yellow billed babbler

Comments

Login or register to add a comment

Marvellous name for a bird - and another superb watercolour.

Thanks Robert Jones....

PAKHI DEKHUN PAKHI CHINUN (Observe the Bird and recognize)...YELLOW BILLED BABBLER...[From a Photograph of ANANTHA MURTHY....WATERCOLOUR...A4...2013...The Yellow-billed Babbler or White-headed Babbler (Turdoides 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. hese birds have grey brown upperparts, 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. Seven distinctive vocalizations have been noted in this species and this species has a higher pitched call than the Jungle Babbler. The Yellow-billed Babbler lives in flocks of seven to ten or more. It is a noisy bird, and the presence of a flock may generally be known at some distance by the continual chattering, squeaking and chirping produced by its members. One member often perches high and acts as a sentinel while the remaining members of the flock forage on or close to the ground. They feeds mainly on insects, but also eat fruit, nectar and human food scrap.They have been known to take Calotes versicolor lizard and whip-scorpions. [INFORMATION : WIKIPEDIA]