In addition to splitting, there has been much taxonomic reassignment of species to new families, particularly affecting the babblers, many of which are now assigned to Locustellidae (grass warblers) or Zosteropidae (white-eyes).
However the taxonomy is organized, only Indonesia, Brazil and Australia exceed the Philippines for number of endemic bird species, and these are much larger countries.
[3] There are seven distinct Endemic Bird Areas in the Philippines: (1) Mindoro, (2) Luzon, (3) Negros and Panay, (4) Cebu, (5) Mindanao and the Eastern Visayas, (6) the Sulu Archipelago and (7) Palawan.
In the past, many taxonomists considered the rhabdornis to form a distinct endemic family of birds restricted to the Philippines (Rhabdornithidae).
[6] Recent study tends to consider the rhabdornis to form a genus within the starling family (Sturnidae), although this view may be subject to further revision.