Oriental Magpie-Robin

The Oriental Magpie-Robin is a familiar and much-loved garden bird across South and Southeast Asia, known for its glossy black-and-white plumage and its rich, varied song, which has made it a popular cage bird in parts of its range historically and a national bird symbol in some countries. The adult male is glossy blue-black on the head, throat, back, and tail, with a crisp white belly and prominent white wing patches and outer tail feathers visible especially in flight.

Females show the same pattern but with the black replaced by dark grey, giving a slightly softer contrast. Both sexes habitually hold the tail cocked upward, a characteristic posture shared with many chats and robins, and often flick it while foraging.

Key field marks

• Male: glossy black head, throat, back, and tail; white belly and white patches on wings and outer tail
• Female: same pattern but grey instead of black
• Frequently cocks tail upward while perched or foraging
• Confident, often tame behavior around gardens and buildings

Similar species

The Indian Robin is smaller, with a white shoulder patch (not wing bar) and chestnut undertail coverts, and prefers drier, scrubbier habitat. True magpies are much larger with long graduated tails and lack the robin-like cocked-tail posture.

This species ranges widely across the Indian subcontinent, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, and through Southeast Asia into southern China and Indonesia. It thrives in gardens, parks, open woodland, cultivated land, and areas near human habitation, generally avoiding dense unbroken forest and very arid regions.

Oriental Magpie-Robins are largely resident, defending year-round territories, though some local dispersal of young birds occurs.

Voice

The song is a rich, loud, and highly varied mix of clear whistles and warbled phrases, often delivered from a prominent perch at dawn, and the species is also an accomplished mimic of other birds' calls; the call note is a harsh "chr-r-r" scold.

Feeding

Magpie-Robins forage mostly on the ground and in low vegetation, hopping and running after insects, earthworms, and other invertebrates, and occasionally take small lizards or fruit.

Nesting and breeding

They nest in tree cavities, wall crevices, or nest boxes, building a loose cup of grass, rootlets, and feathers. Both parents may help provision the 3-5 chick brood, and males are highly territorial, singing persistently to defend their territory and attract mates.