Grey Treepie

From Nature - Animals

Scientific name: Dendrocitta formosae himalayensis (Old name: Himalayan Treepie - Dendrocitta himalayensis)

Treepies belong to the family 'Corvidae'. Other birds in the family are - crows, jays and magpies. Birds of the family have bristle-covered nostrils, broad round wings and tail. Wings often short and tail long, or wings long and tail short. Treepies are the birds with longer tail and short wings; therefore, undulating flight - a few rapid wing-flaps followed by a short glide.

'Corvidae' is derived from the Latin word 'Corvus' which means 'crow'. In the bow of ships the Romans had a long beam with a spike on one end and the other end was fastened to the foredeck by a heavy hinge. This was the corvus or "crow". When the corvus was dropped on an opposing galley, the spike sank into the wood and held the two ships together. The corvus was then used as a gangplank for boarders to go aboard the other ship.

The species occupies a large geographical range and has several recognised regional forms that differ slightly from one another for instance in colour and tail length. The species in the image is Dendrocitta f. himalayensis occurring in Eastern Himalayan foothills, and has smaller tail than the Western Himalayan foothills (Dendrocitta f. occidentalis)

Place and date: Karmi farms, Darjeeling, 09-October-2009.

Source: Birds of South Asia - The Ripley Guide; http://wordinfo.info; http://en.wikipedia.org