Timaliidae, Pellorneidae, Pnoepygidae & Leiothrichidae

This blog came out of a conversation on “Babblers“ and “Warblers“ I had with good friends and birding companions on 14th November 2020 on a trip to some nearby woodlands. It sparked the idea to write about the various babblers, warblers, parrotbills, white-eyes, fulvettas, laughingthrushes and their allies I have had the good fortune to observe and photograph. This write up, however, focuses only on some of the Old World Babblers.

The Old World Babblers are a family of mostly Old World passerine birds rather diverse in size and coloration, characterised by soft fluffy plumage. These are birds of tropical areas, with the greatest variety in Southeast Asia and the Indian subcontinent. The timaliids are one of two unrelated groups of birds known as babblers, the other being the Australasian babblers of the family Pomatostomidae (also known as pseudo-babblers). Morphological diversity is rather high; most species resemble warblers, jays or thrushes.

I also decided to include the genus of passerines known as Pnoepyga endemic to southern and south eastern Asia. The Pnoepyga contains five species with its members known as cupwings or wren-babblers and they have long been placed in the babbler family Timaliidae. But a 2009 study of the DNA of the families Timaliidae and the Old World warblers (Sylviidae) found no support for the placement of the genus in either family, prompting the authors to erect a new monogeneric family, the Pnoepygidae.

These are all part of the superfamily Sylvioidea, one of at least three major clades within the Passerida along with the Muscicapoidea and Passeroidea. It contains about 1300 species including the Old World warblers, Old World babblers, swallows, larks and bulbuls. Members of the clade are found worldwide, with fewer species present in the Americas. Some of the families within the Sylvioidea have been greatly redefined. In particular, the Old World warbler family Sylviidae and Old World babbler family Timaliidae were used as waste-bin taxa and included many species which have turned out not to be closely related. Several new families have been created and some species have been moved from one family to another - to the extent that when I took some of these photos I had different names for them to what they are currently named in this article.

The Babbler group:

• Sylviidae: sylviid babblers (34 species)

• Paradoxornithidae: parrotbills (37 species)

• Zosteropidae: white-eyes (141 species)

• Timaliidae: babblers, scimitar babblers (54 species)

• Pellorneidae: fulvettas, ground babblers (60 species)

• Alcippeidae: Alcippe fulvettas (10 species)

• Leiothrichidae: laughingthrushes and allies (133 species)

This list is an extract from the list of 25 families is based on the molecular phylogenetic study published by Silke Fregin and colleagues in 2012 and the revisions of the babbler group by Cai et al (2019) The family sequence and number of species is from the online list of world birds maintained by Frank Gill and David Donsker on behalf of the International Ornithological Committee (IOC).

Illustrated in this blog are only a handful of the Timaliidae, Pellorneidae, Pnoepygidae & Leiothrichidae I was fortunate to observe and photograph at various habitats across the Asia Pacific. Almost all these images are from a hide to get in close to the birds and all of them involved long periods of wait and heaps of patience. With some like the Pygmy Wren-Babbler I got lucky as the bird came in very close and actually went past me as it foraged and I was able to “fill the frame” from about a foot away. But to be honest, I prefer the photos with some ambience around the bird because it gives an idea of where and in some cases how the bird tends to forage and also allows the bird to breathe.

Timaliidae

The large scimitar babbler (Erythrogenys hypoleucos) is a species of bird in the family Timaliidae. It is found in Bangladesh, Cambodia, China, India, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Thailand, and Vietnam. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical moist lowland forest and subtropical or tropical moist montane forest. This specimen was photographed in the dense forests of the Kaeng Krachan National Park in Thailand.

Published on the Wild Bird Trust and National Geographic Blog on the Top 25 Wild Bird Photographs of the Week: Forest Habitats - Large Scimitar Babbler & Lesser Necklaced Laughingthrush, Ban Nong Nam, Kaeng Krachan National Park, Thailand - November 22, 2019. View my other publications.

Status: Least Concern

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The rusty-cheeked scimitar babbler (Erythrogenys erythrogenys) is a species of bird in the Timaliidae family native to South-East Asia. The species is olive-brown above with rusty colouring on the sides of the face, head, thighs, and flanks. The belly is mostly white. Sexes are alike. The beak is long and decurved in a scimitar shape. It is found from the Himalayas to Myanmar. It inhabits habitats are subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests and subtropical or tropical moist montane forests at elevations up to 2600 m. They feed mostly on the forest floor and in low canopy, forming small groups. Food items include insects, grubs and seeds. Calls consist of a mellow, fluty whistle, a two-noted "CUE..PE...CUE..pe" call followed by single note replay by mate, guttural alarm calls and a liquid contact note and are generally quite noisy.

Status: Least Concern

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The white-browed scimitar babbler (Pomatorhinus schisticeps) is a species of bird in the family Timaliidae. It is found in Bangladesh, Bhutan, Laos, Cambodia, India, Myanmar, Nepal, Thailand, and Vietnam. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical moist lowland forest and subtropical or tropical moist montane forest.

Status: Least Concern

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The black-throated babbler (Stachyris nigricollis) is a species of bird in the Timaliidae family. It is found in Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, and Thailand. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests and subtropical or tropical swamps. It is threatened by habitat loss.

Status: Near Threatened

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The grey-throated babbler (Stachyris nigriceps) is a species of bird in the family Timaliidae. It is found in Bangladesh, Bhutan, China, India, Laos, Indonesia, Malaysia, Nepal, Myanmar, Thailand, and Vietnam. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical moist lowland forest and subtropical or tropical moist montane forest.

