Grey-crowned Babbler.
Photo: K Vang and W Dabrowka © Bird Explorers
Grey-crowned Babbler with nesting material.
Photo: K Vang and W Dabrowka © Bird Explorers
Pair of young Grey-crowned Babblers.
Photo: K Vang and W Dabrowka © Bird Explorers
Distribution map of Pomatostomus temporalis
Map © Birds Australia Birdata
Grey-crowned Babbler
Scientific name: Pomatostomus temporalis
Family: Pomatostomidae
Order: Passeriformes
- Featured Bird Groups
- Small insect-eating birds
What does it look like?
Description
The Grey-crowned Babbler is the largest of Australia's four babbler species. It is dark brown-grey above, with a distinctive grey crown stripe and a dark face mask that contrasts with a white eyebrow. The chin and throat are white, running into a pale grey lower breast. It has a long, curved bill, short rounded wings with cinnamon brown wing patches and a long tail tipped white. The eye is pale yellow in adults. There is a darker-coloured subspecies, rubeculus, in north-western Australia (often called the Red-breasted Babbler), that has a rufous lower breast and darker crown stripe. The Grey-crowned Babbler is a noisy and gregarious bird, usually found in small groups of four to twelve, and is often seen on the ground or in low trees. It is sometimes called the Yahoo, after one of its calls.
Go to Grey-crowned Babbler surveySimilar species
The Grey-crowned Babbler lacks the dark crown of other babblers and has a yellow rather than a dark eye.
Where does it live?
Distribution
The Grey-crowned Babbler is widespread throughout north-western, northern, central and eastern Australia. It is also found in Papua New Guinea.
Habitat
The Grey-crowned Babbler is found in open forests and woodlands, favouring inland plains with an open shrub layer, little ground cover and plenty of fallen timber and leaf litter. May be seen along roadsides and around farms. In south-east Melbourne, small populations survive on golf courses.
Seasonal movements
Sedentary.
What does it do?
Feeding
Grey-crowned Babblers feed on insects and other invertebrates and sometimes eat seeds. They forage in groups of two to fifteen birds on the ground among leaf litter, around fallen trees and from the bark of shrubs and trees (they tend to use trees more than other babblers).
Breeding
Grey-crowned Babblers live and breed in co-operative territorial groups of two to fifteen birds (usually four to twelve). Groups normally consist of a primary breeding pair along with several non-breeding birds (sometimes groups may contain two breeding pairs or two females that both breed). Most members of the group help to build nests, with the primary female contributing the most effort. Two types of nest are built: roost-nests (usually larger and used by the whole group) and brood-nests (for the breeding females), and often old nest sites are renovated and re-used from year to year. The large domed nests are placed in a tree fork 4 m - 7 m high and are made of thick sticks with projections that make a hood and landing platform for the entrance tunnel. The nest chamber is lined with soft grass, bark, wool and feathers. The brooding female (sometimes more than one) is fed by the other group members and all help to feed the nestlings. Larger groups tend to raise more young, and two broods are usually raised per season.
Living with us
Living with humans
Grey-crowned Babbler populations have declined throughout their range as a result of land-clearing practices that leave habitats fragmented. When groups become isolated, numbers decline to a level where they cannot continue to successfully breed. Habitat degradation is also a factor in declines, with fuel-reduction burning, grazing, weed invasions and removal of timber decreasing leaf litter build-up, which then reduces the amount of invertebrate food available. Eastern populations are near threatened, while they are classified as endangered in Victoria and South Australia. It is locally extinct in the south-eastern region of South Australia. Overall populations have declined by 95% since European settlement.
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References
Pizzey, G. and Knight, F. 1997. Field Guide to the Birds of Australia. Angus and Robertson, Sydney.
Schodde, R. and Tideman, S.C. (eds) 1990. Reader's Digest Complete Book of Australian Birds (2nd Edition). Reader's Digest (Australia) Pty Ltd, Sydney.
Morcombe, M. 2000. Field guide to Australian Birds. Steve Parish Publishing.
Simpson, K and Day, N. 1999. Field guide to the birds of Australia, 6th Edition. Penguin Books, Australia.
Higgins, P.J. and J.M. Peter (eds) 2002. Handbook of Australian, New Zealand and Antarctic Birds, Volume 6: Pardalotes to Shrike-thrushes. Oxford University Press, Melbourne.