Mindanao Lorikeet
Definition
The Mindanao lorikeet (Trichoglossus johnstoniae), also called Johnstone’s lorikeet, is a small, fast-flying parrot endemic to the mountains of Mindanao, where it inhabits montane and mossy forest above the lowlands. Dressed in green with a red face and throat set off by a blue crown, it feeds on nectar and pollen, screeching through the canopy of peaks such as Apo and Kitanglad in small flocks.
Identities (Wikipedia/Wikidata/DBpedia)
- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mindanao_lorikeet
- Wikidata: https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q619612
- DBpedia: N/A
Also Known As
Trichoglossus johnstoniae, Johnstone’s lorikeet, Mindanao rainbow lorikeet.
Examples and Analogies
Lorikeets are the hummingbirds of the parrot world: instead of cracking seeds with heavy beaks, they carry brush-tipped tongues to lap nectar from flowering trees, following the bloom like mobile pollinators. Within the Philippines, this species plays the role the coconut serves to the lowlands—a highland specialist finding its living in the mountain forests’ year-round flowering.
Usage Scenarios
- A sought-after species for birdwatchers touring Mindanao’s mountain parks
- Subject of studies on montane bird communities and nectar-feeding ecology
- Included in assessments of the endemic richnes of the Mindanao highlands
- Occasionally maintained in aviculture abroad under controlled trade rules
Strategies
Because the species rides on flowering cycles across elevations, conservation strategy focuses on keeping montane forest belts continuous—so flocks can track food upslope and downslope—and on protecting flagship mountain parks such as Mount Apo and the Kitanglad range that anchor the island’s highland wilderness.
Security and Safety Measures
International trade is regulated under CITES, and Philippine wildlife law (Republic Act No. 9147) protects the species from capture and trade domestically. Trapping for the pet bird trade and clearing of montane forest for agriculture are the pressures its legal shields are meant to blunt.
Historical Context
The bird was described in the era when collectors first scaled Mindanao’s volcanoes and discovered a distinct montane avifauna—species replacing their lowland relatives wholesale above the cloud line. Named in honor of a colonial administrator’s family, it has since become a standard target for naturalists documenting the island’s high-elevation endemics.
Challenges and Controversies
Its mountain home is under steady creep: vegetable farming, fire, and illegal logging chew at montane forest edges, while trapping supplies the wild-bird trade where enforcement is thin. Because it is noisy and conspicuous, the lorikeet is easily located by poachers—an irony of visibility that complicates its protection.
Related Topic
Philippine Hanging Parrot – the country’s other notable nectar- and fruit-feeding small parrot, an archipelago-wide counterpart to the lorikeet.