Rufous Treepie
Dendrocitta vagabunda
A long- and stiff-tailed bird with primarily rusty-brown upperparts and dull orangish underparts. The head, mantle, and neck region are a dull, sooty black. The long graduated tail is pale gray with a wide black terminal band. Note the conspicuous silvery-gray, white, and black patterns on the wings. The blackish-gray bill is stout with a hooked tip. Found in a wide range of habitats from woodlands to scrubby patches, singly or in pairs feeding in the treetops. The call is a loud metallic “krowwiiii kroo.”
Identification
The sexes are alike and the main colour of the body is cinnamon with a black head and the long graduated tail is bluish grey and is tipped in black. The wing has a white patch. The only confusable species is the grey treepie which however lacks the bright rufous mantle. The bill is stout with a hooked tip. The underparts and lower back are a warm tawny-brown to orange-brown in colour with white wing coverts and black primaries. The bill, legs and feet are black.<p>The widespread populations show variations and several subspecies are recognized. The nominate subspecies is found in the northeastern part of peninsular India south to Hyderabad. The desert form is paler and called pallida, vernayi of the Eastern Ghats is brighter while parvula of the Western Ghats is smaller in size. The form in Afghanistan and Pakistan is bristoli while the form in southern Thailand is saturatior. E. C. Stuart Baker describes sclateri from the upper Chindwin to the Chin Hills and kinneari from southern Myanmar and northwest Thailand. The population in eastern Thailand an Indochina is sakeratensis.
Taxonomy
- Scientific name
- Dendrocitta vagabunda
- Authority
- (Latham, 1790)
- Order
- Passeriformes
- Family
- Corvidae
- Genus
- Dendrocitta
Range and habitat
The range of the rufous treepie is quite large, covering Pakistan, India and into Bangladesh, Myanmar, Laos, and Thailand. It inhabits open forest consisting of scrub, plantations and gardens. In the Garhwal Himalayas, it migrates seasonally between different elevations.
- Migration
- Resident species
Behavior
The rufous treepie is primarily an arboreal omnivore feeding on fruits, nectar (of Bombax ceiba) seeds, invertebrates, small reptiles and the eggs and young of birds; it has also been known to take flesh from recently killed carcasses. It is an agile forager, clinging and clambering through the branches and sometimes joining mixed hunting parties along with species such as drongos and babblers. They are known to be a cleaning symbiont of deer, feeding on ectoparasites of sambar which permit them to perch and position themselves to invite the birds to examine specific parts. Like many other corvids, it caches food. It is considered to be beneficial to palm cultivation in southern India due to its foraging on the grubs of the destructive weevil Rhynchophorus ferrugineus. Its feeds on the fruits of Trichosanthes tricuspidata which are toxic to mammals.<p>The breeding season in India is April to June. In Bengal, the peak is in April and May with heightened levels of pineal gland activity and serotonin production. It builds its shallow nest in trees and bushes and usually lays 3-5 eggs.<p>The rufous treepie has a wide repertoire of calls, but a bob-o-link or ko-tree call is most common. A local name for this bird kotri is derived from the typical call while other names include Handi Chancha and taka chor (="coin thief").<p>A blood parasitic protozoan Trypanosoma corvi and Babesia has been reported from this species. Trematode parasites, Haplorchis vagabundi, have been found in their intestines. An acanthocephalan parasite Centrorhynchus lancea is also known. A species of quill mite Syringophiloidus dendrocittae is known to live in the feathers of rufous treepies.
Conservation
- Population trend
- declining
Photos
Distribution
Bird Calls
Other Birds
Emei Leaf Warbler
Phylloscopus emeiensis
Brightly-marked medium-sized leaf warbler. Bright yellow-green above with two long yellow wingbars, white underparts, a broad yellowish eyebrow, and a pale crown stripe. Bill is long and bicolored: gray above, orange below. Most similar in appearance to “Blyth’s-type” warblers, but crown stripe narrower and less diffuse. “White-tailed-type” warblers such as Davison’s can also be similar, but Emei averages duller green above with less intense yellow areas. Breeding range highly restricted: only known from a handful of sites in central China, where it is found in mid- to high-altitude hill and montane deciduous broadleaveded or mixed forests. Wintering range essentially unknown, but has turned up in Myanmar. Song is a medium-length resonant trill; calls include “chup” and “chew”.
Pale-rumped Swift
Chaetura egregia
Medium-sized swift with a strongly contrasting rump patch. Dark slaty gray, with a lighter gray throat and a large white rump patch. Paler, more contrasting throat, and much lighter rump than in the similar Gray-rumped Swift; Short-tailed Swift has a bright white rump patch like Pale-rumped, but has a shorter tail, bigger primary bulge, and pale undertail coverts (evenly gray in Pale-rumped). Readily associates with other swift species in flocks.
White-bellied Seedsnipe
Attagis malouinus
Chunky, generally scarce, rather grouselike bird of bleak moorland, bogs, and rocky slopes above timberline; in winter, sometimes descends to lowland Patagonian steppe, when it can be seen along roadsides. Found in pairs or small groups. Lacey “chainmail” pattern to upperparts is beautifully cryptic, and birds sometimes freeze when alarmed making them more difficult to see. No similar species in range; note the short stout bill and contrasting snowy-white belly. Flight strong and fast; flushes with loud shrieking choruses.
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