Orthotomus sutorius
Silhouette: Sheatherius · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~80% in a week >90%
The common tailorbird (Orthotomus sutorius) is a songbird found across tropical and subtropical Asia. Popular for its nest made of leaves "sewn" together and immortalized by Rudyard Kipling as Darzee in his Jungle Book, it is a common resident in urban gardens. Although shy birds that are usually hidden within vegetation, their loud calls are familiar and give away their presence. They are distinctive in having a long upright tail, greenish upper body plumage and rust coloured forehead and crown. This passerine bird is typically found in open farmland, scrub, forest edges and gardens. Tailorbirds get their name from the way their nest is constructed. The edges of a large leaf are pierced and sewn together with plant fibre or spider silk to make a cradle in which the actual nest is built.
The scientific name sutorius means "cobbler" rather than "tailor" while Orthotomus means "straight-cutting". The species was earlier placed in the family Sylviidae but more recent molecular studies place the species within the family Cisticolidae, along with Prinia and Cisticola.
A number of subspecies are recognized within its widespread range in South Asia and Southeast... Wikipedia →
Likely
About 50% of wildlife watchers report a Common Tailorbird sighting in Udawalawe National Park on a given day, based on 245 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 34th most-seen of the 166 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 80%, and over a week to over 90%, if each day is a fresh chance.
May and June
In those months about 60% of wildlife watchers report a Common Tailorbird in Udawalawe National Park on a given day, against about 30% in September, the lowest month.
Between 3 and 6 am
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Common Tailorbird 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.
7th of 34
Of the 34 parks where we can rate Common Tailorbird sightings, Udawalawe National Park ranks 7th at about 50%. The best odds are in Kanha National Park (India, about 60%), Horton Plains National Park (Sri Lanka, about 60%) and Bandhavgarh National Park (India, about 50%). All parks ranked.
Same family: Cisticolidae
The closest relatives of the Common Tailorbird that you can see in Udawalawe National Park (family Cisticolidae, Cisticolas and Allies) are Plain Prinia (about 60%), Gray-breasted Prinia (about 40%) and Ashy Prinia (about 40%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Common Tailorbird is recorded against all the birds logged in Udawalawe National Park (245 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.
