I was visiting the town of Sogod in Southern Leyte, Philippines and I came across an interesting bird. I think its probably pretty common, but I have no familiarity with birds here.

To begin with, it had a very similar body size and shape as your typical zebra finches found in pet stores around the world. The similarity was so striking that I’d say I’m 90% sure its a finch of some sort.

The body color was a beautiful deep brown that was very even in tone with no markings or striations. The head was jet black, also without pattern. Its beak was a very pale powder blue.

I have no way to verify that this is an indigenous species, as I saw only one specimen.

Sorry, no picture