From Opus

Photo by sAwnOirOychAng
Khao Nor Chuchi, Krabi, Thailand

Alternative name: Common Brown Babbler

Malacocincla abbotti

[edit] Identification

15 - 17cm. A medium-sized, non-descript Babbler:

• Short tail
• Heavy, hooked bill
• Drab olive-brown upperparts
• Bright rusty lower flanks and vent
• Throat and breast greyish-white
• Variable pale grey supercilium and lores

[edit] Similar species

Buff-breasted Babbler is longer-tailed and much more ochraceous below. Spot-throated Babbler is much smaller.

[edit] Distribution

Local resident in Himalayas (Nepal, Bhutan) and North East India (also Eastern Ghats) east to Bangladesh, Burma, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Borneo and Sumatra.
Common in much of its range.

[edit] Taxonomy

[edit] Subspecies^[2]

• M. a. abbotti (usually includes rufescentior and amabile):

• Nepal, Bhutan, northeast India, east Bangladesh, southern Myanmar to Thailand, north-western Malay Peninsula and Mergui Archipelago

• M. a. krishnarajui:

• Eastern India (Eastern Ghats in northern Andhra Pradesh)

• M. a. williamsoni :

• Thailand (eastern part of south-western plateau) east to Cambodia and south Vietnam

• M. a.olivacea:

• Coastal south-eastern Thailand (Chon Buri Province to Trat); Ko Kut Island

• M. a. altera:

• Central Laos and central Vietnam

• M. a.obscurior:

• Peninsula Thailand and Malay Peninsula to eastern Sumatra

• M. a. concreta:

• Borneo, Matasiri and Belitung islands

• M. a. baweana:

• Bawean Island (Java Sea)

The mainland subspecies are poorly differentiated and maybe only concreta and baweana should be recognized.
Sometimes placed in genus Trichastoma.

[edit] Habitat

Evergreen forest and dense secondary vegetation. Up to 1100m.

[edit] Behaviour

Feeds on insects and small invertebrates.
Usually seen singly or in pairs, near the ground. Forages with slow movements among leaf litter. Often quite tame.
Breeding season differs through range. The nest is a bulky, open cup made of dead leaves, bracken fronds, wet stems, moss, grasses, fern roots and rootlets. It's placed in a bush, weeds, clump of creepers or fern 0.5 - 1.8m above the ground. Lays 2 - 5 eggs.
Resident species.

[edit] References

1. 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.
2. 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
3. Rasmussen, PC and JC Anderton. 2005. Birds of South Asia: The Ripley Guide. Barcelona: Lynx Edicions. ISBN 978-8487334672

• List of references

[edit] External Links