Zoothera interpres is found discontinuously from southern peninsular Thailand and Malaysia, through Borneo (including Brunei Darussalam), Sumatra and Java, to Lombok, Sumbawa and Flores, in Indonesia. It may also be a rare resident on several of the south-west Sulu Islands and Basilan in the central-southern Philippines. It is described as "generally rare and scarce"¹ throughout, and there are very few records from Sumatra and Kalimantan in particular, although it is probably under-recorded to some extent. It was formerly not uncommon in the Lesser Sundas and in Sabah (Malaysia), but is thought to have undergone a rapid decline in recent years owing to logging and trapping for the cage bird trade.