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LAUGHINGTHRUSH and Allies

Order Passeriformes    Family Leiothrichidae

The laughingthrushes are a family of mostly Old World passerine birds. These are birds of tropical areas, with the greatest variety in Southeast Asia and the Indian Subcontinent. The entire family was previously included in the Timaliidae, the Old World babblers. Some birds in Leiothrichidaeare are also called babbler's.

They are small to medium sized birds. They have strong legs, and many are quite terrestrial. They typically have generalised bills, similar to those of a thrush. Most have predominantly brown plumage, with minimal difference between the sexes, but many more brightly coloured species also exist. They are vocally noisy birds.

The Leiothrichidae are divided in this presention as follows
Babbler: babax, babbler, chatterer
Fulvetta : cutia, fulvetta
Laughingthrush: babax, hwamei, laughingthrush
Other : barwing, leiothrix, liocichla, mesia, minia, sibia


BABBLERS and Allies

The Leiothrichidae babblers used to be included in the Timaliidae, the Old World babblers.

Genus Babax
Also placed in genus Garrulax or Ianthocincla

Babax, Chinese  Babax lanceolatus  Found: China, Hong Kong, India, Myanmar
Image by: 1) Sylvere_Corre


Babax, Giant   Babax waddelli   Found: India, Tibet
Image by: 1) Johan Bosch  2) Frode Falkenberg


Babax, Tibetan   Babax koslowi  Found: China
Image by: 1) Tang Jun



Genus Turdoides
The Turdoides species are distributed mainly in southern Asia with some also in Africa. They are typically fairly large, long-tailed birds which forage in noisy groups. The majority of species have drab brown or gaey-brown plumage. Most babbvlers do not migrate.

Babbler,_Afghan   Turdoides huttoni   Found: Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan
Similar to: Common Babbler. Afghan Babbler has streaked underparts; Common Babbler has unstreaked underparts; white throat.
Similar to: Iraq Babbler. Afghan Babbler has streaked underparts; Iraq Babbler has unstreaked underparts.
Image by: 1) Telegro - Kuwait


Babbler,_Arabian   Turdoides squamiceps   Found: Middle East
The Arabian Babbler has gray-brown upperparts; paler underparts; dark streaks on back; whitish throat.
Image by: 1) Yoavd  2) Sergey Yeliseev - Israel  3) Artemy_Voikhansky  - Israel  4) Yitzchak_Ben_Mocha


Babbler,_Arrow-marked  Turdoides jardineii  Found: Africa 
The Arrow-marked Babbler has brownish-gray upperparts; lighter underparts. White tips to feathers on head, neck, breast give arrow look.
Similar to: Brown Babbler. The arrow-like marking on the Arrow-marked Babbler are more pronounced thanon the Brown Babbler.
Image by: 1) Alan Manson - South Africa   2) Joseph Mochoge - Kenya  3) Derek_Keats - Zimbabwe 4) Bernard_Dupont Zimbabwe 


Babbler,_Bare-cheeked  Turdoides gymnogenys Found: Angola, Namibia
Image by: 1) Ron Knight - Namibia    2) Jerry Oldenettel - Namibia  3) Cristiano Crolle - Etosha Nat.Park, Namibia


Babbler,_Blackcap  Turdoides reinwardtii   Found: Africa
The Blackcap Babbler has dark gray-brown upperparts; brownish-black head; white eye-ring; white throat, underparts; rounded tail.
Image by: 1) Charles_J_Sharp - Gambia  2) Frans_Vandewalle - Gambia  3) lohman-braun - Gambia


Babbler,_Black-faced Turdoides melanops  Found: Angola, Botswana, Namibia
The Black-lored Babbler has mainly gray-brown plumage with white mottling on head, underparts; black lores, white or yellow eyes. The Black-lored Babbler and Black-faced Babbler were previously conspecific. Their ranges do not overlap.
Image by:  1) Ron_Knight - Namibia  2) Jerry_Oldenettel - Namibia


