Indian Robin
Copsychus fulicatus
A glossy black robin with a chestnut vent, tail held high.
Opens recordings on xeno-canto, the open bird-sound archive.
What the hills call it
Kalchuri
/ kal·chu·ree /कलचुरी
Indian Robin — A glossy black robin with a chestnut vent, tail held high.
Field notes
- Order
- Passeriformes
- Family
- Muscicapidae · Old World flycatchers
- Genus
- Copsychus
- Length
- 16 cm
- Weight
- 15–25 g
- At Kunja
- Resident — here all year round
- Conservation
- Least Concern
How to know it
The male is glossy black with a white wing-flash and a chestnut vent under a cocked tail; the female is grey-brown. Jaunty and ground-loving.
What it eats
Insects chiefly, taken on the ground with quick runs and dashes.
Where & when to spot it
On open and stony ground, walls and field edges, often near habitation, tail cocked high over its back.
Nesting & mating
A cup in a hole in the ground, a wall or among rocks; three to four eggs in the warm months.
In the lens
Indian Robin, photographed at Haldwani
Photographs by Manohar Negi · mnegi.com — tap any photo to view it full
More to spot
PasseridaeHouse Sparrow
Passer domesticus
Kunja
MuscicapidaeBlue Whistling Thrush
Myophonus caeruleus
Kunja
SturnidaeCommon Myna
Acridotheres tristis
Kunja
HirundinidaeRed-rumped Swallow
Cecropis daurica
Kunja
PycnonotidaeHimalayan Bulbul
Pycnonotus leucogenys
Kunja
MegalaimidaeGreat Barbet
Psilopogon virens
Kunja