Arabian Babbler Argya squamiceps Scientific name definitions

26–29 cm. Fairly large, long-tailed, drab grey-brown Turdoides babbler with dark streaks and pale scaling on crown, back and neck side. Nominate race has crown (including superciliary area), upper­parts, upperwing and tail dusty grey-brown, crown to mantle with blackish-centred grey-edged feathers, very dense on crown (where scaly effect most obvious), much sparser and weaker on upperparts; lores, cheek, ear-coverts, submoustachial area and neck side dusty grey-brown with pale buffy-grey stippling; chin and throat grey-tinged white, breast pinkish-tinged pale brownish-grey with dark shaft streaks and vague narrow grey edges, all becoming less distinct on belly and entirely plain, with slight pearly-pinkish tinge, on flanks, thighs and vent; iris typically pale yellow, but ranges to brown; bill brown to dark horn; legs greenish-yellow to dull yellow. Sexes similar, female has bill yellowish-horn with dark tip, iris ochre to brown. Juvenile is paler than adult, with weaker dark markings. Race <em>muscatensis</em> is slightly darker grey, less brown, and smaller than nominate; yemensis is also smaller, and distinctly darker, with chin and throat greyer.

Editor's Note: This article requires further editing work to merge existing content into the appropriate Subspecies sections. Please bear with us while this update takes place.

Also (race unknown) E Yemen to S Oman.

Editor's Note: Additional distribution information for this taxon can be found in the 'Subspecies' article above. In the future we will develop a range-wide distribution article.

Small trees, thickets and bushy areas, including saltbush, acacia stands, date-palm groves and tamarisk clumps, adjacent to arid open semi-desert and desert country, also saltmarsh, and especially water sources, agricultural settlements, vineyards and gardens. Mostly in lowlands; sea-level to 2000 m in Oman, to 2800 m in Yemen.

Resident. In Israel, individuals may move only a few kilometres from their parental territories. In C Arabia can be rare in Nov–Jan, suggesting that there is some degree of winter dispersal; in S Oman disperses into desert after breeding, with groups reassembling in following spring.

Diet consists of invertebrates, including crickets (Orthoptera), termites (Isoptera), ant-lion larvae (Myrmeleonidae), caterpillars, moths and butterflies (Lepidoptera), ants and wasps (Hymenoptera), adult and larval beetles (Coleoptera), spiders (Araneae), ticks (Acari), scorpions (Scorpiones) and centipedes (Chilopoda); also some small vertebrates such as lizards (including geckos), snakes up to 20 cm long, and perhaps small mammals; also berries of Ochadrenus, Lycium, Nitraria, Loranthus and Ziziphus, flowers of Compositae, seeds (including of sorghum), nectar of Loranthus, fleshy leaves of Rumex; scraps of bread and other domestic waste also accepted. Forages in groups of up to c. 25 individuals, sometimes even more. Feeds on ground and low down in undergrowth, digging in soil, and turning over stones, faeces and leaves; also strips bark and probes branches.

Song of male, heard just before and after copulation, a high quiet warble; subsong variation given by young birds on sentinel duty or while feeding. No chorus call, but long-distance contact a ringing whistle , “psee-oo, psee-oo”, given in many contexts, including to assemble group or when challenging another group; prolonged sibilant “tsee-tsee-trrrrrr” or “sississirrr” trill given by individual to advertise its status when approaching another. Wide further vocabulary, dependent on social context.

Feb–Jul in Israel, May in United Arab Emirates and Mar–Apr in Oman; up to four broods may be produced by one female per season; dry conditions depress breeding activity in desert areas, but not near human settlements. Co-operative breeder, living throughout year in social groups of 2–23 (usually 6–13) individuals in territories of 0·2–1 km²; groups may be simple (with single breeding male), or multi-male (several males compete for or mate with new dominant female, subsequently reverting to simple structure as one male achieves dominance), or complex (several females and several males breeding together following break-up of previous structure owing to death and/or invasion). Nest, built mainly by dominant male and female, often assisted by other group-members, a large, untidy, rather deep cup, sometimes slightly domed, made of grasses, rootlets, twigs, bark and similar dead material, unlined or lined with some hair and a few feathers, placed up to 7 m above ground in tree fork, crown of bush or similar sheltered site; only one active nest in group territory at any one time. Clutch laid by dominant female 3–5 eggs (other females often lay in same nest, so that nest can contain 6–13 eggs), plain turquoise; incubation by all females in group, period 14–15 days; chicks brooded and fed by all of group, nestling period 14 days, sometimes 17–19 days; fledglings fed by all group-members for up to c. 8 weeks; c. 30% of males remain in and inherit natal breeding group and territory, while c. 50% move to adjacent territory (most dominant son in group typically invades neighbouring territory, taking with him younger male siblings except second-ranking son, which stays in natal group); most females disperse to other groups at 2–4 years (typically in small party led by dominant daughter with younger female siblings or widowed mother), 50% settling in neighbouring territory while others may cross 3–4 territories. Single-female clutches generally more successful than multiple-female clutches, owing to egg breakages by disputing females and to smothering of late-hatching chicks by older nestlings; much nest failure due to intra-group and inter-group conflict, also to predation by snakes and, to lesser extent, Southern Grey Shrike (Lanius meridionalis). Age of first breeding 2 years, although many individuals not until much later, e.g. 6 years. Oldest ringed individual at least 15 years; annual mortality of first-years 32–62%.

Not globally threatened. Local breeder in E Sinai, in Egypt. In Israel, locally fairly common from Dead Sea S into Negev Desert, numbers having expanded since 1950s in response to human colonization and agricultural settlement; rough estimate suggests a few hundred groups present in country, with total of 17 groups in 65 km² in S Arava in 1985, and 15–23 groups (totalling 65–220 individuals) in 25 km² around Hazeva in 1979–1983. Widespread but local, and relatively uncommon in Oman.