Black-headed Cuckooshrike

The black-headed cuckooshrike is a slender bird of the Indian subcontinent, 18 to 20 cm long, with distinct differences between the sexes. Males have a dark slaty-grey hood, neck and upper breast against a pale grey back and white belly, blackish wings with grey edges and white-tipped tail feathers. Females are duller, with brownish-grey upperparts, a whitish eyebrow and heavily barred underparts (Wikipedia, general species account).

It is resident and partly migratory, found in India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal and Bhutan and east to Myanmar, and prefers open wooded habitats to thick dense forest, including scrub jungle, suburbs and orchards. It is arboreal and forages methodically through the foliage of tall trees, often joining mixed-species flocks. Nationally Least Concern (Sri Lanka National Red List 2012, listed as Coracina melanoptera).