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Limokon
The Mandaya, Bagobo and Manobo of Mindanao know the limokon as an omen bird. People watched its flight and call as a sign. Spanish writer Delgado described a similar dove-like bird in Visayan.
Folklore is retold; versions differ.
Sources: Wikipedia: Limokon (CC BY-SA 4.0) · Wikidata (CC0)
The story
The limokon is an omen bird of Mindanao. The Mandaya, Bagobo and Manobo watched its flight and its call as a sign. Tagalog speakers on Luzon had a similar bird, the tigmamanukan. Omens were important in many Philippine communities, and they guided decisions about farming, travel and war.
The Spanish writer Delgado described the limocon in a work reprinted in 1897. He said it was a large, quail-like dove, with red feet and bill and a green shine on its feathers. A later editor linked it with the emerald dove. Today, limokon names several wild pigeons, such as the white-eared brown dove. Earlier, in 1667, Fr. Francisco Combes listed it among the birds that shaped choices about work and journeys.
Fay-Cooper Cole recorded in 1913 (public domain) that a traveler read the direction of its call as a sign of danger or safety. Before a war party, a Manobo warrior priest asked the bird to call from a good direction. People also copied its cry to bring wild birds close.