Rhipidura javanica
Silhouette: Michael Scroggie · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~10% in a week ~30%
The Sunda pied fantail (Rhipidura javanica), also known as the Malaysian pied fantail, is a species of bird in the fantail family. It is locally referred to as murai gila, literally "crazy thrush" in the Malay language. It was previously considered conspecific with the Philippine pied fantail.
It is found in Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam. It inhabits a wide variety of forest and scrub, including parks, agricultural lands, and other degraded habitat. It resides in lowland areas, sometimes up to 800m in elevation, and is usually found near water.
The Sunda pied fantail eats insects caught on the wing. It often joins mixed feeding flocks with other insectivorous birds, and will sometimes follow large mammals to eat insects stirred up by their movement. It breeds from January to August, varying across its range. It constructs a cup nest from fibers and grasses held together with spiderweb.
It is not known to migrate. The IUCN considers the Sunda pied fantail of Least Concern because of its wide geographic range and large, stable population. Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Tanjung Puting National Park | 🇮🇩 Indonesia | |
| 2 | Bali Barat National Park | 🇮🇩 Indonesia | |
| 3 | Danum Valley Conservation Area | 🇲🇾 Malaysia | |
| 4 | Sepilok | 🇲🇾 Malaysia | |
| 5 | Kinabatangan Wildlife Sanctuary | 🇲🇾 Malaysia | |
| 6 | Kaeng Krachan National Park | 🇹🇭 Thailand | |
| 7 | Way Kambas National Park | 🇮🇩 Indonesia | |
| 8 | Bako National Park | 🇲🇾 Malaysia | |
| 9 | Kinabalu Park | 🇲🇾 Malaysia | |
| 10 | Gunung Leuser National Park | 🇮🇩 Indonesia | |
| 11 | Khao Yai National Park | 🇹🇭 Thailand | |
| 12 | Taman Negara National Park | 🇲🇾 Malaysia |
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Bangkok | 🇹🇭 Thailand | |
| 2 | Phnom Penh | 🇰🇭 Cambodia | |
| 3 | Jakarta | 🇮🇩 Indonesia | |
| 4 | Ho Chi Minh City | 🇻🇳 Vietnam | |
| 5 | Denpasar | 🇮🇩 Indonesia | |
| 6 | Cần Thơ | 🇻🇳 Vietnam | |
| 7 | Yogyakarta | 🇮🇩 Indonesia | |
| 8 | Singapore | 🇸🇬 Singapore | |
| 9 | Kuching | 🇲🇾 Malaysia | |
| 10 | Semarang | 🇮🇩 Indonesia |
Rare
Under 5% of wildlife watchers report a Malaysian Pied-Fantail sighting in Kinabalu Park on a given day, based on 123 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 96th most-seen of the 247 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 10%, and over a week to about 30%, if each day is a fresh chance.
January, May, August and November
In those months about 10% of wildlife watchers report a Malaysian Pied-Fantail in Kinabalu Park on a given day, against under 5% in February–April, June–July, September–October and December, the lowest months.
Between 2 and 5 am
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Malaysian Pied-Fantail sightings with a recorded time, and about 6 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is most active around dawn and dusk.
9th of 12
Of the 12 parks where we can rate Malaysian Pied-Fantail sightings, Kinabalu Park ranks 9th at under 5%. The best odds are in Tanjung Puting National Park (Indonesia, about 80%), Bali Barat National Park (Indonesia, about 60%) and Danum Valley Conservation Area (Malaysia, about 50%). All parks ranked.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Malaysian Pied-Fantail is recorded against all the birds logged in Kinabalu Park (123 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.
