Oriental Magpie Robin
Copsychus saularis
Pied and full of song from the courtyard.
Opens recordings on xeno-canto, the open bird-sound archive.
What the hills call it
Dahyar
/ da·hi·yar /दहियर
Oriental Magpie Robin — Pied and full of song from the courtyard.
Field notes
- Order
- Passeriformes
- Family
- Muscicapidae · Old World flycatchers
- Genus
- Copsychus
- Length
- 19–21 cm
- Weight
- 32–45 g
- At Kunja
- Resident — here all year round
- Conservation
- Least Concern
How to know it
A smart pied bird — glossy black above and white below, with a white wing-stripe and a long tail held cocked. One of the finest songsters of all.
What it eats
Insects mostly, taken from the ground, with some berries and nectar.
Where & when to spot it
In gardens, courtyards, hedges and the village edge, singing richly from a prominent perch at dawn and dusk.
Nesting & mating
In a tree-hole, wall cavity or nest-box lined with grass and roots; three to five eggs in the warm months.
In the lens
Oriental Magpie Robin, photographed at Kunja
Photographs by Manohar Negi · mnegi.com — tap any photo to view it full
More to spot
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SturnidaeCommon Myna
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HirundinidaeRed-rumped Swallow
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PycnonotidaeHimalayan Bulbul
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MegalaimidaeGreat Barbet
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