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Oriental Magpie Robin, Copsychus saularis, นกกางเขนบ้าน

The Oriental Magpie-robin (Copsychus saularis) is a small passerine bird that was formerly classed as a member of the thrush family Turdidae, but now considered an Old World flycatcher. They are distinctive black and white birds with a long tail that is held upright as they forage on the ground or perch conspicuously.

Occurring across most of the Indian subcontinent and parts of Southeast Asia, they are common birds in urban gardens as well as forests. They are particularly well known for their songs and were once popular as cagebirds. The oriental Magpie-robin is the national bird of Bangladesh.

Distribution and habitat
This Magpie-robin is a resident breeder in tropical southern Asia from Bangladesh, interior India, Sri Lanka and eastern Pakistan east to Indonesia, Thailand, south China, Malaysia, and Singapore. They have been introduced to Australia.

The oriental Magpie-robin is found in open woodland and cultivated areas often close to human habitations.

Oriental Magpie Robin, Copsychus saularis, นกกางเขนบ้าน

Oriental Magpie Robin, Copsychus saularis, นกกางเขนบ้าน
Range map from www.oiseaux.net - Ornithological Portal Oiseaux.net
www.oiseaux.net is one of those MUST visit pages if you're in to bird watching. You can find just about everything there


Description
This species is 19 centimetres long, including the long tail, which is usually held cocked upright. It is similar in shape to the smaller European Robin , but is longer-tailed. The male has black upperparts, head and throat apart from a white shoulder patch. The underparts and the sides of the long tail are white. Females are greyish black above and greyish white.

Young birds have scaly brown upperparts and head. It is the national bird of Bangladesh.


Female VS Male

Oriental Magpie Robin, Copsychus saularis, นกกางเขนบ้าน
Male Oriental Magpie-robin - Black
Lumpini, Bangkok - November 2016

Oriental Magpie Robin, Copsychus saularis, นกกางเขนบ้าน
Female Oriental Magpie-robin - Grey
Benjakitti, Bangkok - January 2017

The nominate race is found on the Indian subcontinent and the females of this race are the palest. The females of the Andamans race andamanensis are darker, heavier-billed and shorter-tailed. The Sri Lankan race ceylonensis (formerly included the Peninsular Indian populations south of the Kaveri River) and southern nominate individuals have the females nearly identical to the males in shade.

The eastern populations (Bhutan and Bangladesh) have more black on the tail and were formerly named erimelas. The populations in Burma and further south are named as race musicus. A number of other races have been named across the range including prosthopellus (Hong Kong), nesiotes, zacnecus, nesiarchus, masculus, pagiensis, javensis, problematicus, amoenus, adamsi, pluto, deuteronymus and mindanensis.

However many of these are not well marked and the status of some are disputed. Some like mindanensis have been now been recognized usually as full species (Philippine Magpie-robin). There is more geographic variation in the plumage of females than in that of the males.

Oriental Magpie Robin, Copsychus saularis, นกกางเขนบ้าน
Oriental Magpie Robin, Copsychus saularis, นกกางเขนบ้าน
Male Oriental Magpie-robin singing from the top of a dead tree - And as you can
guess by looking at the tree, there were several Copeprsmith Barbets in the area
Suan Rot Fai, Bangkok - January 2017


Male Oriental Magpie-robin singing - We can also hear the Coppersmith Barbet
Suan Rot Fai, Bangkok - May 2019


Female Oriental Magpie-robin feeding
Chaloem Golden Jubilee Park, Bangkok - June 2019


It is mostly seen close to the ground, hopping along branches or foraging in leaf-litter on the ground with a cocked tail. Males sing loudly from the top of trees or other high perches during the breeding season.

Listen to the Oriental Magpie-robin

Remarks from the Recordist

Early morning bird watching at Tiger Tops Tharu Lodge before going for tiger safari.

