The Photoblogger

Oriental Dollar Bird

I really miss posting about birds so I’m gonna share one particular noisy bird which fascinated me as I was able to see this around 5 years ago and I’ve only been able to see it again in Crocolandia.

The Dollar Bird or the Oriental Dollar Bird is actually one very very noisy bird. Scientific name is Eurystomus orientalis. This can be found in the Philippines and is actually rather common but not common enough to be seen around the city that easily.

I had my first sighting of the Dollar Bird back when I was still in HS. It’s quite easy to identify it with it’s beautiful bluish body and that bright yellowish-orange beak. They are very active birds. It’s sad to know that these are presented in Black markets in Cebu as pets

A dollar bird will usually feed on insects so if you happen to be nursing one or taking care of one then feed them meal worms but note that not all of them will survive on an insect diet alone. Try adding some pellet food. I discourage people from keeping this bird as during it’s adult stage it will be noisy and will cause a huge mess in your cage. This bird is truly meant for the wild.

The funny thing about this picture is because when I was near the bird it kept making lots of noises and flying around. Knowing that I have no focal glass I already felt the difficulty of focusing on a moving subject but it was interesting and peculiar how it started to just stay put and look at me in the eye as I prepared my camera to shoot. There you can see in the photo a well-behaved bird. Right after the shot it continued with its flying and screaming.

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