Giant Babax
Pterorhinus waddelli
A social inhabitant of scrubby and edge areas in the southern Tibetan plateau, this is the largest of the babaxes and a common sight around villages and monasteries, to which it often comes for handouts and scraps. A bulky, long-tailed brown bird with a weakly curved bill and dark streaking all over the upper half of the body. Vocalizations are rich and varied, comprising melodic flute-like notes and harsher jabbering ones.
Identification
It is a bulky, long-tailed brown bird with a curved bill and dark streaks. On average, it is 31-34 cm long. Its vocalizations vary between melodic flute-like notes and harsh jabbering ones.
Taxonomy
The giant babax was described by the English ornithologist Henry Dresser in 1905 from a specimen collected by the British explorer Laurence Waddell in the Yarlung Tsangpo river valley in Tibet. Based on the results of a comprehensive molecular phylogenetic study of the Leiothrichidae that was published in 2018, the giant babax was placed in the resurrected genus Pterorhinus.
- Scientific name
- Pterorhinus waddelli
- Authority
- (Dresser, 1905)
- Order
- Passeriformes
- Family
- Leiothrichidae
- Genus
- Pterorhinus
Range and habitat
- Migration
- Resident species
Conservation
- Population trend
- declining
Photos
Distribution
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