The grey treepie (''Dendrocitta formosae''), also known as the Himalayan treepie, is an Asian treepie, a medium-sized and long-tailed member of the crow

family Family (from la, familia) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its ...

. The species was first described by

Robert Swinhoe Robert Swinhoe FRS (1 September 1836 – 28 October 1877) was an English diplomat and naturalist who worked as a Consul in Formosa. He catalogued many Southeast Asian birds, and several, such as Swinhoe's pheasant, are named after him. Bio ...

in 1863. They are widely distributed along the foothills of the

Himalayas The Himalayas, or Himalaya (; ; ), is a mountain range in Asia, separating the plains of the Indian subcontinent from the Tibetan Plateau. The range has some of the planet's highest peaks, including the very highest, Mount Everest. Over 100 ...

in the

Indian Subcontinent The Indian subcontinent is a list of the physiographic regions of the world, physiographical region in United Nations geoscheme for Asia#Southern Asia, Southern Asia. It is situated on the Indian Plate, projecting southwards into the Indian O ...

and extending into

Indochina Mainland Southeast Asia, also known as the Indochinese Peninsula or Indochina, is the continental portion of Southeast Asia. It lies east of the Indian subcontinent and south of Mainland China and is bordered by the Indian Ocean to the west an ...

, southern

mainland China "Mainland China" is a geopolitical term defined as the territory governed by the People's Republic of China (including islands like Hainan or Chongming), excluding dependent territories of the PRC, and other territories within Greater China. ...

and

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the nort ...

. The populations vary in plumage and several are named as

subspecies In biological classification, subspecies is a rank below species, used for populations that live in different areas and vary in size, shape, or other physical characteristics (morphology), but that can successfully interbreed. Not all species ...

. Grey treepies are omnivorous birds mostly thriving among dense foliage and in forests. They sometimes take part in

mixed species flocks A mixed-species feeding flock, also termed a mixed-species foraging flock, mixed hunting party or informally bird wave, is a flock of usually insectivorous birds of different species that join each other and move together while foraging. These are ...

with

laughingthrush The laughingthrushes are a family, Leiothrichidae, of Old World passerine birds. They are diverse in size and coloration. These are birds of tropical areas, with the greatest variety in Southeast Asia and the Indian subcontinent. The entire fam ...

es, especially the

white-throated laughingthrush The white-throated laughingthrush (''Pterorhinus albogularis'') is a species of passerine bird in the family Leiothrichidae. It is found mainly in the northern regions of the Indian subcontinent, primarily the Himalayas, and some adjoining and di ...

. They systematically work together through the hill forests,

rhododendron ''Rhododendron'' (; from Ancient Greek ''rhódon'' "rose" and ''déndron'' "tree") is a very large genus of about 1,024 species of woody plants in the heath family (Ericaceae). They can be either evergreen or deciduous. Most species are nati ...

oak An oak is a tree or shrub in the genus ''Quercus'' (; Latin "oak tree") of the beech family, Fagaceae. There are approximately 500 extant species of oaks. The common name "oak" also appears in the names of species in related genera, notably ''L ...

s and other broad-leaved trees, especially in the mornings.

Description

The grey treepie is long and weighs . It is the same size as other ''

Dendrocitta ''Dendrocitta'' is a genus of long-tailed passerine birds in the crow and jay family, Corvidae. They are resident in tropical South and Southeast Asia. The generic name is derived from the Greek words ''dendron'', meaning "tree," and ''kitta'', m ...

'' species and is separated from them by the overall grey colour of the body. The races in the western part of the distribution have a greyish rump and some grey in tail while the eastern forms have a white rump and a black tail. The face and throat are dark and black with a diffuse mask. The body is grey on the underside becoming whiter towards the vent. The back and scapulars are brownish. The crown and nape are greyish and the black wing has a prominent white carpal patch. The vent is rufous and the outer tail feathers and tips of the central feathers are black. The beak is black, the legs are blackish-brown and the eyes are red or reddish-brown. The two sexes are similar. The juvenile bird is duller, with a browner nape, and all of its feathers have rufous tips. The species occupies a large geographical range and has several recognised regional forms that differ slightly from one another for instance in colour and tail length. These include ''occidentalis'' of the western Himalayan foothills (identified by its slightly longer tail), ''himalayana'' from the central Himalayas east into Thailand and Vietnam. A disjunct population, said to have a smaller or narrower bill, is found in the

Eastern Ghats The Eastern Ghats are a discontinuous range of mountains along India's eastern coast. The Eastern Ghats pass through Odisha, Andhra Pradesh to Tamil Nadu in the south passing some parts of Karnataka as well as Telangana. They are eroded and cut ...

of peninsular India, ''sarkari'', that is sometimes subsumed into ''himalayana''. The Southeast Asian races include ''assimilis'', ''sapiens'', ''sinica'', ''formosae'' (the nominate race from Taiwan) and ''insulae'' (

Hainan Island Hainan (, ; ) is the smallest and southernmost province of the People's Republic of China (PRC), consisting of various islands in the South China Sea. , the largest and most populous island in China,The island of Taiwan, which is slightly l ...

