From Opus

Photo by Tony.Saw
Cat Tien, Vietnam, February 2011

Alternative names: Smaller Red-headed Babbler/Tree-Babbler; Lesser Red-headed Babbler/Tree-Babbler

Malacopteron cinereum

[edit] Identification

14 - 16cm. Similar to Sooty-capped Babbler:

• Black-tipped dull rufous anterior crown
• Hindcrown blackish, olive-brown in indochinense
• Olive-brown upperparts
• Dull rufescent tail
• Pale brown lores, supercilium and area around eye with tiny white spotting
• Greyish-brown cheek and ear-coverts
• Chin to vent whitish with shadow of greyish breastband

Sexes similar, juveniles similar to adults.

[edit] Distribution

Found in Indochina, Thailand, peninsular Malaysia, Sumatra, Borneo and Java.
Common in parts of its range.

[edit] Taxonomy

Four subspecies recognized:

• M. c. indochinense in east Thailand, Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam
• M. c. cinereum in south Thailand, peninsular Malaysia, Sumatra and Borneo
• M. c. niasense on Nias Island, off western Sumatra
• M. c. rufifrons in south Java

Another race described from Natuna Islands, bungurense, is usually merged with the nominate.

[edit] Habitat

Moist lowland forests. Up to 800m, 1200m in Sumatra.

[edit] Behaviour

Feeds on invertebrates including large locustids. Takes also some fruits.
Usually seen in noisy, active and agile groups, moving through the middle storey.
Breeding season May to September in Borneo, February to October in southeast Asia. The nest is a neat, flimsy cup made of dry leaves, palm leaves and coarse grass blades. It's placed near the ground up to 1.2m in a bush or in a fork of a sapling. Lays 2 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

• List of references

[edit] External Links