Babbler,_Black_Lored also Sharpe's Pied Babbler Turdoides sharpei  Found: Burundi, DR Congo,Kenya, Rwanda, Tansania
The Black-lored Babbler has mainly gray-brown plumage with white mottling on head, underparts; black lores, white or yellow eyes. The Black-lored Babbler and Black-faced Babbler were previously conspecific. Their ranges do not overlap.
Image by: 1) Darren Bellerby- Kenya    2) Dick Daniels - Tanzania. Identified by Paul Tavares  3) Sumeet Moghe - Kenya   4) Nik_Borrow - Tanzania


Babbler,_Brown Turdoides plebejus   Found: central Africa
The Brown Babbler has gray-brown upperparts; bronze-brown wings; gray underparts with white speckled breast; whitish flanks.
Similar to: Arrow-marked Babbler. The arrow-like marking on the Arrow-marked Babbler are more pronounced thanon the Brown Babbler.
Image by: 1) Steve Garvie - Gambia  2) Peter Steward - Kenya  3) Francesco_Veronesi - Kenya  4) Frans_Vandewalle


Babbler,_Capuchin Phyllanthus atripennis  also Turdoides atripennis Found: Africa
Image by: 1) Joseph Smit  2) Nathan Rupert  3) Pinned


Babbler,_Common   Turdoides caudata   Found: Pakistan, India, Bangladesh
The Common Babbler has buff to gray upperparts with dark streaking; underside paler and unstreaked; whitish throat.
Similar to: Afghan Babbler. Afghan Babbler has streaked underparts; Common Babbler has unstreaked underparts; white throat.
Image by: 1, 2) JM Garg - India  3) Aaron_Maizlish - India  4) Tarique_Sani


Babbler,_Dusky  Turdoides tenebrosa   Found: Africa
Image by: 1) Volker Sthamer


Babbler,_Hartlaub's  Turdoides hartlaubii   Found: Africa
Similar to: Scaly Babbler. Scaly Babbler has darker face than Hartlaub's Babbler.
Image by: 1) Lip Kee - Botswana  2) Bernd Hinrichsen - southern Africa  3) Ian White- Botswana


Babbler,_Hinde's     Found: Kenya
Image by: 1) Francesco Veronesi  2) Peter Steward


Babbler,_Iraq   Turdoides altirostris   Found: Iraq, Iran, India (rare)
Similar to: Afghan Babbler. Afghan Babbler has streaked underparts; Iraq Babbler has unstreaked underparts.
Image by: 1) JM Garg - India  2) Wildlife Fred


Babbler,_Jungle  Turdoides striata  Found: Asia
The Jungle Babbler has brownish-gray upperparts; slightly paler underparts; yellow bill.
Similar to: Large-gray Babbler. The Large-gray Babbler has a much longer tail than the Jungle Babbler and it also has some white outer tail feathers.
Similar to: Yellow-billed Babbler. The Yellow-billed Babbler has a mottled breast; Jungle Babbler does not.
Image by: 1) J M Garg - India  2) Anirban_Chakraborty  3) Nishad_Hussain_Kaippally


Babbler,_Large Gray   Turdoides malcolmi   Found: India, Nepal
The Large Gray Babbler has grayish-brown upperparts; dark lores; gray forehead, rump; yellow eyes; lower mandible lighter than upper; long tail.
Similar to: Jungle Babbler. The Large-gray Babbler has a much longer tail than the Jungle Babbler and it also has some white outer tail feathers.
Image by: 1) L_Shyamal  2) Charles_J_Sharp  3, 4) JM Garg - India 


Babbler,_Northern_Pied-  Turdoides hypoleuca  Found: Kenya, Tanzania
Image by: 1) Dick Daniels - Kenya  2) Sergey Yeliseev - Kenya  3) Valentina_Storti - Kenya  4) EcologyWeb - Kenya
1) Identified by Jose Mochoge


