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19

Hall's Babbler (Pomatostomus halli) Size: 23-25 cm Weight: 30-45 g

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Similar species

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

Physical description Click here for a physical description Hall's Babblers are medium-sized babblers. Their plumage is very dark brown throughout, except for a white patch on throat and upper chest, long and wide white eyebrows and a wide white terminal band on the tail. Head and uppertail are the darkest parts, being near-black. 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 Compared with White-browed Babblers, they are darker of colour and have more colour contrast in their facial masks.

Taxonomy, classification See Hall's 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 Hall's 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. Hall's Babbler is endemic to the interior of the Australian continent. Hall's Babblers exist only in south-western inland QLD, from the Channel Country into the Paroo River catchment, where their range extends farther South into north-western NSW, to about the northern bank of the Darling River roughly from Menindee to Bourke, NSW. Hall's Babblers have a preference for mainly elevated ridges in dry acacia scrub (e.g. Acacia cambagei) and dry eucalypt woodland.

Sightings Click here for sighting information B. Hensen reports spotting Hall's Babblers at Bowra Wildlife Sanctuary, near Cunnamulla, QLD, in October 2012. M. Eaton reports finding Hall's Babblers at Bowra Wildlife Sanctuary, near Cunnamulla, QLD, in August 2018 and again in June 2019.

Photos

ADULT

Sex unknown

Near-frontal view of a Hall's Babbler (photo courtesy of M. Eaton)
[Bowra Wildlife Sanctuary, near Cunnamulla, QLD, June 2019]

Near-frontal view of a Hall's Babbler (photo courtesy of M. Eaton)
[Bowra Wildlife Sanctuary, near Cunnamulla, QLD, June 2019]

Near-lateral view of a Hall's Babbler (photo courtesy of M. Eaton)
[Bowra Wildlife Sanctuary, near Cunnamulla, QLD, June 2019]

Lateral view of a Hall's Babbler (photo courtesy of M. Eaton)
[Bowra Wildlife Sanctuary, near Cunnamulla, QLD, June 2019]

Near-dorsal view of a Hall's Babbler (photo courtesy of M. Eaton)
[Bowra Wildlife Sanctuary, near Cunnamulla, QLD, June 2019]

Clan of Hall's Babblers foraging on the ground (photo courtesy of M. Eaton)
[Bowra Wildlife Sanctuary, near Cunnamulla, QLD, August 2018]

Clan of Hall's Babblers foraging on the ground (photo courtesy of M. Eaton)
[Bowra Wildlife Sanctuary, near Cunnamulla, QLD, August 2018]

Breeding information

Breeding season: June - Oct

Eggs: 2

Incubation period: 17 - 19 days

Fledging age: 17 - 21 days

Hall's Babblers can be, but are not always, communal breeders. More than one female may incubate the eggs and there can be more than one brood in a season.

Nest building: Female

Incubation: Female(s)

Dependent care: Family clan

The clan will preen and feed the incubating female during breaks from the incubation duties.

Nest

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

Type: Dome

Material: Sticks; grass, feather, fur lining

Height above ground: 3 - 8 m

Hall's Babblers' nest
[Bowra Wildlife Sanctuary, near Cunnamulla, QLD, June 2019]

Eggs

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

Size: 23 x 17 mm

Colour: Dark rusty-brownish, heavily lined/streaked

Shape: Tapered oval

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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Disclaimer: Comments are always welcome. We give no guarantee that the information presented on these pages is always correct or up-to-date. External links are marked as such and we take no responsibility for the contents of external pages. All images on this site are protected by copyright & used by permission of the respective owners. If you wish to reproduce them or any of the material presented on this web site, please contact us: We hereby acknowledge the original custodians of the land which is described on these pages, including the Gomeroi/Gamilaraay people of the North-west Slopes and Plains of NSW, and the traditional owners of other lands and nations within this country. We acknowledge elders past, present and emerging. Sovereignty was never ceded.          Last updated: Wed, 26 June 2019, 21:41 +00:00