Indian Robin

The Indian robin is a small, long-tailed chat. The male is mainly black with a white shoulder patch and chestnut undertail coverts that show as it holds its 6–8cm tail upright; northern males have brown backs, the brown shrinking southwards until southern males are all black above. Females are brownish above and greyish below, with a paler chestnut vent and no white on the shoulder. Northern birds are larger. The chestnut vent and dark body separate it from pied bushchats and Oriental magpie-robins (Wikipedia, general species account).

It is common in open scrub, often running along the ground or perching on low thorny shrubs and rocks. Several subspecies have been named on the basis of plumage. It was formerly placed in its own genus, Saxicoloides. SoIB 2023 treats it as endemic to the Indian subcontinent and resident with a very large range, finds its long-term trend stable, and rates it a Low conservation priority (Wikipedia, general species account; SoIB 2023).