Indian Cuckooshrike

The Indian cuckooshrike is a cuckooshrike of the Indian subcontinent, formerly called the large cuckooshrike, a name under which several forms across Southeast Asia were combined. Two subspecies are recognised, macei in central and south India and layardi in Sri Lanka. Adult males have a broad, well-marked eye stripe that is pale in females, a grey throat and breast, and a finely barred abdomen and flanks (Wikipedia, general species account).

It is mostly insectivorous but also eats figs and forest fruits, and usually flies in small groups with a bounding flight just above the forest canopy. It flicks its closed wings one after the other when landing, and uses the movement in courtship. It breeds in the dry winter months, building a shallow saucer of twigs and grass in a horizontal branch fork. Nationally Least Concern (Sri Lanka National Red List 2012).