Bangladesh, Bhutan, Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, China (mainland), India, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan, Philippines (B), Singapore (B), Sri Lanka, Thailand, Vietnam.
Rarity Status
Currently this species is not classified as a rarity in this country OR information has not been updated.
Population
Estimated population is unknown (2010).
Habits
Usually in pairs. Aggressive and territorial.
Food
Invertebrates and oocasionally small vertebrates.
Voice
A powerful and varied song comprising of a series of plaintive whistles. Known to mimic other species including Plaintive Cuckoo (Cacomantis merulinus), Sunda Pied Fantail (Rhipidura javanica) and Yellow-bellied Prinia (Prinia flaviventris).
Oriental Magpie-Robin (Copsychus saularis) [XC892020]
by Bram Piot from , China (song)
Oriental Magpie-Robin (Copsychus saularis) [XC547556]
by Bram Piot from , India (song)
Nest
Large, loose composed of fine roots, hidden in thick branches or in a tree cavity.
Eggs (Guide)
3 - 4; glossy, pale greensih-blue with reddish-brown blotches.
Subspecies
May form a superspecies with Seychelles Magpie-robin (Copsychus sechellarum) and Madagascar Magpie-robin (Copsychus albospecularis). Subspecies form three basic groups: "nominate group" (white belly, white in tail), "amoenus group" (black belly, white in tail), and "mindanensis group" (white belly, black tail). Described subspecies problematicus from Borneo is an intergrade between musicus and pluto. Several other named subspecies are poorly differentiated or part of clinal variation, or based on very small sample sizes: erimelas (north-eastern India east to Indochina) and prosthopellus (China and Hainan) synonymized with nominate, and zacnecus (Simeulue I), nesiarchus (Nias I), masculus (Batu Is), pagiensis (Mentawai) and javensis (western Java) with musicus.
Proposed Philippine subspecies deuteronymus (Luzon), separated on lightly barred buff wash of lower underparts of female, also regarded as too weak to merit recognition and thus merged with mindanensis.
The following 8 subspecies are recognised:
saularis (Linnaeus, 1758) - North-eastern Pakistan and India east to southern and eastern China (including Hainan I), south to Thailand and Indochina.
ceylonensis Sclater, PL, 1861 - Southern India and Sri Lanka.
andamanensis Hume, 1874 - Andaman Is.
musicus (Raffles, 1822) - Southern Thailand and Peninsular Malaysia south to Sumatra (including islands of Simeulue, Nias, Batu, Belitung, Bangka), western Java and southern and western Borneo.
amoenus (Horsfield, 1821) - Eastern Java and Bali.
pluto Bonaparte, 1850 - Northern, eastern and south-eastern Borneo and Maratua I.
BirdLife International Species Factsheet