically,
1550-601: The basis of morphological similarities that, it is now believed, are the result of convergent evolution , not a close genetic relationship. For example, the wrens of the Americas and Eurasia , those of Australia , and those of New Zealand look superficially similar and behave in similar ways, yet belong to three far-flung branches of the passerine family tree; they are as unrelated as it is possible to be while remaining Passeriformes. Advances in molecular biology and improved paleobiogeographical data gradually are revealing
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1600-658: The brutal " comfort women " system. On 20 October 1944, General Douglas MacArthur waded ashore on Leyte, saying, "I have returned", but the Japanese continued to resist strongly in the Battle of Leyte . The convergence of naval forces resulted in the four-day Battle of Leyte Gulf , the largest naval battle in history . During World War II the island was part of a large US Navy base Leyte-Samar Naval Base . The island measures about 180 kilometres (110 mi) north-south and about 65 kilometres (40 mi) at its widest point. In
1650-512: The corvoidean and basal songbirds. The modern diversity of Passerida genera is known mostly from the Late Miocene onward and into the Pliocene (about 10–2 mya). Pleistocene and early Holocene lagerstätten (<1.8 mya) yield numerous extant species, and many yield almost nothing but extant species or their chronospecies and paleosubspecies. In the Americas , the fossil record
1700-470: The diet of nestlings. In the Philippines birds have been observed following troops of macaques , possibly in order to collect flushed insects. Male courtship displays include elaborate vocalizations, which the female responds to with nest building. Nests are constructed in trees or tall bushes from twigs, moss and grasses, and males and females cooperate in rearing chicks. Passerine and see text A passerine ( / ˈ p æ s ə r aɪ n / )
1750-474: The east and other indigenous animist Visayan groups to the west. In the early 17th Century Father Ignacio Alcina, recorded a local epic that a certain Datung Sumanga of Leyte courted the princess, Bugbung Humasanum of Bohol by raiding Imperial China, and upon their marriage, they were the precursors of a kingdom there . Leyte was once labeled as Ceylon in early Spanish maps of the Philippines and in
1800-404: The families in the suborder Tyranni (suboscines) were all well determined but some of the nodes in Passeri (oscines or songbirds) were unclear owing to the rapid splitting of the lineages. Infraorder Eurylaimides : Old World suboscines Infraorder Tyrannides : New World suboscines Parvorder Furnariida Parvorder Tyrannida Relationships between living Passeriformes families based on
1850-487: The family Irenidae with the fairy-bluebirds, but the time since the apparent divergence suggests that they are better treated as separate families. Fairy-bluebirds are robust birds that resemble Old World orioles in shape and size. Males are larger than females. They weigh between 50 and 100g, with some of that variation being caused by sexual differences and some by geographic variation. There are clines in size differences, which can be attributed to Bergmann's rule , with
1900-490: The first Filipino man and woman ( Malakas and Maganda ). The San Juanico Bridge is the longest bridge in the Philippines . Leyte Island is the birthplace of the Tinikling dance, popular throughout the Philippines. On Friday, 8 November 2013, Super Typhoon Yolanda (Haiyan) destroyed 70-80% of the structures in its path on Leyte province. An estimated 10,000 people died and up to 620,000 people were displaced across
1950-403: The island is divided into two provinces : (Northern) Leyte and Southern Leyte . Territorially, Southern Leyte includes the island of Panaon to its south. To the north of Leyte is the island province of Biliran , a former sub-province of Leyte. The major cities of Leyte are Tacloban , on the eastern shore at the northwest corner of Leyte Gulf , and Ormoc , on the west coast. Leyte today
2000-535: The males being dark blue in plumage, and the females duller green. These species eat fruit, especially figs, and possibly some insects . They lay two to three eggs in a tree nest. The call of the Asian fairy-bluebird is a liquid two note Glue-It . As the names would suggest, the Asian fairy-bluebird ( I. puella ) occurs across southern Asia , the Philippine fairy-bluebird ( I. cyanogastra ) in that archipelago, and
