Puff-throated babbler
| Puff-throated Babbler | ||||||||||||||
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| Pellorneum ruficeps Swainson, 1832 |
The Puff-throated Babbler, Pellorneum ruficeps, 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 Puff-throated Babbler is a common resident breeder in the Himalayas and the hills of India and parts of southeast Asia. Its habitat is scrub and bamboo, where it builds its nest on the ground, laying 2-5 eggs.
These birds are plain brown above, and white, heavily streaked with brown, below. They have a chestnut crown, long buff supercilium and dusky cheeks. The throat is white, and the bird's habit of puffing it out gives it its English name.
Puff-throated Babblers have strong legs, and are quite terrestrial. They can often be seen creeping through undergrowth in search of their insect food, looking at first glance like a Song Thrush.
This species, like most babblers, is not migratory, and has short rounded wings and a weak flight.
Reference
- Birds of India by Grimmett, Inskipp and Inskipp, ISBN 0-691-04910-6