Bornean Treepie
Dendrocitta cinerascens
Long-tailed corvid of Borneo’s hilly and montane forests; the only treepie in its range. Note stout black bill, black wings with white patch, and warm buffy brown underparts and face. Social and noisy; often encountered in flocks as individuals keep in contact with one another via an assortment of squawks, rasps, and clinking metallic notes. Can be fairly tame, allowing close approach, especially around trails and campsites.
Identification
It is a fairly large bird, 40 centimetres in length, including a long graduated tail, broad rounded wings and short weak legs. The underparts are pinkish-brown. The head is also pinkish-brown with a pale silver crown and a dark stripe over the eye and across the forehead. The back is greyish and the rump is pale. The wings are black with a white patch and the tail is grey with black tips to the feathers. The bill and legs are grey-black and the eyes are reddish. The Sumatran treepie differs in having a pale brown back, a dark brown head with a white nape and a thinner bill.<p>The Bornean treepie is a noisy bird with a variety of loud, explosive calls including a bell-like whistle and various grunting and chattering calls. It is able to mimic the calls of other birds.
Taxonomy
- Scientific name
- Dendrocitta cinerascens
- Authority
- Sharpe, 1879
- Order
- Passeriformes
- Family
- Corvidae
- Genus
- Dendrocitta
Range and habitat
- Migration
- Resident species
Behavior
It is fairly common in most mountain ranges in the northern and central parts of Borneo. It mainly occurs between 300 and 2,800 metres above sea-level, being most common in valleys and foothills at the lower end of that range. It inhabits forest, forest edge, bamboo thickets and scrubland and is sometimes seen in cultivated areas. It forages in the tree canopy, alone or in small groups, searching for small fruit, seeds and large insects such as beetles and cockroaches. It can become tame, visiting villages to feed on scraps.<p>Little is known about its breeding habits. The nest is shallow, built of fine twigs and placed in a low tree. The eggs are greenish-white with brown markings concentrated in a ring at the wider end.
Conservation
- Population trend
- stable
Photos
Distribution
Bird Calls
Other Birds
Sulu Jungle Flycatcher
Cyornis ocularis
Little-known and seemingly uncommon flycatcher of the Sulu Archipelago from Jolo south to Tawitawi. Drab brown overall, with a long slender bill; note pale throat and belly with diffusely dusky chest, as well as rufous tail. Inhabits lowland and foothill forests, where it forays from a low perch in the understory or forest edge. Generally unobtrusive and difficult to spot in dark understory, but listen for its song, a disjointed series of well-spaced and high-pitched whistled notes. Formerly grouped with Philippine Jungle Flycatcher and Crocker Jungle Flycatcher under “Chestnut-tailed Jungle Flycatcher.”
Common Wood-Pigeon
Columba palumbus
Distinctive, large bulky gray pigeon with a pale neck patch (lacking on juvenile in late summer–autumn). Neck patch is large and white throughout majority of range, but birds in Azores, Madeira, and much of western Asia have smaller, tan-colored patches. Bold white wing band striking in flight; tail broadly tipped black. Inhabits wooded and semiopen habitats, including towns and gardens. Forms flocks, especially in winter. Often rather unaware, and frequently crashes noisily and clumsily out of hedges and bushes. Display flight consists of a flap-flap-flap climb followed by a descending glide. Gives a low, throaty series of coos: “hrrruu-hoo-who-who.”
Rusty-browed Warbling Finch
Microspingus erythrophrys
Small tanager of semi-humid upper montane forest in NW Argentina and the southern half of the Bolivian Andes. The only Warbling-finch in range with a rufous supercilium. From Cochabamba Mountain-Finch by rufous underparts, smaller size, shorter tail. Bold white slash down wing panel distinctive.
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