Black-headed Cuckooshrike

Black-headed Cuckooshrike

Coracina melanoptera

Silhouette: PhyloPic

Daily sighting probability <5% · Rare
at Pune

In 3 days <5% in a week ~10%

220 Verified sightings at Pune
1,587 In all 16 parks From 2019 to 2026
October Best month
☀️ Diurnal When it's spotted

About the Black-headed Cuckooshrike

The black-headed cuckooshrike (Lalage melanoptera) is a species of cuckooshrike found in the Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia. The Black-headed Cuckooshrike is a 18-20 cm slender bird found in the Indian subcontinent with distinct sexual dimorphism. Males feature a dark slaty-grey hood, neck, and upper breast, contrasting with a pale grey back and white belly. They have blackish wings with grey edges and white-tipped tail feathers. The females are duller, with brownish-grey upperparts, a whitish supercilium (eyebrow), and heavily barred underparts with a dark grey bill.

This is a resident and partially bird migratory that is found across the Indian subcontinent, including India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal, and Bhutan, extending to Myanmar. It inhabits open, dry-deciduous, or semi-evergreen forests, secondary growth, bamboo patches, and, frequently, urban gardens, orchards, and agricultural plantations up to 2,100 meters, typically preferring lower altitudes. Primarily distributed across India (from the Himalayan foothills in the north to the peninsula, including Rajasthan, Gujarat, Maharashtra, and Kerala), with breeding populations... Wikipedia →

Global Distribution

Parks Where Found

# Park Country Daily sighting probability
1 Mudumalai National Park 🇮🇳 India
~20%
2 Sinharaja Forest Reserve 🇱🇰 Sri Lanka
~20%
3 Udawalawe National Park 🇱🇰 Sri Lanka
~20%
4 Minneriya National Park 🇱🇰 Sri Lanka
~20%
5 Sundarbans National Park 🇮🇳 India
~10%
6 Yala National Park 🇱🇰 Sri Lanka
~10%
7 Wilpattu National Park 🇱🇰 Sri Lanka
~10%
8 Bandipur National Park 🇮🇳 India
~10%
9 Nagarhole National Park 🇮🇳 India
~10%
10 Bandhavgarh National Park 🇮🇳 India
<5%
11 Gir National Park 🇮🇳 India
<5%
12 Kanha National Park 🇮🇳 India
<5%
13 Satpura National Park 🇮🇳 India
<5%
14 Ranthambore National Park 🇮🇳 India
<5%
15 Periyar National Park 🇮🇳 India
<5%
16 Jim Corbett National Park 🇮🇳 India
<5%

Cities Where Found

# City Country Daily sighting probability
1 Thrissur 🇮🇳 India
~10%
2 Jabalpur 🇮🇳 India
~10%
3 Rajkot 🇮🇳 India
<5%
4 Tamluk 🇮🇳 India
<5%
5 Kozhikode 🇮🇳 India
<5%
6 Bengaluru 🇮🇳 India
<5%
7 Pune 🇮🇳 India
<5%
8 Kochi 🇮🇳 India
<5%
9 Dhaka 🇧🇩 Bangladesh
<5%
10 Bhubaneshwar 🇮🇳 India
<5%

Before you go

What are the chances of seeing a Black-headed Cuckooshrike in Pune?

Rare

Under 5% of wildlife watchers report a Black-headed Cuckooshrike sighting in Pune on a given day, based on 220 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data. It is the 126th most-seen of the 236 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to under 5%, and over a week to about 10%, if each day is a fresh chance.

When is the best time to see a Black-headed Cuckooshrike in Pune?

October

In that month about 10% of wildlife watchers report a Black-headed Cuckooshrike in Pune on a given day, against under 5% in November to September, the lowest months.

What time of day is best to see a Black-headed Cuckooshrike?

Between 7 and 10 am

Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Black-headed Cuckooshrike sightings with a recorded time, and about 9 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.

Is Pune the best place to see a Black-headed Cuckooshrike?

7th of 22

Of the 22 cities where we can rate Black-headed Cuckooshrike sightings, Pune ranks 7th at under 5%. The best odds are in Thrissur (India, about 10%), Jabalpur (India, about 10%) and Rajkot (India, under 5%).

Where does the Black-headed Cuckooshrike sighting chance come from?

GBIF citizen-science records

It is estimated from how often the Black-headed Cuckooshrike is recorded against all the birds logged in Pune (220 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.

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