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| Jerdon's Babbler Chrysomma altirostre griseigulare
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| Photographer : | © Pritam Baruah |
| Location : | Dibru Saikhowa National Park, Assam, India |
| Date : |
24 December 2007 |
| English synonyms: | Jerdon's Moupinia, Sind Babbler (scindicum), Hume's Babbler (griseigularis) |
| Bird Family : | Timaliidae - Babblers, Babaxes, Mesia, Leiothrix, Cutias, Barwings, Minlas, Fulvettas, Crociases, Sibias, Yuhinas, Myzornis, Parrotbills & Rhabdornises |
| Bird Group : | PASSERIFORMES |
| Red Data Status : | Vulnerable |
| Remarks : | This was one of the highlights from my three weeks of birding in North East India. We were taking a little tea break at a forest camp on the trail to Kolomi. The camp was near the bank of a shallow water channel that we had just waded across. The surrounding grassland was small but dense and at places, quite tall. The biscuits and tea were going fast when all of a sudden we heard the loud unmistakable call of a Jerdon's Babbler nearby. The visibility was very good because the camp was on stilts. From our vantage point, we soon located a skulking Jerdon's Babbler not too far away. I decided to track the birds down so I walked through the grassland with a forest guard and played back the call at a place where the grass was very tall. Initially, they responded poorly but after sometime, a small flock luckily passed by very close to me. They were accompanied by some Chestnut Capped Babblers.
This species is severely threatened across it entire range and is now considered highly localized. A small population survives in the remaining grasslands of the Brahmaputra valley. - PB |
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