Status: Least Concern

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The tawny-bellied babbler (Dumetia hyperythra) also known in older Indian works as the rufous-bellied babbler is a small babbler that forages in groups in low scrub forests. Like other members of the large Old World babbler family they are passerine birds characterised by soft fluffy plumage. Foraging in small groups that skulk inside bushes there are three subspecies within the Indian Subcontinent. The nominate hyperythra found in northern and eastern India is uniformly brown underneath while albogularis of the western Indian peninsula is white throated. The population in Sri Lanka, phillipsi, is also white throated but is paler underneath and has a larger bill.

Status: Least Concern

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Pellorneidae

The puff-throated babbler or spotted babbler (Pellorneum ruficeps) is a species of passerine bird found in Asia. They are found in scrub and moist forest mainly in hilly regions. They forage in small groups on the forest floor, turning around leaf litter to find their prey and usually staying low in the undergrowth where they can be hard to spot. They however have loud and distinct calls, including a morning song, contact and alarm calls. It is the type species of the genus Pellorneum which may however currently include multiple lineages.

This bird is a common resident breeder in the Himalayas and the forests of Asia. Like most babblers, it is not migratory, and has short rounded wings and a weak flight. Its habitat is scrub and bamboo thickets and forages by turning over leaves to find insects.

Status: Least Concern

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The short-tailed babbler (Pellorneum malaccense) is a species of bird in the family Pellorneidae. It is found in Peninsular Malaysia, Singapore, and Thailand as well as the islands of Sumatra and Borneo (and some of the smaller surrounding islands).

Its natural habitat is tropical moist lowland forests. The species is generally solitary, not joining larger mixed-species flocks, instead foraging as singles or pairs. They forage in the understory on the ground on a variety of insects including beetles, grasshoppers, and ants. Like other babblers they will use their foot to grasp food items, an unusual behaviour for passerine birds.

The short-tailed babbler is locally common at a number of places within its range but is considered near-threatened due to the loss of lowland forest in its range.

Status: Near Threatened

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The ferruginous babbler (Pellorneum bicolor) is a species of bird in the family Pellorneidae. It is found in Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, and Thailand. Its natural habitat is subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests.

Status: Least Concern

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The streaked wren-babbler (Gypsophila brevicaudata) is a species of bird in the family Pellorneidae. It is found in India, Laos, China, Bangladesh, Cambodia, Malaysia, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical moist lowland forest and subtropical or tropical moist montane forest.

Status: Least Concern

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The black-capped babbler (Pellorneum capistratum) is a species of bird in the Pellorneidae family. It is found in Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, Singapore, and Thailand. Its natural habitat is subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests.

Status: Least Concern

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The buff-breasted babbler (Pellorneum tickelli) is a species of bird in the family Pellorneidae. It is found in Bangladesh, Cambodia, China, India, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Thailand, and Vietnam. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical moist lowland forest and subtropical or tropical moist montane forest.

Status: Least Concern

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Pnoepygidae

The pygmy wren-babbler or pygmy cupwing (Pnoepyga pusilla) is a species of bird in the Pnoepyga wren-babblers family, Pnoepygidae. It is found in southern and eastern Asia from the Himalayas to the Lesser Sunda Islands. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical moist lowland forest and subtropical or tropical moist montane forest.

Status: Least Concern

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Leiothrichidae

The jungle babbler (Argya striata) is a member of the family Leiothrichidae found in the Indian subcontinent. They are gregarious birds that forage in small groups of six to ten birds, a habit that has given them the popular name of "Seven Sisters" in urban Northern India, and Saath bhai (seven brothers) in Bengali with cognates in other regional languages which also mean "seven brothers".

The jungle babbler is a common resident breeding bird in most parts of the Indian subcontinent and is often seen in gardens within large cities as well as in forested areas. In the past, the orange-billed babbler, Turdoides rufescens, of Sri Lanka was considered to be a subspecies of jungle babbler, but has now been elevated to a species.

Status: Least Concern

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The yellow-billed babbler or white-headed babbler (Argya affinis) is a member of the Leiothrichidae family endemic to southern India and Sri Lanka. The yellow-billed babbler is a common resident breeding bird in Sri Lanka and southern India. Its habitat is scrub, cultivation and garden land. This species, like most babblers, is not migratory, and has short rounded wings and a weak flight and is usually seen calling and foraging in groups. It is often mistaken for the jungle babbler, whose range overlaps in parts of southern India, although it has a distinctive call and tends to be found in more vegetated habitats. Its name is also confused with T. leucocephala, which is also known as white-headed babbler.

These birds have grey brown upper parts, grey throat and breast with some mottling, and a pale buff belly. The head and nape are grey. The Sri Lankan form T. a. taprobanus is drab pale grey. Nominate race of southern India has whitish crown and nape with a darker mantle. The rump is paler and the tail has a broad dark tip. Birds in the extreme south of India are very similar to the Sri Lankan subspecies with the colour of the crown and back being more grey. The eye is bluish white. The Indian form is more heavily streaked on the throat and breast. The Sri Lankan subspecies resembles the jungle babbler, Turdoides striatus, although that species does not occur on the island.

Status: Least Concern

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This then was a glimpse into the beautiful world of the babblers and the tremendous variety in the species and that they are still being discovered. For next week’s blog I will continue on the same theme and focus on the Laughingthrushes. Do subscribe if you liked what you saw and if you would like to continue to read these insights into the beautiful birds and animals inhabiting our planet.

The bird songs I have leveraged in this blog were sourced from my favourite bird song site Xeno-Canto and are with due credit to the people who spent time and effort recording the songs.

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