Oriental Magpie Robin
Its color is a mixture of black and white. The doel is small in size and fickle in movement. In rural area of Bangladesh the doel is frequently seen. One of the brightest features of the doel is that it has an enchanting whistle playing off and on. The doel does not fly very high and likes to stay close to the earth. It feeds on insects.
The Magpie Robin is the National Bird of Bangladesh, where it is common and known as the Doyel or Doel. It is a widely used symbol in Bangladesh, appearing on currency notes and a landmark in the city of Dhaka is named as the Doyel Chatwar.
Its color is a mixture of black and white. The doel is small in size and fickle in movement. In rural area of Bangladesh the doel is frequently seen. One of the brightest features of the doel is that it has an enchanting whistle playing off and on. The doel does not fly very high and likes to stay close to the earth. It feeds on insects.
The Oriental Magpie Robin Copsychus saularis is a small passerine bird that was formerly classed as a member of the thrush family Turdidae, but now considered an Old World flycatcher. They are distinctive black and white birds with a long tail that is held upright as they forage on the ground or perch conspicuously. Distributed in many parts of tropical South and Southeast Asia, they are common birds in urban gardens as well as forests. They are particularly well known for their songs and were once popular as cagebirds.
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Passeriformes
Family: Muscicapidae
Genus: Copsychus
Species: C. saularis
Binomial name
Copsychus saularis
Distribution and habitat
This magpie-robin is a resident breeder in tropical southern Asia from Bangladesh, Pakistan, India and Sri Lanka east to Indonesia, Thailand, south China and the Philippines. They have been introduced to Australia.
The Oriental Magpie Robin is found in open woodland, cultivated areas often close to human habitations.
Behaviour and ecology
Male singing Magpie Robins breed mainly from March to July in India and January to June in Southeast Asia, nesting in tree hollows or niches in walls or building. The female is involved in most of the nest building that happens about a week before the eggs are laid. Four or five eggs are laid in intervals of 24 hours and these are oval and usually pale blue green with brownish speckles. The eggs are incubated by the female alone for 8 to 14 days. The nests have a characteristic odour.
Females spend more effort on feeding the young than males. Males are quite aggressive in the breeding season and will defend their territory. and respond to the singing of intruders and even their reflections. Males spend more time on nest defense. Studies of the bird song show dialects with neighbours varying in their songs. The calls of many other species may be imitated as part of their song. This may indicate that birds disperse and are not philopatric.They appear to use elements of the calls of other birds in their own songs. Females may sing briefly in the presence of male. Apart from their song, they use a range of calls including territorial calls, emergence and roosting calls, threat calls, submissive calls, begging calls and distress calls. The typical mobbing calls is a harsh hissing krshhh.
The food of Magpie Robins is mainly insects and other invertebrates. They are known to occasionally take geckos, leeches, centipedes and even fish.
They are often active late at dusk. They sometimes bathe in rainwater collected on the leaves of a tree.
Its color is a mixture of black and white. The doel is small in size and fickle in movement. In rural area of Bangladesh the doel is frequently seen. One of the brightest features of the doel is that it has an enchanting whistle playing off and on. The doel does not fly very high and likes to stay close to the earth. It feeds on insects.
The Magpie Robin is the National Bird of Bangladesh, where it is common and known as the Doyel or Doel. It is a widely used symbol in Bangladesh, appearing on currency notes and a landmark in the city of Dhaka is named as the Doyel Chatwar.
Its color is a mixture of black and white. The doel is small in size and fickle in movement. In rural area of Bangladesh the doel is frequently seen. One of the brightest features of the doel is that it has an enchanting whistle playing off and on. The doel does not fly very high and likes to stay close to the earth. It feeds on insects.
The Oriental Magpie Robin Copsychus saularis is a small passerine bird that was formerly classed as a member of the thrush family Turdidae, but now considered an Old World flycatcher. They are distinctive black and white birds with a long tail that is held upright as they forage on the ground or perch conspicuously. Distributed in many parts of tropical South and Southeast Asia, they are common birds in urban gardens as well as forests. They are particularly well known for their songs and were once popular as cagebirds.
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Passeriformes
Family: Muscicapidae
Genus: Copsychus
Species: C. saularis
Binomial name
Copsychus saularis
Distribution and habitat
This magpie-robin is a resident breeder in tropical southern Asia from Bangladesh, Pakistan, India and Sri Lanka east to Indonesia, Thailand, south China and the Philippines. They have been introduced to Australia.
The Oriental Magpie Robin is found in open woodland, cultivated areas often close to human habitations.
Behaviour and ecology
Male singing Magpie Robins breed mainly from March to July in India and January to June in Southeast Asia, nesting in tree hollows or niches in walls or building. The female is involved in most of the nest building that happens about a week before the eggs are laid. Four or five eggs are laid in intervals of 24 hours and these are oval and usually pale blue green with brownish speckles. The eggs are incubated by the female alone for 8 to 14 days. The nests have a characteristic odour.
Females spend more effort on feeding the young than males. Males are quite aggressive in the breeding season and will defend their territory. and respond to the singing of intruders and even their reflections. Males spend more time on nest defense. Studies of the bird song show dialects with neighbours varying in their songs. The calls of many other species may be imitated as part of their song. This may indicate that birds disperse and are not philopatric.They appear to use elements of the calls of other birds in their own songs. Females may sing briefly in the presence of male. Apart from their song, they use a range of calls including territorial calls, emergence and roosting calls, threat calls, submissive calls, begging calls and distress calls. The typical mobbing calls is a harsh hissing krshhh.
The food of Magpie Robins is mainly insects and other invertebrates. They are known to occasionally take geckos, leeches, centipedes and even fish.
They are often active late at dusk. They sometimes bathe in rainwater collected on the leaves of a tree.
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