Crypsirina temia
Silhouette: John Gould (vectorized by T. Michael Keesey) · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~20% in a week ~40%
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 |
With luck
About 10% of wildlife watchers report a Racket-tailed Treepie sighting in Cuc Phuong National Park on a given day, based on 21 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 77th most-seen of the 159 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 20%, and over a week to about 40%, if each day is a fresh chance.
October
In that month about 20% of wildlife watchers report a Racket-tailed Treepie in Cuc Phuong National Park on a given day, against under 5% in January, April–June and August–September, the lowest months. July has too few records to rate.
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.
4th of 6
Of the 6 parks where we can rate Racket-tailed Treepie sightings, Cuc Phuong National Park ranks 4th at about 10%. The best odds are in Cat Tien National Park (Vietnam, about 50%), Bali Barat National Park (Indonesia, about 30%) and Kaeng Krachan National Park (Thailand, about 30%).
Same family: Corvidae
The closest relatives of the Racket-tailed Treepie that you can see in Cuc Phuong National Park (family Corvidae, Crows, Jays, and Magpies) are White-winged Magpie (about 20%) and Ratchet-tailed Treepie (about 10%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Racket-tailed Treepie is recorded against all the birds logged in Cuc Phuong National Park (21 verified sightings from 2019 to 2026), 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.
