Crypsirina temia
Silhouette: John Gould (vectorized by T. Michael Keesey) · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~10% in a week ~20%
The racket-tailed treepie (Crypsirina temia) is an Asian treepie, a member of the crow family, Corvidae. It has a velvety-black forehead of short, plush black feathers with the rest of the bird being an oily green colour, though appearing black in dim light. The tail feathers which in this species are long and broaden at the tail's end are black also with a greenish tinge, as are the wings. The iris of the bird is a turquoise-blue darkening towards the pupil to a very deep or near black. The bill, legs and feet are black.
This bird occurs in southern Burma (Myanmar), Thailand, Indo-China, Sumatra, Java and Bali in scrub and secondary growth, open fields and gardens, bamboo thickets and open forest often near villages. It almost always feeds in trees (arboreal) never feeding from the ground though coming down to bathe on occasion. It moves through the trees with great agility and uses its remarkable tail as a balancing organ. It eats mainly insects and fruit.
A cup shaped nest is built in bamboo or shrubs especially thorny ones often surrounded by open grassy areas and normally lays 2–4 eggs. The voice is usually described as harsh and unattractive. It has several described calls but a whining call is often heard. Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Cat Tien National Park | 🇻🇳 Vietnam | |
| 2 | Bali Barat National Park | 🇮🇩 Indonesia | |
| 3 | Kaeng Krachan National Park | 🇹🇭 Thailand | |
| 4 | Cuc Phuong National Park | 🇻🇳 Vietnam | |
| 5 | Doi Inthanon National Park | 🇹🇭 Thailand | |
| 6 | Khao Yai National Park | 🇹🇭 Thailand |
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ho Chi Minh City | 🇻🇳 Vietnam | |
| 2 | Bangkok | 🇹🇭 Thailand | |
| 3 | Phnom Penh | 🇰🇭 Cambodia |
| # | Zoo / Centre | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Hong Kong Zoological and Botanical Gardens | 🇨🇳 China | |
| 2 | Edward Youde Aviary | 🇭🇰 Hong Kong SAR China |
Rare
Under 5% of wildlife watchers report a Racket-tailed Treepie sighting in Bangkok on a given day, based on 319 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data. It is the 109th most-seen of the 277 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 10%, and over a week to about 20%, if each day is a fresh chance.
March and April
In those months about 10% of wildlife watchers report a Racket-tailed Treepie in Bangkok on a given day, against under 5% in May to February, the lowest months. Those are among Bangkok's driest months, with about 60 mm of rain a month against 280 mm in September.
Between 2 and 5 am
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Racket-tailed Treepie sightings with a recorded time, and about half of them come between 6 pm and 6 am: it is most active around dawn and dusk.
2nd of 3
Of the 3 cities where we can rate Racket-tailed Treepie sightings, Bangkok ranks 2nd at under 5%. The best odds are in Ho Chi Minh City (Vietnam, about 20%).
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Racket-tailed Treepie is recorded against all the birds logged in Bangkok (319 verified sightings), calibrated against known sighting rates. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10% because citizen-science data supports honest approximations, not decimals, and months with records from fewer than five people show "—". How it works.
