Scimitar babbler
Encyclopedia
The scimitar-babblers are bird
s in the genera Pomatorhinus, Xiphirhynchus and Jabouilleia of the large Old World babbler
family of passerines. These are birds of tropical Asia
, with the greatest number of species occurring in hills of the Himalayas
.
Scimitar-babblers are rangy, medium-sized, floppy-tailed land birds with soft fluffy plumage. They have strong legs and are quite terrestrial. This group is not strongly migratory
, and most species
have short rounded wings, and a weak flight.
Scimitar-babblers have long downcurved bills, used to work through the leaf litter, which give the group its name. They are typically long tailed, dark brown above, and white or orange-brown below. Many have striking head patterns, with a broad black band through the eye, bordered with white above and below.
Most scimitar-babblers are jungle species, difficult to observe in the dense vegetation they prefer, but like other babblers, these are noisy birds, and the characteristic bubbling calls are often the best indication that these birds are present.
As with other babbler species, they frequently occur in groups of up to a dozen, and the rain forest species like Indian Scimitar-babbler often occur in the mixed feeding flocks
typical of tropical Asian jungle.
The genera are:
Bird
Birds are feathered, winged, bipedal, endothermic , egg-laying, vertebrate animals. Around 10,000 living species and 188 families makes them the most speciose class of tetrapod vertebrates. They inhabit ecosystems across the globe, from the Arctic to the Antarctic. Extant birds range in size from...
s in the genera Pomatorhinus, Xiphirhynchus and Jabouilleia of the large Old World babbler
Old World babbler
The Old World babblers or timaliids are a large family of mostly Old World passerine birds. They are rather diverse in size and coloration, but are characterised by soft fluffy plumage. These are birds of tropical areas, with the greatest variety in Southeast Asia and the Indian Subcontinent...
family of passerines. These are birds of tropical Asia
Asia
Asia is the world's largest and most populous continent, located primarily in the eastern and northern hemispheres. It covers 8.7% of the Earth's total surface area and with approximately 3.879 billion people, it hosts 60% of the world's current human population...
, with the greatest number of species occurring in hills of the Himalayas
Himalayas
The Himalaya Range or Himalaya Mountains Sanskrit: Devanagari: हिमालय, literally "abode of snow"), usually called the Himalayas or Himalaya for short, is a mountain range in Asia, separating the Indian subcontinent from the Tibetan Plateau...
.
Scimitar-babblers are rangy, medium-sized, floppy-tailed land birds with soft fluffy plumage. They have strong legs and are quite terrestrial. This group is not strongly migratory
Bird migration
Bird migration is the regular seasonal journey undertaken by many species of birds. Bird movements include those made in response to changes in food availability, habitat or weather. Sometimes, journeys are not termed "true migration" because they are irregular or in only one direction...
, and most species
Species
In biology, a species is one of the basic units of biological classification and a taxonomic rank. A species is often defined as a group of organisms capable of interbreeding and producing fertile offspring. While in many cases this definition is adequate, more precise or differing measures are...
have short rounded wings, and a weak flight.
Scimitar-babblers have long downcurved bills, used to work through the leaf litter, which give the group its name. They are typically long tailed, dark brown above, and white or orange-brown below. Many have striking head patterns, with a broad black band through the eye, bordered with white above and below.
Most scimitar-babblers are jungle species, difficult to observe in the dense vegetation they prefer, but like other babblers, these are noisy birds, and the characteristic bubbling calls are often the best indication that these birds are present.
As with other babbler species, they frequently occur in groups of up to a dozen, and the rain forest species like Indian Scimitar-babbler often occur in the mixed feeding flocks
Mixed-species feeding flock
A mixed-species feeding flock, also termed a mixed-species foraging flock, mixed hunting party or informally bird wave, is a flock of usually insectivorous birds of different species, that join each other and move together while foraging...
typical of tropical Asian jungle.
The genera are:
- PomatorhinusPomatorhinusPomatorhinus is a genus of scimitar-babblers, jungle birds with long downcurved bills. These are birds of tropical Asia, with the greatest number of species occurring in hills of the Himalayas....
- XiphirhynchusSlender-billed Scimitar-babblerThe Slender-billed Scimitar-babbler is a species of bird in the Timaliidae family. It is the only member of the genus Xiphirhynchus....
- JabouilleiaJabouilleiaJabouilleia is a genus of scimitar-babblers, jungle birds with long downcurved bills. The two species occur in Laos, Vietnam and Myanmar. They are* Short-tailed Scimitar-babbler, Jabouilleia danjoui...