Bird Guide

Jungle Babbler vs Large Grey Babbler

Jungle Babbler (Argya striata)

Jungle Babbler

Argya striata

66 gUrban

The jungle babbler's habitat is forest and cultivation. This species, like most babblers, is non-migratory, and has short rounded wings and a weak flight. The sexes are identical, drably coloured in brownish grey with a yellow-bill making them confusable only with the endemic yellow-billed babblers of peninsular India and Sri Lanka. The upper parts are usually slightly darker in shade and there is some mottling on the throat and breast. Subspecies somervillei of Maharashtra has a very rufous tail and dark primary flight feathers.

ID text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0

Sonogram of the Jungle Babbler
Recorded by Jairam Vijayan · Duet, song · Payyavoor, Kannur, Kerala, India · CC BY-SA 4.0
Photo: Kunwar Singh Virdi · CC0
Large Grey Babbler (Argya malcolmi)

Large Grey Babbler

Argya malcolmi

Medium76 gShrubland

This long-tailed and large babbler has a brown body with creamy white outer tail feathers which are easily visible as they fly with fluttery wing beats low over the ground. The lores are dark and forehead is grey with white shaft streaks on the feathers. The rump and uppertail covers are pale grey. The mantle has dusky blotches and no shaft streaks. The three outer tail feathers are white and the fourth pair has the outer web white. The wings are darker brown. The iris is yellow and the upper mandible is dark brown while the lower mandible is yellowish. The tail is faintly cross barred.

ID text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0

Photo: Rupal Vaidya · CC BY 2.0

Where you might meet both

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Photos and recordings are credited to their authors under the licence shown. Full profiles: Jungle Babbler and Large Grey Babbler.