). It has been suggested that this species forms a superspecies along with ''

Dendrocitta occipitalis The Sumatran treepie or Sunda treepie (''Dendrocitta occipitalis'') is a species of bird in the family Corvidae. It is endemic to the island of Sumatra Sumatra is one of the Sunda Islands of western Indonesia. It is the largest island th ...

'' and ''

Dendrocitta cinerascens The Bornean treepie (''Dendrocitta cinerascens'') is a passerine bird belonging to the treepies genus, ''Dendrocitta'', of in the crow family, Corvidae. It is endemic to the island of Borneo. It is sometimes treated as a subspecies of the Suma ...

''.

Distribution and habitat

The grey treepie is largely arboreal and is found in a wide range of habitats including forest, cultivation and human habitation. The distribution range includes the foothills of the Himalayas, the

(

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

Bangladesh Bangladesh (}, ), officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the eighth-most populous country in the world, with a population exceeding 165 million people in an area of . Bangladesh is among the mos ...

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 ...

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 ...

, China, Hainan, Taiwan and northern

. In the Himalayas, it is found up to above sea level, and in southeastern China, it is found between and .

Behaviour and ecology

Grey treepies (Dendrocitta formosae himalayana) Pokhara

This treepie is mostly an arboreal feeder but will take some food from the ground, especially in cultivated regions. It eats a wide range of insects and other invertebrates, berries, nectar, grain and other seeds, and also small reptiles, eggs and nestlings. It sometimes joins

mixed-species foraging flock A mixed-species feeding flock, also termed a mixed-species foraging flock, mixed hunting party or informally bird wave, is a flock of usually insectivorous birds of different species that join each other and move together while foraging. These ar ...

s. In the foothills of the Himalayas in India, they are known to breed from 2000 to 6000 feet high mainly during the months of May to July. The nest is a shallow cup lined with hair and is built in trees and bushes or clumps of

bamboo Bamboos are a diverse group of evergreen perennial flowering plants making up the subfamily Bambusoideae of the grass family Poaceae. Giant bamboos are the largest members of the grass family. The origin of the word "bamboo" is uncertain, bu ...

with 3-4 eggs per clutch. The eggs can be whitish, buffish or pale green, with brown or grey spots. Both the male and female build the nest and feed the young birds. The voice is described as harsh and grating, but like other species is quite varied and includes a grating ''k-r-r-r-r'' sound as well as more melodious notes not unlike those of the

rufous treepie The rufous treepie (''Dendrocitta vagabunda'') is a treepie, native to the Indian Subcontinent and adjoining parts of Southeast Asia. It is a member of the crow family, Corvidae. It is long tailed and has loud musical calls making it very conspi ...

. These include a ''tiddly-aye-kok'', ''ko-ku-la'' and barking ''braap...braap...braap'' calls.

Status

The global population size is not known. In China, there are an estimated 10,000 to 100,000 breeding pairs, and the population size in Taiwan is estimated at 10,000 to 100,000 breeding pairs. The population in Hainan may be endangered by habitat destruction. The species has a large range, and the population decline does not appear to be very rapid, so the

IUCN Red List The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species, also known as the IUCN Red List or Red Data Book, founded in 1964, is the world's most comprehensive inventory of the global conservation status of biol ...

has assessed the species to be of

least concern A least-concern species is a species that has been categorized by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as evaluated as not being a focus of species conservation because the specific species is still plentiful in the wild. T ...

References

External links

Grey treepie
{{Taxonbar , from=Q1589793

grey treepie The grey treepie (''Dendrocitta formosae''), also known as the Himalayan treepie, is an Asian treepie, a medium-sized and long-tailed member of the Corvidae, crow family (biology), family. The species was Species description, first described by R ...

Birds of the Himalayas Birds of Eastern Himalaya Birds of South China Birds of Hainan Birds of Hong Kong Birds of East India Birds of Laos Birds of Myanmar Birds of Taiwan Birds of Thailand Birds of Yunnan