Dendrocitta vagabunda
SUBFAMILY
Corvinae
TAXONOMY
Dendrocitta vagabunda Latham, 1790, India. Nine subspecies.
OTHER COMMON NAMES
English: Indian treepie; French: Tйmia vagabonde; German:
Wanderelster; Spanish: Urraca vagabunda.
PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS
17.94–19.5 in (46–50 cm); 3.15–4.55 oz (90–130 g). Upperparts
are rusty-orange; underparts are paler and buffy. Head,
neck, breast, and upper mantle are blackish. Wing coverts
and tertials are pale, silvery gray; the rest of the wing is
brownish black. Central tail feathers are pale gray ending in
a wide, black terminal band; outer tail feathers have more
black. Bill is dark gray or blackish; legs and feet are brownish
black.
DISTRIBUTION
Widely distributed through Pakistan, India, Burma, and western
Thailand. Patchier in Laos, Cambodia, and Vietnam.
HABITAT
Light woodland, open fields with trees, villages, towns, and
cities.
BEHAVIOR
Moves in pairs or family parties, uttering loud calls. Largely
arboreal, most often seen flying between trees, or perching
high in canopy.
FEEDING ECOLOGY AND DIET
Very wide diet, including invertebrates, small birds, mammals,
reptiles, and amphibians, nuts, berries, carrion.
REPRODUCTIVE BIOLOGY
Solitary nester usually on lone tree. Generally lays four to five
eggs February through May in stick nest. Incubation and fledging
periods unknown.
CONSERVATION STATUS
Not threatened. Very common in western part of range, common
elsewhere.
SIGNIFICANCE TO HUMANS
None known.
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