The bird was sitting in a tree outside my room, maybe 5 or 6 meters up.


Listen to the Female Oriental Magpie-robin

Remarks from the Recordist

Recorded with my ZOOM H5. High Pass Filter applied in Audacity

Bird sitting in the tree calling (I think is is a call) and she takes off when I stick my ZOOM H5 in to the tree. From 5.9 seconds until 9,8 seconds we hear her flight call when she fly away to the next tree.

Just after 11 seconds we hear the bird when she sit in the next tree. Sound rises as I sneak closer to the tree. Last three calls are flight call when she disappears


Listen to the Oriental Magpie-robin

Remarks from the Recordist

Recorded with my ZOOM H5 Handy Recorder. High Pass Filter applied with Audacity

Oriental Magpie Robin Singing and we can hear the Puff-throated Babbler as well


Remarks from the Recordist

Recorded with my ZOOM H5 Handy Recorded. High Pass Filter applied with Audacity

Heard this sound many times, but I have never known what bird it was. Now I spotted a male Oriental Magpie-Robin doing the sound.

And the bird had food in the mouth while doing the crrrrrrr sound and that was strange to me.

Two recordings of the same bird put together to one recording

We can see the same bird on the recording with food in the mouth


www.xeno-canto.org
Male Oriental Magpie-robin
eBird hotspot: Rot Fai Park (Wachira Benchatat Park), Bangkok, Thailand - July 2020


Remarks from the Recordist


Recorded with my ZOOM H5 Handy Recorder, high pass filter applied in Audacity

Bird sitting on a branch singing and was not bothered with me coming up to him to record the song. Same bird as on the pictures

We can hear the Coppersmith Barbet, Asian Koel and Crows in the back


Oriental Magpie Robin, Copsychus saularis, นกกางเขนบ้าน
Male Oriental Magpie Robin / นกกางเขนบ้าน singing
eBird hotspot: Rot Fai Park (Wachira Benchatat Park), Bangkok, Thailand - April 2022

Oriental Magpie Robin, Copsychus saularis, นกกางเขนบ้าน
Male Oriental Magpie Robin / นกกางเขนบ้าน singing
eBird hotspot: Rot Fai Park (Wachira Benchatat Park), Bangkok, Thailand - April 2022

www.xeno-canto.org


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Why are recordings of certain species restricted?
Some species are under extreme pressure due to trapping or harassment. The open availability of high-quality recordings of these species can make the problems even worse. For this reason, streaming and downloading of these recordings is disabled. Recordists are still free to share them on xeno-canto, but they will have to approve access to these recordings.

We do not take this action lightly, and we wish it were not necessary, but we have been convinced that the negative impacts of offering easy access to these recordings outweigh the benefits. If you would like access to these recordings, you may contact the recordist directly.


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Etymology
The Indian name of dhyal or dhayal has led to many confusions. It was first used by Eleazar Albin ("dialbird") in 1737 (Suppl. N. H. Birds, i. p. 17, pls. xvii. xviii.), and Levaillant (Ois. d'Afr. iii. p. 50) thought it referred to a sun dial and he called it Cadran. Thomas C. Jerdon wrote (B. India, ii. p. 1l6) that Linnaeus, thinking it had some connection with a sun-dial, called it solaris, by lapsus pennae, saularis.

This was however identified by Edward Blyth as an incorrect interpretation and that it was a Latinization of the Hindi word saulary which means a "hundred songs". A male bird was sent with this Hindi name from Madras by surgeon Edward Buckley to James Petiver, who first described the species (Ray, Synops. Meth. Avium, p. 197).

Oriental Magpie Robin, Copsychus saularis, นกกางเขนบ้าน
Illustration from John Ray's Synopsis methodicam avium & piscium (1713)
By John Ray - Synopsis methodica avium & piscium https://archive.org/stream/joannisraiisynop00rayj, Public Domain, Link


Behaviour and ecology
Magpie Robins breed mainly from March to July in India and January to June in south-east Asia. Males sing from high perches during courtship. The display of the male involves puffing up the feathers, raising the bill, fanning the tail and strutting. They nest in tree hollows or niches in walls or building, often adopting nest boxes. They line the cavity with grass.

