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Chestnut-crowned Babbler (Pomatostomus ruficeps) Alternate name(s): "Red-capped Babbler", "Chatterer*" Aboriginal name(s): "pirrigilgilli" Size: 21-23 cm Body mass: 50-70 g

Australia: Family Group 19 Family Group 19 Table Southern Scrub-robin Northern Scrub-robin Hooded Robin Dusky Robin Rose Robin Pink Robin Flame Robin Scarlet Robin Norfolk Robin Red-capped Robin Grey-headed Robin White-browed Robin Buff-sided Robin Mangrove Robin White-breasted Robin Western Yellow Robin Eastern Yellow Robin Pale-yellow Robin White-faced Robin Yellow-legged Flycatcher Lemon-bellied Flycatcher Jacky Winter Logrunner Chowchilla White-browed Babbler Hall's Babbler Grey-crowned Babbler Chestnut-crowned Babbler Thumbnails page Family group table Index of bird names Habitat pages Key plants Birds home page

Similar species

Description     Classification     Distribution     Sightings     Photos     Breeding     Nest     Eggs     Behaviour     Food     Call/s

Physical description Click here for a physical description Chestnut-crowned Babblers are the small babblers. Their plumage is dark brown, except for a white front from throat to chest, long narrow white eyebrows, a white terminal band on the tail and white wing bars that are visible when perched. Wings and uppertail are the darkest parts, being very dark brown. Their crown is chestnut-brown. The eyes have dark irises. The long, slightly down-curved bill is black. The legs and feet are dark-grey. Juveniles have duller colours and the parts that are white in adults are buff-coloured. Twitcher's tip Chestnut-crowned Babblers are the only Australian babblers with visible white bars in their folded wings.

Taxonomy, classification See Chestnut-crowned Babbler at Wikipedia .

Range, habitat, finding this species Click here for information on habitat and range The overall distribution of this species can be assessed, and specific locations where birds have been spotted can be found, based on individual sighting reports submitted by birdwatchers to ebird.org . The global distribution of the Chestnut-crowned Babbler is available HERE . NB: Reports on ebird of birds submitted by birdwatchers from the Australian Outback tend to be clustered along roads and public areas such as camp grounds; in such cases their distribution is not a good representation of the overall distribution of the species. Chestnut-crowned Babblers are endemic to Australia. The range of Chestnut-crowned Babblers includes the catchment of the Paroo River in southern QLD, the upper Darling catchment West of Walgett, i.e. the north-western quarter of NSW, the lower Murray River catchment along the border to VIC, to almost Adelaide and the far eastern part of SA (i.e. the land to the East of Lake Eyre, including Innamincka). Chestnut-crowned Babblers can be found in dry scrub, often dominated by acacias or casuarinas, mallee or dry open woodland.

Sightings Click here for sighting information Chestnut-crowned Babblers were first spotted by us in Kinchega NP, near Menindee, far western NSW in March 2008. Next a small number of Chestnut-crowned Babblers were seen in various locations in outback NSW in September 2012, e.g. about 100 km North of Bourke, NSW, and also about 30 km East of Tibooburra. Two family clans of Chestnut-crowned Babblers were found by us in and near Gundabooka NP, NSW, in September 2017. M. Eaton reports finding Chestnut-crowned Babblers at Bowra Wildlife Sanctuary, near Cunnamulla, QLD, in September 2017 and again in August 2018. Both M. Eaton and ourselves found them there again in June 2019. The species was also found by M. Eaton at Kilcowera Station, between Thargomindah and Hungerford, QLD, in June 2020.

Photos

ADULT

Sex unknown

Frontal portrait of an adult Chestnut-crowned Babbler (photo courtesy of M. Eaton)
[Kilcowera Station, between Thargomindah and Hungerford, QLD, June 2020]

Frontal view of a Chestnut-crowned Babbler with an insect it has just caught (photo courtesy of M. Eaton)
[Bowra Wildlife Sanctuary, near Cunnamulla, QLD, August 2018]

Near-frontal view of a Chestnut-crowned Babbler (photo courtesy of M. Eaton)
[Kilcowera Station, between Thargomindah and Hungerford, QLD, June 2020]

Near-lateral view of a Chestnut-crowned Babbler (photo courtesy of M. Eaton)
[Bowra Wildlife Sanctuary, near Cunnamulla, QLD, August 2018]

