Jungle Babbler

Identification

The jungle babbler's habitat is forest and cultivation. This species, like most babblers, is non-migratory, and has short rounded wings and a weak flight. The sexes are identical, drably coloured in brownish grey with a yellow-bill making them confusable only with the endemic yellow-billed babblers of peninsular India and Sri Lanka. The upper parts are usually slightly darker in shade and there is some mottling on the throat and breast. The race T. s. somervillei of Maharashtra has a very rufous tail and dark primary flight feathers. The jungle babbler can be separated from the white-headed babbler by the dark loreal zone between the bill and the eye as well as the lack of a contrasting light crown. The calls of the two species are however distinct and unmistakable. The jungle babbler has harsh nasal calls while the white-headed babbler has high pitched calls. Another babbler that is similarly found in urban areas is the large grey babbler; however, that species has a distinctive long tail with white outer tail feathers.<p>The jungle babbler lives in flocks of seven to ten or more. It is a noisy bird, and the presence of a flock may generally be known at some distance by the harsh mewing calls, continual chattering, squeaking and chirping produced by its members.

Taxonomy

The jungle babbler was described by the French zoologist Charles Dumont de Sainte Croix in 1823, based on specimens from Bengal. He coined the binomial name Cossyphus striatus. This babbler was formerly placed in the genus Turdoides but following the publication of a comprehensive molecular phylogenetic study in 2018, it was moved to the resurrected genus Argya.<p>There are several named geographically isolated subspecies that show plumage shade differences. Former race rufescens of Sri Lanka is considered a full species. The widely accepted subspecies include:<p>Some older literature can be confusing due to some incorrect usage, such as with Whistler (1944, Spolia Zeylanica, 23:131), who used the name affinis which is a completely different species, Turdoides affinis, restricted to peninsular India. Although the two can sometimes be confused in poor lighting conditions, their calls are entirely different.

Scientific name

Argya striata

Authority

(Dumont, 1823)

Order

Passeriformes

Family

Leiothrichidae

Genus

Argya

Range and habitat

Migration

Resident species

Behavior

These birds are gregarious and very social. They sometimes form the core of a mixed-species foraging flock. They feed mainly on insects, but also eat grains, nectar and berries. The groups maintain territories and will defend them against neighbours, which are nevertheless sometimes tolerated. For their size, they are long lived and have been noted to live as long as 16.5 years in captivity.<p>When foraging, some birds take up a high vantage point and act as sentinels. They are known to gather and mob potential predators such as snakes.<p>Young birds have a dark iris. Older birds have an iris of a pale creamy colour and it has been found that the iris has a dark epithelium, which becomes invisible when the muscle fibres develop in the iris and make the dark basal colours invisible and thus appear cream-coloured.<p>They breed throughout the year, with peak breeding in northern India being noted between March–April and July–September. Birds reach sexual maturity after their third year. The nest is built halfway up in a tree, concealed in dense masses of foliage. The normal clutch is three or four (but can be up to seven) deep greenish blue eggs. In northern India, birds breeding during July–September tend to be parasitized by the pied crested cuckoo and sometimes by the common hawk-cuckoo. Helpers assist the parents in feeding the young. Post fledging survival is very high.<p>Birds fledge and females tend to leave their natal group after about two years. Birds within a group often indulge in allopreening, play chases and mock fights. When threatened by predators, they have been said to sometimes feign death.

Conservation

Population trend

stable