White-bellied Treepie

The white-bellied treepie is a 48 cm crow-family bird, endemic to the forests of the Western Ghats mainly south of Goa; a record from central India (Chikalda, Gawilgarh) has been questioned. The white of the head and body distinguishes it from the rufous treepie, with which it overlaps in places. The back of the neck is white, the throat, breast and thighs black, the undertail coverts chestnut, the back chestnut-brown and the wings black with a white patch (Wikipedia, general species account).

It eats fruit, seeds, nectar, invertebrates, reptiles, rodents, nestlings and eggs. When calling, it bows and droops its wings, and several birds may arrive at a tree and call repeatedly in the pre-monsoon breeding season, mainly April–May but with some nests from February. It is often found in mixed-species flocks with greater racket-tailed drongos. SoIB 2023 treats it as a Western Ghats endemic and rates it a Moderate conservation priority, with a Moderate range of about 59,900 km² and a decline of about 53% over the long term (Wikipedia, general species account; SoIB 2023).