Oriental Magpie Robin, Copsychus saularis, นกกางเขนบ้าน
Female collecting nesting material
Suan Rot Fai, Bangkok in April 2019

Oriental Magpie Robin, Copsychus saularis, นกกางเขนบ้าน
Female collecting nesting material
Mae Rai Reservoir, Chiang Rai, Thailand - March 2023

Oriental Magpie Robin, Copsychus saularis, นกกางเขนบ้าน
Female collecting nesting material
Mae Rai Reservoir, Chiang Rai, Thailand - March 2023

Oriental Magpie Robin, Copsychus saularis, นกกางเขนบ้าน
Female collecting nesting material
Mae Rai Reservoir, Chiang Rai, Thailand - March 2023

Oriental Magpie Robin, Copsychus saularis, นกกางเขนบ้าน
Female collecting nesting material
Mae Rai Reservoir, Chiang Rai, Thailand - March 2023

Oriental Magpie Robin, Copsychus saularis, นกกางเขนบ้าน
Egg, Collection Museum Wiesbaden
By Klaus Rassinger und Gerhard Cammerer, Museum Wiesbaden - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, Link

The female is involved in most of the nest building, which happens about a week before the eggs are laid. Four or five eggs are laid at intervals of 24 hours and these are oval and usually pale blue green with brownish speckles that match the color of hay. The eggs are incubated by the female alone for 8 to 14 days. The nests are said to have a characteristic odour.

Females spend more effort on feeding the young than males. Males are quite aggressive in the breeding season and will defend their territory and respond to the singing of intruders and even their reflections.

Males spend more time on nest defense. Studies of the bird song show dialects with neighbours varying in their songs. The calls of many other species may be imitated as part of their song. This may indicate that birds disperse and are not philopatric.

Females may sing briefly in the presence of a male. Apart from their song, they use a range of calls including territorial calls, emergence and roosting calls, threat calls, submissive calls, begging calls and distress calls. The typical mobbing calls is a harsh hissing krshhh.

Oriental Magpie Robin, Copsychus saularis, นกกางเขนบ้าน
Baby bird - The gape is stil yellow
Lat Krabang, Thailand - June 2023

The diet of Magpie Robins includes mainly insects and other invertebrates. Although mainly insectivorous, they are known to occasionally take flower nectar, geckos, leeches, centipedes and even fish.

They are often active late at dusk. They sometimes bathe in rainwater collected on the leaves of a tree.

Mobbing

verb (of a group of birds or mammals) surround and attack (a predator or other source of threat) in order to drive it off.


Status
This species is considered as one of "little concern" globally but in some areas the species is on the decline.

In Singapore and Hong Kong (Malay names Murai Kampung/cacing) they were common in the 1920s, but declined in the 1970s, presumably due to competition from introduced Common Mynas, Poaching for the pet bird trade and habitat changes have also affected them and they are locally protected by law.

This species has few avian predators. Several pathogens and parasites have been reported. Avian malaria parasites have been isolated from the species[34] while H4N3 and H5N1 infection has been noted in a few cases. Parasitic nematodes of the eye have been described

Conservation status
Oriental Magpie Robin, Copsychus saularis, นกกางเขนบ้าน
Least Concern (IUCN 3.1)
IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2013.2.
International Union for Conservation of Nature. Retrieved 26 November 2013.


In culture
Magpie Robins were widely kept as cagebirds for their singing abilities and for fighting in India in the past. They continue to be in the pet trade in parts of Southeast Asia.

