White-bellied Blue Robin

The white-bellied blue robin, or white-bellied sholakili, is a chat-like bird endemic to the shola forests of the higher hills of southern India, found only above 1,200 m. It is long-legged and looks chunky, with a short tail and wings, and the centre of the belly and vent is white. The Nilgiri blue robin and this species were once considered separate, later lumped as subspecies of a single species, and elevated again to full species in 2005. It was earlier thought related to the shortwings and placed in Brachypteryx, then Myiomela, before a new genus, Sholicola, was erected (Wikipedia, general species account).

A 2017 study found the genus to be the sister group of the flycatchers in Niltava, Cyornis, Eumyias and others. The birds call frequently with tit-like notes and harsh rattles, and the song is said to be higher pitched and more musical than the Nilgiri blue robin's. The nest is placed in a tree hole or on a bank, low over the ground, of moss and fibrous roots. Two eggs are laid in a breeding season of April to June, after the rains. SoIB 2023 treats it as a Western Ghats endemic and rates it a High conservation priority, with a Restricted range of about 8,230 km² and an inconclusive long-term trend of about +32% (Wikipedia, general species account; SoIB 2023).