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19

Grey-crowned Babbler (Pomatostomus temporalis) Alternate name(s): "Grey-crowned Chatterer", "Temporal Babbler", "Rufous-breasted Chatterer", "Happy Family*", "Chatterer*", "Cackler*", "Barker", "Pine-bird", "Dog-bird", "Hopper", "Codlin-moth-eater", "Jumper", "Yahoo", "Parson-bird"; misnomers: "Apostlebird*", "12 Apostles*", "Catbird*" Aboriginal name(s): "wirrbing"; Race "temporalis": "dhadhalurraa" [yuwaalaraay] Note: Includes former "Red-breasted Babbler" Size: 26-29 cm Weight: 80 g (average)

Australia: Family Group 19 Family Group 19 Table Southern Scrub-robin Hooded Robin Dusky Robin Rose Robin Pink Robin Flame Robin Scarlet Robin Norfolk Robin Red-capped Robin Grey-headed Robin Buff-sided Robin Mangrove Robin White-breasted Robin Western Yellow Robin Eastern Yellow Robin Pale-yellow Robin Lemon-bellied Flycatcher Jacky Winter Logrunner 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 Grey-crowned Babblers are the largest of the Australian babblers. Their crown is grey, with a slightly darker central stripe compared to the sides. The front, from throat to chest, is also grey, while the belly and vent are greyish-brown. The sides and back are also greyish-brown. The eyes are surrounded by a wide, dark-brown eye stripe that connects with the greyish-brown sides and flanks. The wings are also greyish-brown, with flight feathers that are darker than the rest of the body plumage. The long, wide tail is dark-grey, with a white terminal band. The eyes have pale-yellow irises. The long, slightly down-curved bill is black. The legs and feet are dark-grey. Juveniles have a more rufous tint in those body parts that are grey in adults. Twitcher's tip Grey-crowned Babblers are the only Australian babblers with a light-coloured crown. They are also the only Australian babblers that do not have black eyes.

Taxonomy, classification See Grey-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 based on sighting reports submitted by birdwatchers to ebird.org . The global distribution of the Grey-crowned Babbler is available HERE . Grey-crowned Babblers are found in Australia and in southern New Guinea. Of the two races of Grey-crowned Babblers, nominate race "temporalis" is found in QLD and NSW eastward of a line connecting the southern tip of the Gulf of Carpentaria with Bourke, NSW. They also live in the hill ranges of VIC, but not along the southern coastal fringe in VIC and NSW, up to the Hunter River valley. They are also not found on the coastal fringe around Townsville, QLD. Race "rubeculus", which is endemic to Australia, is found to the West of the tip of the Gulf of Carpentaria, roughly North of the tropic of Capricorn into the eastern NT. They also populate the entire Top End of the NT and the Kimberley in WA, plus an area around Alice Springs. Their range includes a large area of western WA, along the Gascoyne to Fitzroy Rivers and farther inland from there, to halfway to the NT border. Grey-crowned Babblers can be found in relatively dry forest and more open woodland, often also under (even single) trees with dense shrubs around/under them, including roadside vegetation.

Sightings Click here for sighting information Race "temporalis" Grey-crowned Babblers, race "temporalis", are the most common species of babbler in our area, in the North-West Slopes and Plains of NSW. They are usually found in family clans of 10-12 birds, often in roadside vegetation. Grey-crowned Babblers, race "temporalis", are seen by us regularly, but infrequently in various locations around Narrabri, e.g. 20 km South of Narrabri, Leard State Forest and also at Eulah Creek, 20 km East of Narrabri. They are often found by us in roadside vegetation, mostly along relatively quiet country roads. Although listed as vulnerable, we have found Grey-crowned Babblers, race "temporalis", in many different locations in inland NSW. M. Mearns reports spotting Grey-crowned Babblers, race "temporalis", at Bunya Mountains NP, QLD, in December 2015. Race "rubeculus" A Grey-crowned Babbler, race "rubeculus", was heard by us calling at Pine Creek, NT, in August 2014. J. Greaves reports spotting Grey-crowned Babblers, race "rubeculus", at Boolardy Station, Murchison, WA, in August 2016.

Photos

Race "temporalis"

ADULT

Frontal view of an adult Grey-crowned Babbler
[Eulah Creek, NSW, October 2012]

Frontal view of a Grey-crowned Babbler, different posture
[Eulah Creek, NSW, November 2012]

Near-frontal view of a Grey-crowned Babbler monitoring the sky for predators
[Eulah Creek, NSW, October 2012]

Near-frontal view of a Grey-crowned Babbler
[Narrabri, NSW, November 2010]

Lateral view of a Grey-crowned Babbler
[20 km South of Narrabri, NSW, 2006]

Lateral view of a Grey-crowned Babbler
[Narrabri, NSW, November 2010]

Dorsal view of a Grey-crowned Babbler
[Narrabri, NSW, November 2010]

Here a Grey-crowned Babbler seen foraging on the ground
[Eulah Creek, NSW, August 2011]

Whatever the Grey-crowned Babbler wanted, it had to dig it out of the soil
[Eulah Creek, NSW, August 2011]

