Indian Robin - BirdForum Opus

Adult male
Photo © by drjpmenon
Coimbatore, South India, 15 June, 2020

Copsychus fulicatus

Saxicoloides fulicata

Identification

16 cm (6 in); a long tail, generally cocked

Blackish overall plumage
White shoulder patch
Reddish lower belly

Females are dark grey above and paler below

Variations

Subspecies cambaiensis : Adult male
Photo © by Rajiv Lather
Karnal, India, December 2006

Males of the northern race S. f. cambaiensis have a grey back and crown.

Distribution

Asia: found in Pakistan, India and Sri Lanka.

Taxonomy

Formerly placed in genus Saxicoloides.

Subspecies

Subspecies cambaiensis : Female
Photo © by ariban
Jaipur, Rajasthan India, 2 June 2010

There are 5 subspecies^[1]:

C. f. cambaiensis:

Pakistan to northern and western India and lowlands of Nepal

C. f. erythrurus:

North-eastern India (plains of Bihar and West Bengal)

C. f. intermedius:

Central India (Bombay to Hyderabad and Krishna River)

C. f. fulicatus:

Southern India (Bombay to Mysore and Kerala)

C. f. leucopterus:

Lowlands of Sri Lanka

Habitat

Scrub jungle and other open habitats.

Behaviour

Breeding

The nest in a hole in a wall, tree-stump or bank. The clutch consists of 2-3 creamy-white eggs which rest on a pad of grass lined with feathers or hair. Only the female incubates the eggs.

Diet

Their diet consists of insects such as termites, ants, beetles, flies, caterpillars, grasshoppers, bees and wasps as well as their eggs.

Vocalisation

Recording © by Alok Tewari
House garden, Faridabad, Haryana, India, May-2013
Call given by female while male responding with sharp whistles. The pair was nesting in the neighborhood garden.
In early spring, males develop a lovely song, heard in the recording below :

References

Clements, J. F., T. S. Schulenberg, M. J. Iliff, S. M. Billerman, T. A. Fredericks, B. L. Sullivan, and C. L. Wood. 2019. The eBird/Clements Checklist of Birds of the World: v2019. Downloaded from http://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist/download/
Lepage D. (2020) Avibase. Retrieved 7 November 2020
Collar, N. and A. Bonan (2020). Indian Robin (Copsychus fulicatus), version 1.0. In Birds of the World (J. del Hoyo, A. Elliott, J. Sargatal, D. A. Christie, and E. de Juana, Editors). Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, NY, USA. https://doi.org/10.2173/bow.indrob1.01
AvianWeb

List of references

Recommended Citation

BirdForum Opus contributors. (2025) Indian Robin. In: BirdForum, the forum for wild birds and birding. Retrieved 15 January 2025 from https://www.birdforum.net/opus/Indian_Robin

External Links

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