Keshav Jeev-Van FoundationHarmony in Diversity
Join the Biodiversity CircleExplore Our Programmes

Bird

Black-headed Cuckooshrike

Lalage melanoptera

IUCN: Least Concern
Black-headed Cuckooshrike (Lalage melanoptera) photographed by Devendra Bhardwaj

Image: Devendra Bhardwaj · iNaturalist · CC BY-NC 4.0 · Ghat Ki Guni, Jaipur, Rajasthan · Resized

Scientific name
Lalage melanoptera
Family
Campephagidae, order Passeriformes
Group
Bird
Conservation status
Least Concern

A quiet grey-and-white hunter of the treetops.

  • Spot it Grey back, black head and wings, white underparts.
  • Home Open woodland.
  • Food web Picks insects and caterpillars from leaves, and eats some fruit.
  • Why it matters Eats caterpillars and other leaf-eaters, protecting trees, and feeds larger birds.

Read more: Black-headed cuckooshrike on Wikipedia

Sources and credits

Records and field notes

  • RajasthanDevendra Bhardwaj has 1 verified record of this species on iNaturalist in 2011, in Jaipur.[20]
  • RajasthanHis note on one photo reads “FEMALE ON NEST WITH CHICK”.[20]

Sources

  1. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species (species pages linked on each entry) (database). Global conservation status. Every species page was opened.
  2. Devendra Bhardwaj. iNaturalist observations and notes, with place and date (inaturalist.org/people/devendrabhardwaj) (field record). The observer's own dated records and notes, with places. Statements in his notes are his own and were not independently checked by KJVF.
  3. GBIF Backbone Taxonomy and GBIF species data (family, order, Hindi names, IUCN category) (database). Open biodiversity data. Used for classification, Hindi common names and the IUCN category where one is given.
  4. Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (opening lines of each species article, CC BY-SA 4.0). The link on each entry goes to the article (reference). Not peer reviewed. Only the opening description is used, and statements about origin or medicinal use are left out.
  5. Short introductions and key points written with AI help (Google Gemini and Claude) and checked against GBIF where possible (reference). AI-assisted text for general readers. Please check important details before relying on them.

The tag before each record shows the place it was checked for.

More in Birds