Grey-crowned Babbler preening, seen against evening sunlight
[20 km South of Narrabri, NSW, August 2006]

A family of Grey-crowned Babblers has found something interesting
[Near Narrabri, NSW, 2005]

Family of Grey-crowned Babblers taking a bath (photo courtesy of R. Druce)

Grey-crowned Babblers are gregarious and inquisitive birds (photo courtesy of R. Druce)

Grey-crowned Babblers are gregarious and inquisitive birds (photo courtesy of R. Druce)

This Grey-crowned Babblers is fanning its tail, displaying the conspicuous white terminal band (photo courtesy of R. Druce)

Direct comparison of the size of a Grey-crowned Babbler with a Willie Wagtail
[Eulah Creek, NSW, September 2016]

IMMATURE/JUVENILE

Frontal view of a juvenile Grey-crowned Babbler preening (photo courtesy of R. Druce)

Lateral view of an immature Grey-crowned Babbler
[Deriah Aboriginal Area, NSW, September 2008]

Lateral view of the same Grey-crowned Babbler as shown above
[Deriah Aboriginal Area, NSW, September 2008]

Fledgling Grey-crowned Babbler, hardly able to fly and still stumbling along the branches of the tree in which it is hiding, while its parents go mad about the photographer in the vicinity
[Near Narrabri, NSW, October 2006]

Slightly different posture of the same fledgling Grey-crowned Babbler
[Near Narrabri, NSW, October 2006]

Race "rubeculus"

ADULT

Lateral view of an adult Grey-crowned Babbler - note the reddish tint on the bird's breast giving this race its name; this is one of the birds whose calls were recorded on 6 August 2016 (photo courtesy of J. Greaves)
[Boolardy Station, Murchison, WA, August 2016]

Lateral view of Grey-crowned Babblers (photo courtesy of J. Greaves)
[Boolardy Station, Murchison, WA, August 2016]

Breeding information

Breeding season: Jul - Feb

Eggs: 2 - 3

Incubation period: 17 - 25 days

Fledging age: 19 - 22 days

Nest

"bungobittah", "malunna" = nest [Aboriginal]

Type: Dome

Material: Sticks, with grass and/or feather lining

Height above ground: 4 - 7 m

Grey-crowned Babblers sometimes nest in the lower part of a larger bird's nest (e.g. a raven's or a raptor's). They are known to be communal breeders. When building their own nest, we have found them to have a preference for Cypress pines.

Grey-crowned Babblers' nest (photo courtesy of C. Hayne)

Grey-crowned Babblers' nest in unusual surroundings, namely in a plane tree in a garden; the location of this nest was kindly reported to us by J. Faris
[Narrabri, NSW, March 2009]

Unusual Grey-crowned Babblers' nest, in an almost horizontal branch of an eucalypt tree above a dirt road
[Near Kenebri, NSW, January 2016]

This Grey-crowned Babbler nest was pinched by a pair of Blue-faced Honeyeaters (photo courtesy of R. Russell)
[Mount Molloy, QLD, June 2008]

Eggs

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

Size: 22 x 16 mm

Colour: Light-brown with strong colour pattern

Shape: Tapered oval

Behaviour

Social behaviour: Territorial

Mobility: Sedentary

Elementary unit: Family clan

Grey-crowned Babblers are gregarious birds that are almost always on the move and busy with something. Quite often they are seen by us together with a mob of Apostlebirds.

Grey-crowned Babbler TLC - these two birds are part of the clan whose calls were recorded on 5 February 2015
[Yarrie Lake, NSW, February 2015]

Many family units are happy to live in very little dense vegetation by roadsides, often with only one sufficiently large tree to provide them with shelter. In late October 2005 we spotted six separate groups in the area of Yarrie Lake and Bohena, West to South-West of Narrabri, along roadsides over a distance of only 20 km.

Food, Diet

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

Lateral view of a Grey-crowned Babbler that has caught a bush cockroach
[Eulah Creek, NSW, October 2012]

Grey-crowned Babbler taking water from a bird bath
[Eulah Creek, NSW, January 2014]

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.

grcrbab_20150205.mp3	temporalis (NW NSW)	Contact calls?	© MD
grcrbab_20141128.mp3	temporalis (NW NSW)	Q&A (various)	© MD
grcrbab_20150205_5.mp3	temporalis (NW NSW)	Alarm calls?	© MD
grcrbab_20150429.mp3	temporalis (NW NSW)	Clan bonding?	© MD
grcrbab_20141206_1.mp3	temporalis (NW NSW)	Begging calls (juvenile)?	© MD
grcrbab_20141206.mp3	temporalis (NW NSW)	Various	© MD
grcrbab_20150205_2.mp3	temporalis (NW NSW)	?	© MD
grcrbab_20150205_3.mp3	temporalis (NW NSW)	?	© MD
grcrbab_20150205_4.mp3	temporalis (NW NSW)	?	© MD
grcrbab_20150205_6.mp3	temporalis (NW NSW)	?	© MD
grcrbab_jg_20160806.mp3	rubeculus (central WA)	Contact calls?	© JG

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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