The lesser cuckooshrike (''Lalage fimbriata'') is a species of

bird Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the laying of hard-shelled eggs, a high metabolic rate, a four-chambered heart, and a strong yet lightweigh ...

in the family Campephagidae. It is found in

Brunei Brunei ( , ), formally Brunei Darussalam ( ms, Negara Brunei Darussalam, Jawi alphabet, Jawi: , ), is a country located on the north coast of the island of Borneo in Southeast Asia. Apart from its South China Sea coast, it is completely sur ...

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...

Malaysia Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federation, federal constitutional monarchy consists of States and federal territories of Malaysia, thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two r ...

Myanmar Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John C. Wells, Joh ...

Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, borde ...

, and

Thailand Thailand ( ), historically known as Siam () and officially the Kingdom of Thailand, is a country in Southeast Asia, located at the centre of the Indochinese Peninsula, spanning , with a population of almost 70 million. The country is bo ...

. It is small, short-tailed, shrike-like bird, 20 cm in length. The male is dark grey, paler below with contrasting dark, blackish flight feathers, and a blackish head. The tail is also black with light tips, ranging from white to greyish. The female is paler with pale barring on underside. Immature birds are browner with grey and white barring or spotting on the pale breast. The iris is brown, and the bill and feet are black. It is resident across the Malay Peninsula and the Greater Sundas, where it is an occasional bird of lowland and hill forest (up to 1000 m on Sumatra, and 1500 m on Java). The lesser cuckooshrike prefers primary forest but also visits surrounding cultivated areas and plantations and gardens. It generally keeps to treetops, where it can be seen singly or in pairs and often in mixed flocks. In winter small flocks form. Its diet consists of insects.

References

* Jean Delacour, 'The Lesser Graybirds (''Coracina'') of Asia and Malaysia', ''American Museum Novitates'', 3 April 1951 lesser cuckooshrike Birds of Malesia lesser cuckooshrike Taxonomy articles created by Polbot {{Campephagidae-stub