Cordillera Ground-Warbler

The Cordillera ground warbler has a length of 20–22 cm (7.9–8.7 in). It has rather notable long legs and a long bill and feet. Its feathers are tipped dusky brown and it has a rusty-chestnut head with a thin whitish eye-ring with a small area of bare gray skin behind the eye. Its throat is white with black tips on the sides. The breast is a medium neutral gray with a distinct grayish triangular pattern, with feather shafts slightly paler, and a white belly. It also has chestnut to dark brown wings with each feather tucked in so that they appear mostly chestnut when folded. It has brown upperparts with two dotted white wingbars. The bird sings very high-pitched songs with the sound of tseeee sip tseeee!, which often last between approximately 1.6 and 2.2 seconds. It is differentiated from the Bicol ground warbler and Sierra Madre ground warbler by the grayish triangular markings on its belly. The Cordillera ground warbler was described by the Canadian zoologist Austin L. Rand in 1960 and given the binomial name Napothera rabori. The specific epithet was chosen to honour Dioscoro S. Rabor who had collected the type specimen on the Philippine island of Luzon. Ground warblers were first discovered in 1959 by an expedition team headed by Dioscoro S. Rabor. They conducted walking surveys of 2,000 meters each and recorded all of the bird calls they observed. …

They are found in northwest Luzon in the Cordillera Mountain Range. It is found in lowland moist dipterocarp forest, in primary forest, secondary forest and forest edge up to 500 m. It is typically found on the forest floor among limestone outcrops, bamboo and mossy rocks. IUCN previously assessed this bird as vulnerable with the population being estimated at 2,500 to 9,999 mature individuals but this was updated to Near-threatened.This downlisting does not mean that this species is increasing but rather reflects data that this species may occurs in higher densities than originally believed. Among the three Robsonius ground-warblers, the Cordilera ground-warbler is the most threatened owing to having the smallest range. This species' main threat is habitat loss due to wholesale clearance of forest habitats as a result of logging, agricultural conversion and mining activities occurring within the range. This species is found in only one protected area the Kalbario–Patapat Natural Park. The entire Apayao province is listed as a UNESCO Biosphere Reserves of Southeast Asia. However, continued habitat loss and deforestation continues even in protected areas. Proposals to monitor the species further have been made, and to obtain information about how it can further be protected; however, no other efforts have occurred. …

The diet of the Cordillera ground warbler is primarily invertebrates; it has been sighted scouring forest floors for prey hidden under leaves.