Babbler,_Orange-billed  Turdoides rufescens  Found: Sri Lanka
The Orange-billed Babbler has dark brown upperparts; orane-brown underparts; gray crown, nape; orange bill.
Image by:1) Lain Robson  2) Raveen and Varuni  3) Rehman_Abubakr


Babbler,_Red-collared Mountain-  Turdoides rufocinctus  Found: Burundi, the Congo, Rwanda, Uganda
Image by: 1) John Caddick


Babbler,_Rufous  Turdoides subrufa  Found: Western Ghats of southern India
The Rufous Babbler has dark olive-brown upperparts; rufous underparts; gray forehead; dark lores.
Image by: 1) NA Naseer  2) Faisalmagnet  3) Alastair_Rae


Babbler,_Scaly  Turdoides squamulata   Found: Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia
Similar to: Scaly Hartlaub's. Scaly Babbler has darker face than Hartlaub's Babbler.
Image by: 1) Steve Garvie - Ethiopia


Babbler,_Slender-billed   Turdoides longirostris   Found: India, Myanmar, Nepal
Image by: 1)) Nejib_Ahmed - India


Babbler,_Southern Pied  Turdoides bicolor   Found: Botswana, Namibia, South Africa, Zimbabwe
The Southern Pied Babbler has mainly white plumage; black wings, tail; yellow eyes.
Image by: 1, 2) Derek Keats - South Africa  3) Monkey Boy  4) Alex Thompson


Babbler,_Spiny  Turdoides nipalensis  Found: Nepal
Image by: 1) Jyotendra Thakuri - Nepal  2) Creepanta


Babbler,_Striated Turdoides earlei  Foiund: southern Asia
Image by: 1) Munish_Jauhar  2) Aaron_Maizlish - India  3) Nick_Athanas - Myanmar  4) Imran_Shah - Pakistan


Babbler,_White-headed  also Cretzschmar's Babbler  Turdoides leucocephala   Found: Eritrea, Ethiopia, Sudan
Image by:   1, 2) Nik_Borrow - Ethiopia


Babbler,_White-rumped Turdoides leucopygia   Found: Eritrea, Ethiopia, Somalia, South Sudan
Image by:1) Sergey Yeliseev - Ethiopia  2) GrahamC57 - Ethiopia  3) Nik_Borrow - Ethiopia


Babbler,_White-throated Mountain-  also White-throated Babbler  Kupeornis gilberti also Turdoides gilberti Found: Cameroon, Nigeria
Image by: 1) Marcel Holyoak - Cameroon


Babbler,_White-throated   Turdoides gularis   Found: Burma (Myanmar)
Image by: 1) MarnixR  2) Martin_Grimm  3) Nick_Athanas


Babbler,_Yellow-billed  Turdoides affinis   Found: southern India, Sri Lanka
The Yellow-billed Babbler has brownish-gray upperparts; slightly paler underparts; yellow bill; mottled breast.
Similar to: Jungle Babbler. The Yellow-billed Babbler has a mottled breast; Jungle Babbler does not.
Image by: 1) Peter_Steward - India  2) Mr_Bird_Brain  3, 4) JM Garg- India  5) yim hafiz 4)



Chatterer,_Fulvous also Fulvous Babbler   Turdoides fulva Found: Africa
The Fulvous Chatter has brown upperparts with faint streaking on crow2n and back; paler underparts; whitish throat.
Image by: 1) Brendan_Ryan - western Sahara  2) Opisska


Chatterer,_Rufous  Turdoides rubiginosa  Found: Africa
Image by: 1)  Dick Daniels - specimen in Nairobi National Museum, Kenya  2) Yathin - Tanzania  3) Dave Curtis - Kenya  4) Nik_Borrow. - Tanzania


Chatterer,_Scaly  Turdoides aylmeri  Found: Africa
Image by: 1) Dick Daniels - specimen in Nairobi National Museum, Kenya  2, 3) Peter Steward - Kenya  4) Nik_Borrow - Ethiopia







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