Collared Treepie

Open encyclopedia reference

The collared treepie (Dendrocitta frontalis), also known as black-faced treepie or black-browed treepie, is an Asian treepie, a small perching bird of the crow family, Corvidae. This bird is slightly smaller than a blue jay and has the typical compact body and long tail of this group. The forehead, face and bib are black with the chest, neck and shoulders a light silvery or bluish-grey in color. The back is a warm chestnut brown with similar underparts. The wing coverts are white with the primaries and tail black. It inhabits a broad band (though often very localized) from the north eastern Indian Himalayas, Bangladesh, Nepal and across into Burma (Myanmar) in hill forests often at quite high elevations. It feeds mainly on invertebrates of various types, and hawks for termites in flight; it also eats fruits and berries. It probably takes similar overall food types as the other treepies. The nest is a small, neat structure often placed in bamboo clumps, small trees or bushes at the edge of a clearing. There are usually 3-5 eggs laid.

Wikipedia contributors, Collared treepie; see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T05:25:33.056173+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.

Identity & source status

Scientific name

Dendrocitta frontalis Horsfield, 1840

Name authority

Horsfield, 1840

Common name

Collared Treepie

Rank

species

Accepted status

accepted

Kingdom

Animalia

Phylum

Chordata

Class

Aves

Order

Passeriformes

Family

Corvidae

Genus

Dendrocitta

Extinction status

Recorded extant

Classification family tree

Nested taxonomic groups from the source. This is not a direct-ancestor chain, a dated evolutionary tree or a phylogenetic reconstruction.

1. domainEukaryota (Chatton, 1925) Whittaker & Margulis, 1978
2. kingdomAnimalia
3. phylumChordata
4. subphylumVertebrata
5. infraphylumGnathostomata
6. parvphylumOsteichthyes
7. megaclassTetrapoda
8. classAves
9. orderPasseriformes
10. familyCorvidae Leach, 1820
11. genusDendrocitta Gould, 1833
12. speciesDendrocitta frontalis Horsfield, 1840

Close classified relatives

These entries share the source’s genus, Dendrocitta. They are not necessarily the closest relatives established by molecular evidence.

Browse 101 records assigned to Corvidae.

Documented distribution

Source distribution statements, not a complete range map. A listed locality is not necessarily a place of origin.

Source literature & publication evidence

References attached to this source record, including nomenclatural citations where supplied. This is a selected bibliography; abbreviated citations remain in the source’s form.

1. Horsfield, & Thomas. (1840). October 22, 1839. Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London, Vol. 7, No. 82. Source fields: Taxon.tsv dwc:namePublishedIn, Taxon.tsv dcterms:references

Origins, evidence & remaining research

Name authority and publication references document nomenclature where the source supplies it. They do not establish evolutionary origins or the earliest fossil occurrence.

Specimen-level evidence, morphology, ecological research, phylogenetic studies, a comprehensive bibliography and a located literary passage have not yet been compiled for this record. A suitable sourced image remains to be added.

Dataset citation & attribution

This exact taxon in ChecklistBank · Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11

Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11; dataset 316321; doi:10.48580/dgz5n. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ . Retrieved 5 October 2026.

Stable key: col:6CJPT. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.