The Andaman cuckooshrike (Coracina dobsoni) belongs to the family of trillers, minivets and cuckooshrikes, Campephagidae.
The Andaman cuckooshrike species are endemic to the Andaman Islands in India. The IUCN has listed these cuckooshrike species as "Near Threatened". These cuckooshrikes are monotypic species.
The Andaman cuckooshrike (Coracina dobsoni) is a small-sized cuckooshrike, measuring 20 to 25 cm in length.
The adult male cuckooshrike has gray head, nape, upperparts and rump. The tail is long and dark gray without white tips. The throat and upper breast are gray. The belly and vent region are white with strong black barring.
The bill is dark gray. The irises are red. The feet are dark gray. Their call is a loud, piercing sound.
Presently image is not available.
These Andaman cuckooshrike species are endemic to India.
In India, these cuckooshrike species are distributed in North, Middle, and South Andaman Islands and Little Andaman Islands.
These cuckooshrike species have moderate forest dependence. These species normally occur in altitudes from 0 to 100 meters.
The artificial ecosystems and habitats of these species include plantations and heavily degraded tropical and subtropical forests.
The natural ecosystems of these cuckooshrike species include tropical and subtropical moist lowland forests, evergreen forests, swamps, marshes and tropical and subtropical mangrove forests.
The diet of Andaman cuckooshrike consists mainly of insects. Beetles, cicadas, crickets, grasshoppers, mantids, moths, termites, spiders and insect imagoes and larvae are their primary food.
The breeding season of these cuckooshrike species is during April and May in Andaman Islands.
These cuckooshrike species are non-migratory resident birds.
The global population size of the Andaman cuckooshrike (Coracina dobsoni) is estimated to number 6,000 to 15,000 mature individual birds. The overall population trend of these species is reported to be decreasing.
Throughout its range this cuckooshrike species is reported to be uncommon to rare. The generation length is 4.6 years. Its distribution size is about 10,100 sq.km.
Habitat destruction, logging operations and deforestation are the main threats that may endanger the survival of these species.
The Andaman cuckooshrike (Coracina dobsoni) is approaching the thresholds for being Vulnerable under the range size criterion, under the population trend criterion and under the population size criterion.
The CITES (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora) status is ‘Not Evaluated’ for Andaman cuckooshrike (Coracina dobsoni).
The Andaman cuckooshrike (Coracina dobsoni) is closely related to bar-bellied cuckooshrike (Coracina striata).
Current topic in Birds of India: Andaman cuckooshrike - Coracina dobsoni.