Copsychus saularis
Size: 19 – 23cm
Weight: 31 – 42g
Found: 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 can be found in open woodland and cultivated areas often close to human habitations
Description: 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.
Diet: 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.
Comment: 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 also the national bird of Bangladesh, where it is common and known as the doyel or doel.
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