Oriental Magpie-Robin

The Oriental magpie-robin is a small songbird about 19cm long, including a long tail that is usually cocked upright when it hops on the ground. It is shaped like a European robin but longer-tailed. The male is black above and on the head and throat, with a white shoulder patch, white underparts and white sides to the tail. Females are greyish-black above and greyish-white below, palest in northern Indian birds and almost as dark as males in the south and Sri Lanka. Young birds have scaly brown upperparts (Wikipedia, general species account).

It is a common bird of town gardens as well as forests, often perching conspicuously. It is especially well known for its song and is popular as a cage bird. It is now classed among the Old World flycatchers rather than the thrushes. It is the national bird of Bangladesh. In India it is resident across a very large range; SoIB 2023 finds its current trend stable and rates it a Low conservation priority (Wikipedia, general species account; SoIB 2023).