Orange-billed Babbler

Orange-billed Babbler
Orange-billed Babbler (below) with a Yellow-eared Bulbul
Conservation status
Near Threatened (IUCN 3.1)
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Aves
Order:	Passeriformes
Family:	Timaliidae
Genus:	Turdoides
Species:	T. rufescens
Binomial name
Turdoides rufescens (Blyth, 1847)

The Orange-billed Babbler, Turdoides rufescens, also known as Ceylon Rufous Babbler or Sri Lankan Rufous Babbler is an Old World babbler. The Old World babblers are a large family of Old World passerine birds characterised by soft fluffy plumage. These are birds of tropical areas, with the greatest variety in southeast Asia.

The Orange-billed Babbler is a resident breeding bird endemic to Sri Lanka. In the past, it was considered to be a race of Jungle Babbler, Turdoides striatus.

Its habitat is rainforest, and it is seldom seen away from deep jungle. This species, like most babblers, is not migratory, and has short rounded wings and a weak flight.

Although its habitat is under threat, it occurs in all the forests of the wet zone, and is quite common at prime sites like Kitulgala and Sinharaja. It builds its nest in a tree, concealed in dense masses of foliage. The normal clutch is two or three deep greenish blue eggs.

These birds are plain orange brown below, and have a slightly darker shade above. The crown and nape are grey, and the bill is orange.

The Orange-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. It is usually the first sign that a mixed-species feeding flock, so characteristic of Asian wet forests, is in the vicinity. It feeds mainly on insects, but also eats jungle berries.

In Culture

In Sri Lanka, this bird is knowns as Rathu Demalichcha (translates to 'Red Babbler') in Sinhala Language.^[1] This bird appears in a 10 rupee Sri Lankan postal stamp.^[2]

References

1. ^ Anonymous (1998). "Vernacular Names of the Birds of the Indian Subcontinent" (PDF). Buceros 3 (1): 53–109. http://www.bnhsenvis.nic.in/pdf/vol%203%20(1).pdf. 
2. ^ http://www.birdtheme.org/country/srilanka.html

• BirdLife International (2004). Turdoides rufescens. 2006. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. IUCN 2006. www.iucnredlist.org. Retrieved on 9 May 2006. Database entry includes a brief justification of why this species is near threatened
• Birds of India by Grimmett, Inskipp and Inskipp, ISBN 0-691-04910-6
• A Field Guide to the Birds of the Indian Subcontinent by Kazmierczak and van Perlo, ISBN 978-1-873403-79-2