The Magpie Robin is the national bird of Bangladesh, where it is common and known as the doyel or doel (Bengali: দোয়েল). It is a widely used symbol in Bangladesh, appearing on currency notes, and a landmark in the city of Dhaka is named as the Doyel Chattar (meaning: Doyel Square).

In Sri Lanka this bird is called Polkichcha.

Oriental Magpie Robin, Copsychus saularis, นกกางเขนบ้าน
Doyel Chattar, Dhaka
By A.M.R. - Own work, CC BY 2.5, Link



From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


Sighted: (Date of first photo that I could use) 26th of January 2016
Location: Bandhavgarh Tiger Reserve, India


PLEASE! As I'm a first time birdwatcher bear in mind that some of the bird can be wrongly named. I have bought books and I confirm on the internet to get the right identity on the birds I take pictures off. But there can still be mistakes.

I have had most help from my friend, the bird pal I met at Suan Rot Fai. Sending pictures of birds I have not been able to identify to him via Line. 3 minutes later he and he have managed to identify most of the birds I have had problems with. THANKS! Visit his web page m☥lever for his beautiful pictures.

And my new aid, maybe, and I say maybe the best aid. I brought my mobile phone as my SIM card have stopped working and I tried to get it to work again so I can use the internet. Thus I had my phone in my pocket on my first game drive in Jim Corbett National Park.

We saw a bird and I asked my Guide and the driver if they had a pen and a paper as I had forgot my pen and paper in my room. I remembered my LG phone and I recorded the name. And thus I will always bring my phone. Writing the name in the car and I have found more than once that it can be hard to read what I had wrote when I'm back in my room.

So now I always have my mobile in my pocket and it has been a great help. And from November 2018 I use eBird. Bird watching in U.A.E and Oman and my guide in Dubai recommended eBird and I have used the app since then and I note every bird I can identify in my eBird app.


Oriental Magpie Robin, Copsychus saularis, นกกางเขนบ้าน
Male Oriental Magpie Robin
26 January 2016 - Bandhavgarh Tiger Reserve, India

Oriental Magpie Robin, Copsychus saularis, นกกางเขนบ้าน
Male Oriental Magpie Robin
26 January 2016 - Bandhavgarh Tiger Reserve, India

Oriental Magpie Robin, Copsychus saularis, นกกางเขนบ้าน
Male Oriental Magpie Robin
26 January 2016 - Bandhavgarh Tiger Reserve, India

Oriental Magpie Robin, Copsychus saularis, นกกางเขนบ้าน
Male Oriental Magpie Robin
26 January 2016 - Bandhavgarh Tiger Reserve, India

Oriental Magpie Robin, Copsychus saularis, นกกางเขนบ้าน
Oriental Magpie-robin
20 May 2017 - Yala National Park, Sri Lanka

Oriental Magpie Robin, Copsychus saularis, นกกางเขนบ้าน
Female Oriental Magpie Robin - 7 March 2018
Acharya Jagadish Chandra Bose Indian Botanical Garden, Kolkata, India

Oriental Magpie Robin, Copsychus saularis, นกกางเขนบ้าน
Female Oriental Magpie Robin - 7 March 2018
Acharya Jagadish Chandra Bose Indian Botanical Garden, Kolkata, India

Oriental Magpie Robin, Copsychus saularis, นกกางเขนบ้าน
Female Oriental Magpie Robin - 6 August 2022
eBird hotspot: Inani Beach (Cox's Bazar), Bangladesh

Oriental Magpie Robin, Copsychus saularis, นกกางเขนบ้าน
Female Oriental Magpie Robin - 6 August 2022
eBird hotspot: Inani Beach (Cox's Bazar), Bangladesh

Oriental Magpie Robin, Copsychus saularis, นกกางเขนบ้าน
Female Oriental Magpie Robin - 7 August 2022
Butterfly Park in Chittagong, Bangladesh



PLEASE! If I have made any mistakes identifying any bird, PLEASE let me know on my guestbook



       
                  



                                       

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