Alternative name: Slaty-headed Scimitar-Babbler
- Pomatorhinus schisticeps
Identification
19 - 23cm (7½-10¼ in). A medium-sized Scimitar-Babbler.
- Yellowish bill
- Prominent long white supercilium
- Usually yellow eyes
- Unmarked white throat, breast and belly
- Rufous-chestnut nuchal patch, chestnut flanks with white streaks
The colour of the upperparts and flanks vary within the subspecies.
Confusion species
Streak-breasted Scimitar-Babbler is smaller, shorter-billed and has streaks on its flanks. Indian Scimitar-Babbler has dark eyes and darkish flanks. No range overlap with Sunda Scimitar Babbler.
Distribution
Found in the Himalayas from northern India east to Nepal, Bhutan, northeast India, eastern Bangladesh, Burma and south to Thailand and Indochina.
Locally fairly common to common.
Taxonomy
Has been treated conspecific with Indian Scimitar-Babbler. A population in Laos could consist of hybrids with this species and Streak-breasted Scimitar-Babbler.
Subspecies
13 subspecies recognized[1]:
- P. s. leucogaster in western north India
- P. s. schisticeps from north India over Nepal and Bhutan to northeast India
- P. s. salimalii in the Mishmi Hills of Arunachal Pradesh (India)
- P. s. cryptanthus in northeast India and east Bangladesh
- P. s. mearsi in west and central Burma
- P. s. nuchalis in central and southeast Burma
- P. s. ripponi in northeast Burma, northwest Thailand and northwest Laos
- P. s. difficilis in south Burma and adjacent Thailand
- P. s. olivaceus in south Burma and west and south Thailand
- P. s. humilis in north and east Thailand, south Laos and Vietnam
- P. s. klossi in southeast Thailand and southwest Cambodia
- P. s. annamensis in extreme east Cambodia and south Vietnam
- P. s. fastidiosus Malay Peninsula (southern Myanmar and Isthmus of Kra to Trang)
Habitat
Dense undergrowth in deciduous and evergreen broadleaf forest. Also in secondary growth, well-wooded ravines, mixed bamboo forest, scrub-jungle and grassland. Found up to 2600m.
Behaviour
Diet
Feeds on insects, takes also berries and small seeds.
Usually seen in pairs during breeding season, otherwise in small groups often with other species (like Lesser Necklaced Laughingthrush and Greater Necklaced Laughingthrush in Bhutan). Forages on the ground and in dense undergrowth.
Breeding
Breeding season from November to August. The nest is a large, loose dome made by dry bamboo, coarse grasses, rootlets, tendrils and strips of bark. It's placed low down in a bamboo clump or a thick bush, also on the ground in a depression covered with leaves. Lays 2 - 5 eggs.
Movements
Resident species.
References
- 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
- Clements, J. F., T. S. Schulenberg, M. J. Iliff, D. Roberson, T. A. Fredericks, B. L. Sullivan, and C. L. Wood. 2016. The eBird/Clements checklist of birds of the world: v2016, with updates to August 2016. Downloaded from http://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist/download/
Recommended Citation
- BirdForum Opus contributors. (2024) White-browed Scimitar Babbler. In: BirdForum, the forum for wild birds and birding. Retrieved 23 April 2024 from https://www.birdforum.net/opus/White-browed_Scimitar_Babbler
External Links
GSearch checked for 2020 platform.
