Tuesday, January 11, 2011

Kulasisi for you

(Male kulasisi eager to do a backflip before the female kulasisi)


The Philippine Hanging Parrot (Loriculus philippensis), is a small, colorful and lively parrot indigenous to the Philippines. The Filipino name for this bird is Kulasisi, and they are mainly colored green with areas of red, orange, yellow and blue that varies between subspecies. Even the different subspecies are native to different islands, and some subspecies are already too rare or almost extinct.

In Marinduque, hanging-parrots are mostly found in the moist montane or bamboo forests of Bagtingon in Buenavista south of the small island-province where quite a few households keep them for pets such as those shown in these photos from sitio Maksan. Their diet is composed of nectar, flowers and soft fruits.

Males appear eager to show off to the female and any onlooker even in captivity and will do startling backflips one after another to prove it.










Kulasisi has become a common term in the Filipino household but used somewhat endearingly to refer to a concubine or a third party but that’s maybe beneficial for the bird’s survival.