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[[Image:Arrow-marked_Babbler.jpg|thumb|550px|right|Photo by rudydbn<br />Kruger Park, South Africa]] | [[Image:Arrow-marked_Babbler.jpg|thumb|550px|right|Photo by rudydbn<br />Kruger Park, South Africa]] | ||
==Identification== | ==Identification== | ||
| + | Measurements: Length 23-25 cm; wing 103-110-116; tail 105-111; tarsus 31-33; culmen 23-25. Weight (male) 70, 6 g, (female) 56, 3 g, | ||
| + | Bare Parts: Iris orange with red outer ring, or yellow with orange outer ring; bill, legs and feet black. | ||
| + | Identification: Size medium; above ashy brown, streaked blackish, indistinctly spotted whitish; rump plain greyish brown; below brownish grey, streaked with white arrowhead markings; wings and tail dark brown; eye looks light orange in field. Immature: Buffy; lacks white streaks; spotted dusky below; eye brown. | ||
==Distribution== | ==Distribution== | ||
Revision as of 10:35, 14 March 2008
- Turdoides jardineii
Identification
Measurements: Length 23-25 cm; wing 103-110-116; tail 105-111; tarsus 31-33; culmen 23-25. Weight (male) 70, 6 g, (female) 56, 3 g, Bare Parts: Iris orange with red outer ring, or yellow with orange outer ring; bill, legs and feet black. Identification: Size medium; above ashy brown, streaked blackish, indistinctly spotted whitish; rump plain greyish brown; below brownish grey, streaked with white arrowhead markings; wings and tail dark brown; eye looks light orange in field. Immature: Buffy; lacks white streaks; spotted dusky below; eye brown.
Distribution
North-eastern South Africa, eastern Botswana, north-eastern Namibia, Mozambique and Zimbabwe and north to Kenya and Cabinda (north-western Angola).
Taxonomy
Habitat
Thickets with long grass and bushes in woodland, savanna and bushveld, riverine reedbeds, secondary bushy growth at edges of cultivation, denser Kalahari woodland, exotic plantations.
Behaviour
Gregarious in noisy groups of up to 10 birds. Forages on ground and by clambering and jumping through lower bushes and undergrowth, every now and then calling in chorus; forms mixed parties with White rumped Babbler where ranges overlap. Flight straight with alternating fluttering and gliding; members of flock follow each other in loose succession from bush to bush. Roosts communally. Food: Invertebrates, lizards, seeds, fruit and nectar.
Breeding: Season: October to March in KwaZulu-Natal, all months in Transvaal lowveld and in Zimbabwe (mainly September to April). Nest: Mass of grass and twigs with bowl shaped hollow on top, lined with fibres and rootlets 3-7 m above ground in dense bush or tree, pile of driftwood, dense reeds or cavity in dead tree; built by up to 7 helpers (at least 3 adults and perhaps 2 immature). Clutch: 2-8 eggs (usually 3). Eggs: Plain turquoise or greenish blue. Incubation: 16-17 days; helpers also incubate. Nestling: 18-21 days; fed by parents and up to 5 helpers.
Bird Song
Voice: Nasal whirring ra-ra-ra-ra-ra, usually in chorus; harsh chak-chak-chak; 1 or 2 birds start calling, others join in crescendo, then calling dies away.
