Pin-striped Tit-Babbler
Mixornis gularis
Small yellowish-brown babbler with striped underparts and a rufous forehead and wings. Rustles about in the undergrowth and middle levels of forested habitats, often joining mixed-species foraging flocks. Strange bouncing song is a long monotone series of hollow pings. Chatters harshly.
Identification
The species has a distinctive yellowish supercilium and rufous crown. The throat is yellowish with brown streaks. Call is a loud repeated chonk-chonk-chonk-chonk-chonk somewhat reminiscent of a common tailorbird.<p>They forage in small flocks and creep and clamber in low vegetation. They breed in the pre-monsoon season from February to July and build a loose ball shaped nest made from grasses and leaves.
Taxonomy
The pin-striped tit-babbler was formally described in 1822 by the American naturalist Thomas Horsfield based on a specimen collected in Sumatra. He coined the binomial name Timalia gularis. The pin-striped tit-babbler was formerly placed in the genus Macronus but based on the results of a large molecular phylogenetic study published in 2019, the species was moved to the genus Mixornis that had been introduced in 1842 by the English zoologist Edward Blyth. The genus name combines the Ancient Greek mixis meaning "mixed" or "mingling" with ornis meaning "bird". The specific epithet gularis is Modern Latin meaning "-throated". The pin-striped tit-babbler belongs within a clade that includes the genera Dumetia and Timalia.<p>The species has also been split following a study by Nigel Collar to distinguish the morphologically distinct Bornean and Javan populations, which have since been renamed the bold-striped tit-babbler (Mixornis bornensis), from the rest of the pin-striped tit-babbler species complex.<p>The following 13 subspecies are recognized:
- Scientific name
- Mixornis gularis
- Authority
- (Horsfield, 1822)
- Order
- Passeriformes
- Family
- Timaliidae
- Genus
- Mixornis
Range and habitat
The species is widely distributed and is found in Bangladesh, Bhutan, Brunei, Cambodia, China, India, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Nepal, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.<p>In India, there are disjunct populations in southern India. This population was recorded by Salim Ali from Antharasanthe near the Kabini reservoir. There were no records of the species from this area after the initial collection. The southern population was rediscovered from the Masinagudi area in Mudumalai in 2004.<p>Other populations are found in the northern Eastern Ghats.
- Migration
- Resident species
Conservation
- Population trend
- stable
Photos
Distribution
Bird Calls
Other Birds
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A typical black, white, and gray batis. Note the chest band, which is black in males and chestnut in females. Found in dry savanna and thornscrub, often in pairs. Very similar to Western Black-headed Batis, and best distinguished by voice, but usually shows a paler gray crown. Also similar to Pygmy Batis, but larger, and the white eyebrow extends well behind the eye. The distinctive song is a descending series of several whistled notes.
Spot-breasted Antvireo
Dysithamnus stictothorax
Big-headed chunky antbird with a heavy and slightly hooked bill and shortish tail. Found in the lower and middle levels of forests and forest edges. Males have a gray head and and a white spotted face and are olive-brown above and yellowish below.They have dark spots on the throat, and white spots on the wings coverts. Females have a rufous crown and less distinct spots on the wings coverts. The song is a melodious series of ascending and descending notes.
Cape Batis
Batis capensis
A cute, dumpy, colorful flycatcher-like bird that flits around in the mid-canopy and understory of forest, forest edge, thickets, and gardens. There is a chestnut stripe across the top of the closed wing of both sexes. Males have a broad black chest band, yellow eye, and white throat. Females have a reddish eye and brown chin patch. The song is a series of 8-9 plaintive steady piping “peooop” notes, and calls include buzzing grating “ddrz-drrzt-drrr, ddt-ddzt-drzt-drr”. Distinguished from other batises in its range by the chestnut stripe through the wings.
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