The Madagascar magpie-robin (''Copsychus albospecularis'') is a species of chat in the Old World flycatcher family,

Muscicapidae The Old World flycatchers are a large family, the Muscicapidae, of small passerine birds restricted to the Old World (Europe, Africa and Asia), with the exception of several vagrants and two species, Bluethroat (''Luscinia svecica)'' and Norther ...

Taxonomy and systematics

The Madagascar magpie-robin is closely related to the

Seychelles magpie-robin The Seychelles magpie-robin (''Copsychus sechellarum'') is a medium-sized endangered bird from the granitic Seychelles in the Indian Ocean. This species of magpie-robin is approximately in length. With a body mass of in females and in males, t ...

and the

Oriental magpie-robin 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 lon ...

, and may form a superspecies with them. The species is

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsew ...

Madagascar Madagascar (; mg, Madagasikara, ), officially the Republic of Madagascar ( mg, Repoblikan'i Madagasikara, links=no, ; french: République de Madagascar), is an island country in the Indian Ocean, approximately off the coast of East Africa ...

, where it is found across the island. Its distribution is sometimes scattered, as it occupies a wide range of habitats and can be very common or fairly rare depending on this. Three subspecies have been described: the nominate subspecies from northeastern Madagascar, ''C. a. inexpectatus'' from eastern and southeastern Madagascar and ''C. a. pica '', which occupies the rest of the country. There is, however, considerable overlap between the subspecies and the exact boundaries between their ranges is unclear.Collar, N. (2017)
"Madagascar Magpie-robin (''Copsychus albospecularis'')"
In: del Hoyo, J., Elliott, A., Sargatal, J., Christie, D.A. & de Juana, E. (eds.). ''Handbook of the Birds of the World Alive''. Lynx Edicions, Barcelona. Retrieved 2 March 2017.

Description

The Madagascar magpie-robin is around in length and weighs . The

plumage Plumage ( "feather") is a layer of feathers that covers a bird and the pattern, colour, and arrangement of those feathers. The pattern and colours of plumage differ between species and subspecies and may vary with age classes. Within species, ...

varies by sex; the male of the nominate subspecies has all-black plumage with a white shoulder patch and the female has a grey-brown crown, back and tail, grey-breast and throat and rufous wings and rump. The males of the other two subspecies have more white of the wings and a white abdomen; the female of ''C. a. pica '' is much paler overall.

Distribution and habitat

Madagascar magpie-robins occupy most of the habitats available on the island, from

scrubland Shrubland, scrubland, scrub, brush, or bush is a plant community characterized by vegetation dominance (ecology), dominated by shrubs, often also including grasses, Herbaceous plant, herbs, and geophytes. Shrubland may either occur naturally or ...

to dry

monsoon forest Seasonal tropical forest, also known as moist deciduous, semi-evergreen seasonal, tropical mixed or monsoon forests, typically contain a range of tree species: only some of which drop some or all of their leaves during the dry season. This tropic ...

, humid rainforest,

forest edge A woodland edge or forest edge is the transition zone (ecotone) from an area of woodland or forest to fields or other open spaces. Certain species of plants and animals are adapted to the forest edge, and these species are often more familiar to hu ...

mangrove forest Mangrove forests, also called mangrove swamps, mangrove thickets or mangals, are productive wetlands that occur in coastal intertidal zones. Mangrove forests grow mainly at tropical and subtropical latitudes because mangroves cannot withstand fr ...

secondary growth In botany, secondary growth is the growth that results from cell division in the cambia or lateral meristems and that causes the stems and roots to thicken, while primary growth is growth that occurs as a result of cell division at the tips of ...

, as well as a variety of agricultural land including gardens, banana, coffee and eucalyptus plantations. They can be found from sea level to .

Behaviour

Diet and feeding

The Madagascar magpie-robin feeds in insects, including cockroaches, beetles, bugs and grasshoppers, as well as spiders, earthworms, small lizards and amphibians. They will also take berries. They forage near the ground, and exhibit some

niche differentiation In ecology, niche differentiation (also known as niche segregation, niche separation and niche partitioning) refers to the process by which competing species use the environment differently in a way that helps them to coexist. The competitive excl ...

between the sexes, with females feeding more regularly on the ground and males feeding higher up in the undergrowth. They also sometimes join

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 ...

Breeding

Madagascar magpie-robins are

territorial A territory is an area of land, sea, or space, particularly belonging or connected to a country, person, or animal. In international politics, a territory is usually either the total area from which a state may extract power resources or a ...

, with pairs defending territories that vary in size depending on habitat type, ranging from less than to . Territories in heavy rainforest or moist montane forest are smaller than those in scrubland. The nest is a cup made from grasses, leaf stalks and lined with rootlets, snakeskin and the hair of lemurs or cattle. The nest is placed in cavities in walls, in hollows in stumps or in dense vegetation. An average clutch size is three eggs (the range is from two to five) and these are incubated for about 13 days. Both parents feed the chicks in the nest for 17 days, and the young continue to be fed outside the nest for at least another six days. Chicks may associate with their parents in small flocks for at least 18 days after fledging. This species is often targeted by the predatory

Madagascar sparrowhawk The Madagascar sparrowhawk (''Accipiter madagascariensis'') is a species of bird of prey in the family Accipitridae. It is endemic to Madagascar. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical dry forest, subtropical or tropical moist lowlan ...

References

External links

* {{Taxonbar, from=Q1587748 Madagascar magpie-robin Endemic birds of Madagascar Madagascar magpie-robin Taxonomy articles created by Polbot