page_title: Bar-winged flycatcher-shrike
section_title: Behaviour and ecology
hierarchical_section_title: Bar-winged flycatcher-shrike / Behaviour and ecology
caption_attribution_description: English: Hemipus picatus capitalis (left) &amp; Hemipus picatus picatus egg (right)
context_page_description: The bar-winged flycatcher-shrike is a small passerine bird usually placed in the Vangidae. It is found in the forests of tropical southern Asia from the Himalayas and hills of southern India to Indonesia. Mainly insectivorous it is found hunting in the mid-canopy of forests, often joining mixed-species foraging flocks. They perch upright and have a distinctive pattern of black and white, males being more shiny black than the females. In some populations the colour of the back is brownish while others have a dark wash on the underside.
context_section_description: This bird catches insects by gleaning foliage and making aerial sallies for flushed insects. It will associate with other small birds such as babblers, velvet-fronted nuthatch and white-eyes in feeding flocks. They move through the forest and rarely stick to a particular location.
  The nesting season in Sri Lanka is mainly from February to August, March to May in India. The nest is a neat cup with rim held stiff by cobwebs binding it and the inside is lined with fine grass and fibre. Lichens cover the surface of the nest cup which is placed on the horizontal surface of a dry branch, often close to the tip of a dead branch or on a leafless tree making it appear like a knot in the wood. The usual clutch is 2 or 3 eggs which are pale greenish white and blotched with black and grey. The bird sitting at the nest appears as if it is casually perched. Both males and females incubate. The chicks at nest stay still with eyes closed and face the center of the nest while holding their bills high giving the appearance of a broken branch.
  They have been said to be sensitive to forest degradation but some studies note that they are less sensitive and capable of persisting even in considerably disturbed forests.
caption: Eggs of H. p. capitalis (left) and H. p. picatus (right)
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