Bird Guide

Large Grey Babbler vs Yellow-billed Babbler

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
Yellow-billed Babbler (Argya affinis)

Yellow-billed Babbler

Argya affinis

63 gShrubland

These birds have grey brown upperparts, a grey throat and breast with some mottling, and a pale buff belly. The head and nape are grey, and the eyes are bluish white. The nominate race, found in southern India, has a whitish crown and nape, with a darker mantle. The rump is pale and the tail has a broad dark tip. The Sri Lankan subspecies A. a. taprobanus is drab pale grey. Birds in the extreme south of India are very similar to the Sri Lankan subspecies with the colour of the crown and back being more grey than the nominate race.

ID text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0

Sonogram of the Yellow-billed Babbler
Recorded by Vihansith Kulatunga · Call · Palaiyoothu, Trincomalee, Eastern Province, Sri Lanka · CC BY-SA 4.0
Photo: Devilal · CC0

Where you might meet both

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