Bar-winged Flycatcher Shrike

Bar-winged Flycatcher Shrike    Hemipus  picatus

Etymology :

• Hemipus : Greek word for hemi– half, small; pous- Foot
• Picatus : Latin word for “ Black and white, like smeared in Tar”

Vernacular Names : Hindi: Chhota kala latora, Sans: Kal-prushta shabal latushak, Lepcha: Viyum-pho, Guj: Kalopeeth kabaro latoro, Kabaro kashyo, Mar: Kabra khatik, Kavdya Mashimar Khatik, Mal: Asurappottan, Sinh: Panu-kurulla

Distribution in India:  Resident of Himalayas, Hills of Western ghat ,  Hills of East and North East region  in India

Description: Size of 14-15 cm. Male has top of head, upperparts and wings black, glossed green, lores to ear-coverts also black, cheeks and side of neck white; rump white, upper rump barred black, upper tail-coverts black; tail black, outermost feather narrowly edged white; throat and underparts white, greyer from lower throat and breast to anterior flanks; underwing-coverts mottled grey and white; iris dark brown; bill and legs black. Female is like male, but with black areas replaced by sooty brownish.

Habitat: It is found in Canopy of forest, including freshwater swamp-forest, tall secondary growth and forest edge; also mangroves, mature plantations and wooded gardens

Food Habits: It eats small insects. Commonly joins canopy-level mixed-species foraging parties. Snatches insects from underside of terminal foliage while hovering; also makes short flycatching flights, usually from an exposed perch

Breeding Habits: They breed in Malaysia in April-June. The nest is built by both sexes, a cup or a truncated cone with cup-shaped depression, made of lichens, bark fragments, fibers, bryophytes and spider webs, it is placed 7–40 m above ground on horizontal tree branch. They lay a clutch of 2-3 eggs. Chicks fed and brooded by both parents.

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