Black-headed Cuckooshrike

The black-headed cuckooshrike is about 18 to 20cm long and weighs 24 to 36g. Males have a black head, wings and tail with an ash-grey body and whitish underparts, while females have a grey head and black-and-white underparts. It is usually seen in pairs and eats insects and berries, including lantana (BirdForum and other bird-guide accounts).

It breeds from March to August, building a shallow cup nest on the top of a branch. It has two forms, melanoptera in north-west India and sykesi in central and eastern India south to Sri Lanka, and the northern form winters to Myanmar. None of the accounts found names Nepal, so its Nepal status should be checked (BirdForum and other bird-guide accounts).