Peter's Colasisi

I’ve been seeing my friend Peter’s posts about the Colasisi (Philippine Hanging Parrot) that frequent his home which he affectionately coined as “his Colasisi.” His photos of these Philippine endemic were amazing, their colors highlighted in each capture.

When we birded with Peter in Prof Tirso’s home in Los Banos, Djop and I got an invitation to come see his Colasisi in Quezon City when we had some free time. We were lucky that that particular Monday was a holiday and we did, in fact, have some free time!

We made an early morning appointment to drop by Peter’s and check out the flowering tree the Colasisis fed on. It was a very rainy Monday morning when we drove back to Quezon City from the south. As we had our breakfast at McDonald’s we messaged Peter and said that we’d cancel if the rain didn’t let up. But as we were finishing our coffee, the rain stopped and the skies cleared! Colasisi, here we come!

  

This is one of the flowering trees the Colasisi feeds on

And these are the flowers they eat!

Peter met us by the gate and we followed him to the park. He pointed out the flowering trees to us and soon after we approached them, a Colasisi flew in! It perched on a high branch but it was backlit so we couldn’t take decent photos! Peter was calm and told us not to worry as the Colasisi would come down to lower perches to feed on the flowers, unmindful of people.

  

True enough, the parrot flew to the smaller tree and started feeding on the yellow flowers. It gave us great views and stayed quite a while.

  

Colasisi

It loved the yellow flowers!

It flew off to a high tree where we could see another Colasisi with it. There were at least 3 Colasisi that morning we were there, and they would come to feed on the flowers constantly. Around us, a pair of Collared Kingfishers called noisily and some Philippine Pied Fantails flew around in the shade of the trees. Some Golden-bellied Gerygones also made appearances and a flock of egrets flew overhead.

True to its name - Philippine Hanging Parrot!

Here is a video of the Colasisi as it fed on the flowers =) (Watch in HD!)

Soon the rain clouds crept in and we said our goodbyes and thank yous to Peter before the rain fell. How wonderful to have green spaces in the middle of the city that serve as the home and feeding ground for birds. And for my own selfish reasons, how wonderful to have bird-y areas such as Peter’s that allow for mega dude birding and super easy photo opportunities 😉

Thank you again for having us, Peter! 😊