Jerdon's Babbler
Chrysomma altirostre
Warm brown babbler with a distinctive round-headed and short-billed profile. Extremely localized, restricted to disappearing patches of tall riverine grassland and reedbeds. Usually in pairs or small groups. Shy and skulking, typically best detected by its fluty, melodic song, but if seen well, note its gray face, pale throat, and golden “spectacles.”
Identification
Measuring 16–17 cm in length, it is quite intermediate in habitus between certain typical warblers (Sylvia) and the parrotbills (Paradoxornis). Like these, it is a drab bird with a long tail used to balance when creeping through the vegetation; its bill is thicker than in Sylvia but not as heavy as in Paradoxornis. Buffy chestnut brown above and a slightly lighter yellowish-brown on the belly, its lores are pale greyish, as are the throat and breast. The tail and a wing patch are redder than the rest of the upperside. The legs and feet are dark, the bill is greyish-horn colored above and pale below; the eyes' irides are yellowish-brown and a thin nude ring of greenish-yellow skin surrounds the eye. The sexes are alike; young birds have a more orange hue to the upperside plumage, and the lower bill is pink. Differences between subspecies are slight, with the central population essentially having richer chestnut brown and darker grey colours.<p>Its relative, the yellow-eyed babbler (C. sinense), looks like a brighter version of the same but has somewhat more vivid colors, with white replacing grey in the plumage, an additional white supercilium, yellowish legs, feet and irides, and an orange-yellow eye-ring.
Taxonomy
Chrysomma altirostre was the scientific name proposed by Thomas C. Jerdon in 1862 for a pale reddish brown babbler collected near Thayetmyo in northern Myanmar. Pyctorhis griseigularis proposed by Allan Octavian Hume in 1877 was a ferruginous red babbler collected in the Dooars of Bhutan. Pyctorhis altirostris scindicus proposed by Herbert Hastings Harington in 1915 was an earthy brown babbler from Sukkur in Sindh, Pakistan.<p>Three subspecies are recognized, based mainly on their allopatric ranges:
- Scientific name
- Chrysomma altirostre
- Authority
- Jerdon, 1862
- Order
- Passeriformes
- Family
- Paradoxornithidae
- Genus
- Chrysomma
Range and habitat
Jerdon's babbler lives all-year-round near river courses, where it inhabits dense reedbeds and tall grasslands consisting of cogongrass (Imperata cylindrica), common reed (Phragmites) and reedmace (Typha) species. In Pakistan, it occurs along the Indus and its tributaries. In Punjab, India, it was recorded in Harike Wildlife Sanctuary.In the Terai, it was recorded in Shuklaphanta National Park and Dudhwa National Park.In northeast India, it was sighted in Kaziranga, Orang, Manas and Dibru-Saikhowa National Parks, Majuli, and D'Ering Memorial Wildlife Sanctuary.In Myanmar, it was thought to be extinct, but rediscovered in May 2014 in the lower Ayeyarwady floodplain near Yangon.<p>Plants dominating its favorite habitat are typically tall reeds several meters in height. In the Indus River basin, it is associated with hardy sugarcane (Tripidium arundinaceum) and kans grass (Saccharum spontaneum). In the dooars, it also lives in stands of ravennagrass (Tripidium ravennae). On the other hand, sugarcane plantings or other single-species reedbeds as well as lower growth are not very attractive to the species. Other plants, typically grasses, are found to a lesser extent in the bird's haunts, including satintails, giant cane (Arundo donax), vetiver or khus (Chrysopogon zizanioides), Desmostachya bipinnata and Themeda arundinacea.
- Migration
- Resident species
Behavior
Migration pattern: Resident species.
Conservation
Population trend: declining.
- Population trend
- declining
Photos
Distribution
Bird Calls
Other Birds
Brown-streaked Flycatcher
Muscicapa williamsoni
Small, earthen-toned forest flycatcher. Closely related to Asian Brown (under which it is sometimes regarded as a subspecies) but much browner overall, with more extensive brown on the underparts. Streaking can be either relatively well-defined or smudgy; it is never as clear-cut and solid-looking as on Gray-streaked Flycatcher, and it is never as dark and extensive as in Dark-sided Flycatcher. Behavior like that many other similar flycatchers: sallies from an exposed perch to take prey, often in a clearing or edge area.
Coastal Miner
Geositta peruviana
A pale terrestrial bird found only in coastal deserts of Peru. It is pale brownish-gray and lacks strong field marks. Very similar to Grayish Miner; Coastal Miner has a wing stripe, though this is only evident in flight. The two species mostly separate out by range, with Coastal Miner favoring the flat coastal plain and Grayish Miner preferring rocky slopes of hills and mountains. Coastal Miner is also similar to Short-tailed Field Tyrant, but lacks distinct wingbars and rump patch, and has a longer tail. Solitary, usually seen running through barren, sandy areas. Occasionally flies up to perch on a rock or bush, and also performs flight displays.
Short-tailed Batis
Batis mixta
Males have the typical batis pattern of black, white, and gray. Females have a more unusual pattern, with rufous in the wing and either a rufous or gray wash across the breast. Both sexes have a narrow pale eyebrow and orange or reddish eyes. Found in forest at low and middle elevations, often in pairs. Very similar to Dark Batis, but there is no known overlap in range. Males are similar to Chinspot and Pale Batises, but are distinguished by the darker eye and shorter tail. Females are distinctive. The song is variable, but is usually a long series of identical low-pitched tooting notes.
Start Your Bird Watching Journey
Identify a bird outdoors and keep the field guide close for your next observation.