Common tailor-bird (Orthotomus sutorius)

Common tailorbird. 2024-02-27 10.25.32 Laos
Classification: Genus Orthotomus; Family Cisticolidae
General: The common tailorbird (Orthotomus sutorius) is a songbird found across tropical Asia. Popular for its nest made of leaves "sewn" together and immortalized by Rudyard Kipling as Darzee in his Jungle Book, it is a common resident in urban gardens. Although shy birds that are usually hidden within vegetation, their loud calls are familiar and give away their presence. They are distinctive in having a long upright tail, greenish upper body plumage and rust coloured forehead and crown. This passerine bird is typically found in open farmland, scrub, forest edges and gardens. Tailorbirds get their name from the way their nest is constructed. The edges of a large leaf are pierced and sewn together with plant fibre or spider silk to make a cradle in which the actual nest is built. Punjab tailor birds produce shiny red eggs, but became extinct around 1975 due to laying their eggs in fields used to grow fodder crops. [more]

Song: Automatically generated from Xeno-Canto recording
Song attributes: Frequency:
♫ XC878897 - Common Tailorbird - Orthotomus sutorius maculicollis - song, hl hl hl hl, Sekinchan, Selangor, Malaysia. Source: XENOCANTO XC878897 - Common Tailorbird - Orthotomus sutorius maculicollis - song, hl hl hl hl, Sekinchan, Selangor, Malaysia.mp3 (song)


Call: Automatically generated from Xeno-Canto recording

♫ XC862837 - Common Tailorbird - Orthotomus sutorius - call, Chiang Rai, Thailand. Source: XENOCANTO XC862837 - Common Tailorbird - Orthotomus sutorius - call, Chiang Rai, Thailand.mp3 Thailand (call)


Call attributes: Frequency: ,
First documented observation : 2024-02-11 in Laos.