Grey Treepie (Dendrocitta formosae) [XC721379]
by Oriental Stork from Tianjing Mountain, Ruyuan, Shaoguan, Guangdong Province, China (call)
Grey Treepie (Dendrocitta formosae) [XC83383]
by Mike Nelson from Guangdong province, Nan Kun Shan, China (alarm call)
Subspecies
Forms a species group with Bornean Treepie (Dendrocitta cinerascens), Sumatran Treepie (Dendrocitta occipitalis) and White-bellied Treepie (Dendrocitta leucogastra). Sometimes thought to be conspecific with Bornean Treepie (Dendrocitta cinerascens) and Sumatran Treepie (Dendrocitta occipitalis). Subspecies fall into two groups, western group with greyish rump and some grey in tail (occidentalis, himalayana, sarkari, assimilis) and relatively shorter-tailed eastern group with darker, less patterned plumage, white rump and (except nominate) wholly black tail (sinica, sapiens, insulae, nominate). Isolated subspecies sarkari often subsumed in himalayana. Subspecies himalayana often listed as "himalayensis", but former has priority.
The following 8 subspecies are recognised:
occidentalis Ticehurst, 1925 - Himalayan foothills from Pakistan (Murree) east through north-western India to western Nepal.
himalayana Jerdon, 1864 - Central Nepal east to north-eastern India, northern Myanmar, southern China (southern Yunnan), north-western Thailand, northern and central Laos and northern Vietnam (south to northern Annam).
sarkari Kinnear & Whistler, 1930 - Eastern Ghats (Orissa and northern Andhra Pradesh), in eastern India.
assimilis Hume, 1877 - South-western and eastern Myanmar and northern Thailand.
sapiens (Deignan, 1955) - Central China (west-central Sichuan).
sinica Stresemann, 1913 - Eastern and south-eastern China and north-eastern Tonkin (extreme northern Vietnam).
formosae Swinhoe, 1863 - Taiwan.
insulae Hartert, 1910 - Hainan I, in southern China.
BirdLife International Species Factsheet