Grey Treepie
Dendrocitta formosae
Long-tailed and clever, a forest-edge wanderer.
Seen atKunja
Opens recordings on xeno-canto, the open bird-sound archive.
What the hills call it
Kotri
/ ko·tree /कोतरी
Grey Treepie — Long-tailed and clever, a forest-edge wanderer.
Field notes
- Order
- Passeriformes
- Family
- Corvidae · Crows & jays
- Genus
- Dendrocitta
- Length
- 36–40 cm
- Weight
- 90–115 g
- At Kunja
- Resident — here all year round
- Conservation
- Least Concern
How to know it
A long-tailed grey-and-brown treepie with a black face, pale grey nape and a white wing-flash that shows in flight. A clever forest-edge corvid.
What it eats
Omnivorous — fruit, nectar, seeds, insects, eggs and small creatures, foraged acrobatically through the canopy.
Where & when to spot it
Along the wooded edges and tall trees of the slope, often in restless parties moving through the canopy with a metallic, clanging call.
Nesting & mating
A shallow stick cup in a tree or tall bush; three to five eggs in spring and summer.
In the field
When we’ve seen it
Most often photographed in December, usually in the middle of the day. That makes winter a clear window to spot it around the homestay.
Spotting tip: head out in the middle of the day, walk slowly and stop often, and listen as much as you look — most of these birds call before they show themselves.
In the lens
Grey Treepie, photographed at Kunja
Photographs by Manohar Negi · mnegi.com — tap any photo to view it full
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