Bangladesh, Bhutan, British Indian Ocean Territory (B), Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, China (mainland), India, Indonesia, Japan, Laos, Malaysia, Maldives, Myanmar, Nepal, Oman, Pakistan, Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Sri Lanka, Taiwan (China), Thailand, Timor-Leste (B) (NB), Vietnam.
Vagrant to Christmas Island, North Korea, Seychelles, United Arab Emirates, Yemen.
Asia, south through Indonesia to Christmas Island.
Voice
Loud, bubbling, roaring, quacking, grunting and croaking, 'kru-ak kru-ak kru-ak-a-wak-wak', 'krr-kwaak-kwaak krr-kwaak-kwaak'. Also a long series of 'kwaak', 'kuk' or 'kook' notes. A series of quick 'pwik' notes in contact.
Nest
Shallow saucer or pad, on the ground among vegetation or in a bush, bamboo clump or tree, up to 3 m above the ground.
Eggs (Guide)
3 - 8; cream or pinkish-white to pale buff, spotted, blotched and sometimes streaked with shades of reddish-brown and pale purple, often capped near the large end; 35 - 45 x 27 - 32 mm.
Subspecies
Possible subspecies chinensis and javanicus are included within nominate, but may well be valid.
The following 4 subspecies are recognised:
phoenicurus (Pennant, 1769) - Pakistan, India, Maldives and Sri Lanka to eastern China, Taiwan and Ryukyu Is, and south through south-eastern Asia and Philippines to Greater Sundas; northern populations winter to south, ranging west to Arabia. Currently expanding northern into Japan.
insularis Sharpe, 1894 - Andaman and Nicobar Is.
midnicobaricus Abdulali, 1978 - Central Nicobar Islands.
leucomelana (Müller, S, 1842) - Sulawesi, western Moluccas and Lesser Sundas.
The Field Guide to the Birds of Australia Pizzey, G., and Knight, E., 1997, Angus & Robertson, Sydney ISBN 0 207 19691 5
Field Guide to Australian Birds Morecombe, M., 2000, Steve Parish Publishing Pty Ltd. ISBN 1 876282 10 X
Field Guide to the Birds of Australia Simpson, K., and Day, N., 1999, 6th Edition, Viking ISBN 0 670 87918 5
Reader's Digest Complete Book of Australian Birds 1988, 2nd Edition, Reader's Digest ISBN 0 949819 99 9
What Bird is That? 1984, Revised Edition, Angus & Robertson, Sydney ISBN 0 207 14846 5
Handbook of Australian, New Zealand & Antarctic Birds 1990 - , Oxford University Press, Melbourne ISBN 0 19 553244 9
BirdLife International Species Factsheet