Pied bush chat

The pied bush chat (Saxicola caprata) is a small passerine bird found ranging from West Asia and Central Asia to the Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia. About sixteen subspecies are recognized through its wide range with many island forms. It is a familiar bird of countryside and open scrub or grassland where it is found perched at the top of short thorn trees or other shrubs, looking out for insect prey. They pick up insects mainly from the ground, and were, like other chats, placed in the thrush family Turdidae, but are now considered as Old World flycatchers.

They nest in cavities in stone walls or in holes in an embankment, lining the nest with grass and animal hair. The males are black with white shoulder and vent patches whose extent varies among populations. Females are predominantly brownish while juveniles are speckled.

At 13 cm (5.1 in), the pied bush chat is slightly smaller than the Siberian stonechat, Saxicola maurus, although it has a similar dumpy structure and upright stance. The male is black except for a white rump, wing patch and lower belly. The iris is dark brown, the bill and legs black. The female is drab brown and slightly streaked. Juveniles have a scaly appearance on the underside but dark above like the females.

A number of geographic populations have been given subspecies status:

nominate caprata (Linnaeus, 1766) is found in Luzon and Mindoro, in the Philippines.

rossorum (Hartert, 1910) is found in NE Iran SC Kazakhstan S to Afghanistan and Baluchistan; migrant in SW Asia (vagrant in Arabia, Israel).(shows more white below than bicolor, described by Hartert, Jour. f. Orn. 1910:180 but not always recognized)

bicolor Sykes, 1832 is found in SE Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan and N India; migrating to central India and possibly southern India.

burmanicus Stuart Baker, 1922 is found in peninsular India E to Myanmar and S China (S Sichuan, Yunnan), S to Thailand and Indochina. This has the white on the abdomen restricted towards the vent.

nilgiriensis Whistler, 1940 is found in the Western Ghats and the Nilgiri Hills.

atratus (Blyth, 1851) is restricted to Sri Lanka. This has a large bill.

Some of these isolated populations are found on islands and they include:

randi Parkes, 1960 found in the central Philippines (Panay, Negros, Cebu, Bohol, Siquijor).

anderseni Salomonsen, 1953 found on Leyte and Mindanao, in the Philippines.

fruticola Horsfield, 1821 found in Java E to Flores and Alor.

francki Rensch, 1931 is found on the Sumba Islands

pyrrhonotus (Vieillot, 1818) found in the E Lesser Sundas (Wetar, Kisar, Timor, Savu, Roti).

albonotatus (Stresemann, 1912) found in Sulawesi (except N peninsula) and Salayer I.

cognatus Mayr, 1944 on Babar Island.

belensis Rand, 1940 in WC New Guinea.

aethiops (P. L. Sclater, 1880) in N New Guinea and Bismarck Archipelago.

wahgiensis Mayr & Gilliard, 1951 in EC & E New Guinea.

This species is closely related to the European-African stonechat complex. S. c. fruticola from Indonesia (Moyo Island population appeared to be well differentiated from specimens from Lembata Island with a divergence estimated to about 360,000 years ago.), S. c. pyrrhonota from West Timor (Indonesia).

Local names include Kala pidda in Hindi Shyama in Gujarati Kavda gapidda in Marathi Kallu kuruvi in Tamil, Kampa nalanchi in Telugu. The Fore people of New Guinea called it pobogile. They were once popular in Bengal as cage birds. They are still found in the local bird trade of some parts of Southeast Asia.