White-bellied Treepie | |
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Conservation status | |
Scientific classification | |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Aves |
Order: | Passeriformes |
Family: | Corvidae |
Genus: | Dendrocitta |
Species: | D. leucogastra |
Binomial name | |
Dendrocitta leucogastra Gould, 1833[2] |
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The White-bellied Treepie (Dendrocitta leucogastra) is a bird of the crow family endemic to the forests of southern India. They overlap in distribution in some areas with the Rufous Treepie but are easily to tell apart both from appearance and call.
The white of the head and body makes it easy to distinguish from the sympatric Rufous Treepie. This tends to be found in more dense forest and is less associated with human habitation than the Rufous Treepie.[3]
When calling, the bird bows and droops its wings. Several birds may arrive at one tree and call repeatedly during the pre-monsoon breeding season (mainly April–May but some nests from February). The nest is a platform of twigs on a medium sized tree. Three eggs are laid, ashy grey with green and grey blotches.[4][5]
It is associated with mixed-species foraging flocks and is often found along with Greater Racket-tailed Drongos.[3]
It is found in the forests of the Western Ghats mainly south of Goa.[6] A record from Erimalai near Dharmapuri[7] and reports from the Surat Dangs and the southeastern Ghats of Andhra Pradesh stand outside its main distribution range. A record from central India (Chikalda, Gawilgarh[5]) has been questioned.[3]