Brown Babbler
Turdoides plebejus
A dull brownish babbler with brightly colored eyes. Found in moist woodland, dense savanna, scrub, gallery forest, forest edge, cultivated areas, and gardens, almost always in groups that forage actively on the ground. Similar in shape, size, and overall brown coloration to Arrow-marked Babbler, but there is only minor overlap in range, and Brown Babbler can be separated by the paler face and throat and the less pointed white markings on the underparts. Calls include a raspy babbling and a dry clucking, both usually by a whole group in chorus.
Identification
The brown babbler is a medium-sized Turdoides babbler, measuring 22–25 centimetres (8.7–9.8 in) in length and weighs around 52–80 grams (1.8–2.8 oz). The plumage is grey-brown with a white-streaked throat and breast and a scaled head. The wings are bronze-brown, the bill black and the legs dusky or slaty black. The iris of the eyes are yellow. The sexes are alike, and juvenile birds are like the adults but with plainer and browner plumage and brown irises.
Taxonomy
The brown babbler was described in 1828 by Philipp Jakob Cretzschmar from a specimen collected in the Kordofan Province of Sudan. He originally placed it in the bulbul genus Ixos. The species is closely related to and forms a superspecies with the white-headed babbler of eastern Sudan, Ethiopia and Eritrea, and the arrow-marked babbler of central and southern Africa. The Old World babbler family Timaliidae has been the subject of much research and has been split by some taxonomic authorities. This move would place this species with the laughingthrushes in the family Leiothrichidae.<p>There are three recognised subspecies, the nominate race, platycirca and cincera. A fourth subspecies, uamensis, is synonymized with cincera.
- Scientific name
- Turdoides plebejus
- Authority
- (Cretzschmar, 1828)
- Order
- Passeriformes
- Family
- Leiothrichidae
- Genus
- Turdoides
Range and habitat
The brown babbler inhabits the broad band of the Sahel between the Sahara Desert and the tropical forests of Western Africa, from southern Mauritania, Senegal and the Gambia to southern Sudan, Uganda and western Kenya. The species lives in open savanna, wooded grasslands, riparian habitat in drier areas, degraded cultivation, farmlands, parks and gardens. The species is common across its range and readily lives in human-modified habitat and is not considered threatened with extinction.<p>The species is mostly sedentary (non-migratory), but is thought to make some seasonal movements based upon local conditions related to the rainy seasons. In central Burkina Faso it is observed more frequently during the rainy season, and it has also been observed to be erratically absent or present in the Kampala region of Uganda.
- Migration
- Resident species
Behavior
The brown babbler consumes a variety of insects including ants, beetles, termites, and praying mantises, as well as other invertebrates, berries, and fruit. It will also opportunistically take carrion. They generally forage on the ground and in family parties of up to 14 individuals.
Conservation
- Population trend
- stable
Photos
Distribution
Bird Calls
Other Birds
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