Lateral view of a Chestnut-crowned Babbler
[100 km North of Bourke, NSW, September 2012]

Lateral view of a Chestnut-crowned Babbler (photo courtesy of M. Eaton)
[Bowra Wildlife Sanctuary, near Cunnamulla, QLD, September 2017]

Lateral view of a Chestnut-crowned Babbler foraging on the ground (photo courtesy of M. Eaton)
[Bowra Wildlife Sanctuary, near Cunnamulla, QLD, September 2017]

Chestnut-crowned Babblers foraging on the ground (photo courtesy of M. Eaton)
[Bowra Wildlife Sanctuary, near Cunnamulla, QLD, September 2017]

Distant dorsal view of a Chestnut-crowned Babbler in gliding flight
[100 km North of Bourke, NSW, September 2012]

IMMATURE/JUVENILE

Frontal view of a juvenile Chestnut-crowned Babbler (note the rufous eyebrow)
[100 km North of Bourke, NSW, September 2012]

Family clan of Chestnut-crowned Babblers; the bird at the lower left is juvenile (photo courtesy of M. Eaton)
[Bowra Wildlife Sanctuary, near Cunnamulla, QLD, September 2017]

All eyes to the RIGHT! (photo courtesy of M. Eaton)
[Bowra Wildlife Sanctuary, near Cunnamulla, QLD, September 2017]

Breeding information

Breeding season: Jul - Dec

Eggs: 3 - 5

Incubation period: 17 - 18 days

Fledging age: 19 - 21 days

Chestnut-crowned Babblers are communal breeders. More than one female may incubate the eggs and there can be more than one brood in a season. Given the right conditions, breeding can continue until April.

Nest building: Family clan

Incubation: Female(s)

Dependent care: Family clan

Nest

"bungobittah", "lar", "malunna", "jindi" [bundjalung] = nest [Aboriginal]

Type: Dome

Material: Sticks; grass, feather lining

Height above ground: 3 - 10 m

Chestnut-crowned Babblers' nest in a Mulga shrub
[100 km North-west of Bourke, NSW, September 2012]

Chestnut-crowned Babbler coming off its nest (photo courtesy of M. Eaton)
[Bowra Wildlife Sanctuary, near Cunnamulla, QLD, August 2018]

Chestnut-crowned Babbler nest
[Bowra Wildlife Sanctuary, near Cunnamulla, QLD, June 2019]

Chestnut-crowned Babblers' nest, top centre; in this nest a clutch of 4 Nankeen Kestrel eggs were found
(photo courtesy of D. Johnston)
[Inland NSW, 1980ies]

Eggs

"boyanga", "booyanga", "derinya", "dirandil", "koomura", "mirk", "ngampu", "nooluk", "pateena", "pum-pum" = Egg; "dirundirri" = eggs [Aboriginal]; "gawu" = eggs [gamilaraay]

Size: 27 x 19 mm

Colour: Brownish, heavily lined/streaked

Shape: Tapered oval

Behaviour

Social behaviour: Communal

Mobility: Sedentary

Elementary unit: Family clan

Chestnut-crowned Babblers are communal, living in family clans. However, the clan as an entity/ensemble is territorial.

Like other babblers, Chestnut-crowned Babblers build roosts, on which they stay overnight.

Food, Diet

Like all other babblers of the Pomatostomus family, Chestnut-crowned Babblers hunt for insects and their larvae in trees and on the ground.

Lateral/ventral view of a Chestnut-crowned Babbler with its prey (photo courtesy of M. Eaton)
[Bowra Wildlife Sanctuary, near Cunnamulla, QLD, August 2018]

Call(s)/Song

For this species we have recorded the following call(s)/song. The interpretation of their meaning is our own; comments and suggestions for improvement are welcome.

chcrbab_20190618.m4a	(SW QLD)	Various	© MD
chcrbab_20170920.m4a	(W NSW)	Warning/alarm calls	© MD
chcrbab_20190617.m4a	(SW QLD)	Alarm (family clan)	© MD

More Chestnut-crowned Babbler sound recordings are available at xeno-canto.org .

These pages are largely based on our own observations and those of our contributors. The structure of these bird pages is explained HERE. For more salient facts on any bird species please refer to a field guide.

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