2050-669: The material is too fragmentary and their affinities have been questioned. Several more recent fossils from the Oligocene of Europe, such as Wieslochia , Jamna , Resoviaornis , and Crosnoornis , are more complete and definitely represent early passeriforms, and have been found to belong to a variety of modern and extinct lineages. From the Bathans Formation at the Manuherikia River in Otago , New Zealand, MNZ S42815 (a distal right tarsometatarsus of
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2100-536: The mid-2000s, studies have investigated the phylogeny of the Passeriformes and found that many families from Australasia traditionally included in the Corvoidea actually represent more basal lineages within oscines. Likewise, the traditional three-superfamily arrangement within the Passeri has turned out to be far more complex and will require changes in classification. Major " wastebin " families such as
2150-468: The most important item in the diet of fairy-bluebirds. Fairy-bluebirds will generally eat fruit of a certain size, and will crush larger fruits in order to make them manageable. Most food is obtained in the canopy. In addition to fruit berries may be eaten, as well as nectar , although this behaviour has only been reported in birds in India. In contrast to adults, however, insects are the principal component of
2200-550: The north it nearly joins the island of Samar , separated by the San Juanico Strait , which becomes as narrow as 2 kilometres (1.2 mi) in some places. The island province of Biliran is also to the north of Leyte and is joined to Leyte island by a bridge across the narrow Biliran Strait . To the south, Leyte is separated from Mindanao by the Surigao Strait . To the east, Leyte is somewhat "set back" from
2250-466: The northernmost populations being larger on average. They have a powerful deep and notched bill used for crushing, with that of the Philippine species being largest. Their feet are small, which suggests that they spend less time climbing in order to feed and more time on the wing. The plumage of the fairy-bluebirds is exceptional, with the upperparts being deep rich blue. The Asian fairy-bluebird
2300-518: The passerine host's egg. The vinous-throated parrotbill has two egg colors, white and blue, to deter the brood parasitic common cuckoo . Clutches vary considerably in size: some larger passerines of Australia such as lyrebirds and scrub-robins lay only a single egg, most smaller passerines in warmer climates lay between two and five, while in the higher latitudes of the Northern Hemisphere, hole-nesting species like tits can lay up to
2350-889: The phylogenetic analysis of Oliveros et al (2019). Some terminals have been renamed to reflect families recognised by the IOC but not in that study. The IOC families Alcippeidae and Teretistridae were not sampled in this study. Acanthisittidae (New Zealand wrens) Eurylaimidae (eurylaimid broadbills) Philepittidae (asites) Calyptomenidae (African and green broadbills) Pittidae (pittas) Sapayoidae (sapayoa) Melanopareiidae (crescent chests) Conopophagidae (gnateaters) Thamnophilidae (antbirds) Grallariidae (antpittas) Rhinocryptidae (tapaculos) Formicariidae (antthrushes) Scleruridae (leaftossers) Dendrocolaptidae (woodcreepers) Furnariidae (ovenbirds) Pipridae (manakins) Cotingidae (cotingas) Tityridae (tityras, becards) Leyte (island) Since
2400-411: The region. Leyte was affected by Tropical Storm Megi (2022) . Leyte Tide Embankment Project was conceptualized as part of the program on rehabilitation from the aftermath of the strongest typhoon , to build safer cities/communities. The flood control shall cover a length of about 27.3 kilometers stretching from the shoreline of Barangay Diit, Tacloban City passing through the entire shoreline of
2450-509: The second and third toes are united at their basal third. The leg of passerine birds contains an additional special adaptation for perching. A tendon in the rear of the leg running from the underside of the toes to the muscle behind the tibiotarsus will automatically be pulled and tighten when the leg bends, causing the foot to curl and become stiff when the bird lands on a branch. This enables passerines to sleep while perching without falling off. Most passerine birds have 12 tail feathers but
2500-944: The southern continents in the early Eocene . The New Zealand wrens are the first to become isolated in Zealandia , and the second split involved the origin of the Tyranni in South America and the Passeri in the Australian continent . The Passeri experienced a great radiation of forms in Australia. A major branch of the Passeri, the parvorder Passerida , dispersed into Eurasia and Africa about 40 million years ago, where they experienced further radiation of new lineages. This eventually led to three major Passerida lineages comprising about 4,000 species, which in addition to
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