ID CHALLENGE 28 September 2020 P Plate by Karen Weil
Who is this handsome bird? Seen and photographed by Karen Weil at Hattah Kulkyne NP, north-western Victoria in November.
Size: medium. Behaviour: Flying about mostly close to the ground, from shrub to shrub.
Solution:
The first step in identifying this bird is the characteristic down-curved bill, and this indicates the identification of this bird as a babbler.
In Victoria we have 3 of the 4 species of the Australian Babbler, family Pomatastomidae. Each is unique in their own way.
The Babbler family are incredibly social and usually travel in groups of 6-20. You can identify them by their chatter as they bounce and glide between bushes. Their incessant chatter sounds like they are constantly gossiping about what it going on around them.
The guide book illustrations do not do this particular species justice. It was not until I saw and photographed this particular species of babbler that I say that it is clearly identifiable from the other two species in Victoria. There is no way it can be confused with the White-browed Babbler. (I spent many a day trying to turn a White-browed Babbler into a Chestnut-crowned until I actually saw one)
If you deduced that this is the Chestnut-crowned Babbler, you are correct. The suffused rufous in the brow of this particular bird points to this bird being a juvenile.
The discernible differences to the White-browed Babbler are i) the crown of the head is chestnut as opposed to brown; ii) the dark border around the white chest; and, ii) the prominent white wing bars as shown in the second photo I have added here.
The pic below, even though heavily cropped and in strong contrast, shows a White-browed Babbler – clearly lacking the white wing bars and dark border to white chest.
The crown of the Chestnut-crowned Babbler glows a dark chestnut in the sun and it quite prominent. Unfortunately, my photos did not come out due to their constant movement and I was unable to focus the camera in time to show this beautiful aspect of this bird.
The conservation status of the Chestnut-crowned Babbler is Least Concern, however the population is decreasing. Read more about them here: https://birdlife.org.au/bird-profile/chestnut-crowned-babbler
More pics and calls here: https://ebird.org/species/chcbab2
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