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  Profile

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  In flight

Clever Corvids

Racket-tailed Treepie

Crypsirina temia

• uncommon
• 41 km/h
• Least Concern

Glossy black-green crow relative with tail wires tipped in two flat spatulas. Southeast Asia's strangest silhouette.

Population

Global population size not quantified; species described as relatively common, with a suspected slow decline (1-19% over three generations) driven by lowland forest loss

Habitat

Subtropical/tropical moist lowland forest (medium forest dependency), plus secondary growth/scrub, bamboo thickets, open fields and gardens, and mangrove edges, from sea level to about 1,250 m, often near villages

Fun fact

The Racket-tailed Treepie's long, wire-thin tail widens into a racket-like tip that acts as a balancing organ, letting it move through branches with remarkable agility while almost never touching the ground.

Range

Southeast Asia, Extent of Occurrence ~4,010,000 km²: resident/breeding in Cambodia, mainland China (Yunnan), Indonesia (Sumatra, Java, Bali), Laos, Peninsular Malaysia, Myanmar (south), Thailand, and Vietnam

Diet

Mainly insects and fruit; forages almost exclusively in trees and shrubs, rarely descending to the ground except occasionally to bathe

Size

0.33 m

Lifespan

13.2 years