Bar-Winged Flycatcher-Shrike is an Indian bird that bears a scientific name "Hemipus picatus" found in the bushes of Africa and India.

Concentration of Bar-Winged Flycatcher-Shrike
Bar-Winged Flycatcher-Shrike is a small passerine bird currently placed in the Cuckoo-Shrike family but possibly closer to the bush shrikes of Africa. Bar-Winged Flycatcher-Shrike is found in the forests of tropical southern Asia from the Himalayan Mountain Range and hills of the Indian subcontinent east to Indonesia.

Behaviour of Bar-Winged Flycatcher-Shrike
Bar-Winged Flycatcher-Shrike is mainly insectivorous as 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.

Structure of Bar-Winged Flycatcher-Shrike
Bar-Winged Flycatcher-Shrike is black capped with black wings that contrast with the white of the body. A white slash across the wing and a white rump stand out in contrast. They sit upright on branches, flying around to glean insects. The nostril is hidden by hairs and the upper mandible of the beak has a curved tip. Males are velvety black while females tend to be greyish brown but the pattern varies across the geographic populations. Both males and females of the Himalayan H. P. capitalis have a brown back but the males have a black head. The Sri Lankan population leggei lacks sexual dimorphism in plumage. H. P. Intermedius has only the females with a brownish back. The tail is black but the outer tail feathers are white while the non-central tail feathers are tipped with white.

Sounds of Bar-Winged Flycatcher-Shrike
The call of Bar-Winged Flycatcher-Shrike is a rapid and high tsit-it-it-it or a whriri-whirriri-whirriri and sometimes a sharp chip. Male-female pairs of the subspecies leggei of Sri Lanka have been reported to duet with precision.

Residence of Bar-Winged Flycatcher-Shrike
The nominate race of Bar-Winged Flycatcher-Shrike is found mainly in the Western Ghats Mountain Range in India but becoming very rare towards the Surat Dangs. They are also found in some parts of central and eastern India, extending into Bangladesh. The subspecies capitalis is found along the Himalayan Mountain Range from Shimla, east to Manipur and Chittagong in India and Bangladesh and extending into northern Thailand, Myanmar and Laos. The subspecies intermedius is found in Southeast Asia in Sumatra, Borneo, and parts of the Malay Peninsula. The brownish grey wash on the breast of females is darker, contrasting with the white of the abdomens. The back is darker brown than in other subspecies. The males also have darker breasts.

Feeding of Bar-Winged Flycatcher-Shrike
Bar-Winged Flycatcher-Shrike catches insects by gleaning foliage and making aerial sallies for flushed insects.

Movements of Bar-Winged Flycatcher-Shrike
Bar-Winged Flycatcher-Shrikes 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.

Nestling Season of Bar-winged flycatcher-shrike
The nesting season of Bar-Winged Flycatcher-Shrike is in Sri Lanka and is mainly from February to August or March to May in India.

Nests of Bar-Winged Flycatcher-Shrike
The nest of Bar-Winged Flycatcher-Shrike 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.

Eggs of Bar-Winged Flycatcher-Shrike
The usual clutch of Bar-Winged Flycatcher-Shrike 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.

Chicks of Bar-Winged Flycatcher-Shrike
The chicks of Bar-Winged Flycatcher-Shrike at nest stay still with eyes closed and face the centre of the nest while holding their bills high giving the appearance of a broken branch.

Sensitivity of Bar-Winged Flycatcher-Shrike
Bar-Winged Flycatcher-Shrike 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.