Alternative names: Tickell's Babbler; Buff-breasted Jungle Babbler; Mountain Brown Babbler
- Pellorneum tickelli
Identification
13 - 15cm. A nondescript small brown babbler:
- Squarish-tipped longish tail
- Forehead feathers seem slightly scaled with pale shaft-streaks
- Warm brown above, buff below
- Whitish belly
Sexes similar, juveniles with strongly rufescent upperparts.
Confusion species
Abbott's Babbler has grey on foreparts and is heavier billed. Spot-throated Babbler has fine spots on throat.
Distribution
From northeast India and Bangladesh over Burma and south China (Yunnan and Guangxi) to Thailand, Indochina and peninsular Malaysia.
Locally common in its range.
Taxonomy
There are 5 subspecies:
- P. t. assamense from northeast India to east Bangladesh and north and west Burma
- P. t. grisecens in southwest Burma
- P. t. fulvum in south China (Yunnan, Guangxi), southeast Burma, north Thailand, Laos and north Vietnam
- P. t. annamense in Cambodia, south Laos and south and central Vietnam
- P. t. tickelli in south Burma, west and south Thailand and peninsular Malaysia
Habitat
Evergreen forest. Sometimes also in mixed deciduous open or deep forest, secondary growth, bamboo thickets and undergrowth of secondary and logged forest. Up to 1550m, above 610m in Malaysia.
Behaviour
Feeds on insects.
Usually seen in pairs, sometimes associated with other small babblers. Skulking, keeps close to the ground in dense undergrowth.
Breeding season from March to July, multi-brooded. The nest is a deep cup or dome or semi-dome made of dry bamboo, other leaves, fine grasses and thin rootlets. It's placed on the ground, sometimes also at the base of a sapling up to 1.5m (mostly not higher than 0.3m). Lays 3 - 4 eggs.
Resident species.
References
- Clements, JF. 2008. The Clements Checklist of Birds of the World. 6th ed., with updates to December 2008. Ithaca: Cornell Univ. Press. ISBN 978-0801445019.
- Del Hoyo, J, A Elliott, and D Christie, eds. 2007. Handbook of the Birds of the World. Volume 12: Picathartes to Tits and Chickadees. Barcelona: Lynx Edicions. ISBN 978-8496553422
- Rasmussen, PC and JC Anderton. 2005. Birds of South Asia: The Ripley Guide. Barcelona: Lynx Edicions. ISBN 978-8487334672
Recommended Citation
- BirdForum Opus contributors. (2024) Buff-breasted Babbler. In: BirdForum, the forum for wild birds and birding. Retrieved 11 June 2024 from https://www.birdforum.net/opus/Buff-breasted_Babbler
