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Chestnut-faced Babbler Zosterornis whiteheadi Scientific name definitions

Nigel Collar and Craig Robson
Version: 1.0 — Published March 4, 2020
Text last updated January 1, 2007

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Originally Appeared in

HBW Alive

Field Identification

15 cm; 17–27 g. Olive-green babbler, yellowish below, with dull grey crown and dull chestnut face. Nominate race has forehead, lores, narrow supercilium (to just behind eye), ear-coverts, cheek, submousta­chial area, malar and chin dull rusty chestnut, thin darker eyebrow line inside super­cilium; forecrown whitish and grey, shading to dull medium grey on mid-crown to hindneck and to olive-green on upperparts; upperwing and tail greyish-brown with olive-green fringing; mid-throat and belly to vent yellow, breast and flanks tinged olive; iris brown to dark brown, white eyering broken at front; bill black; legs olive or olive-green. Sexes similar. Juvenile apparently undescribed. Race sorsogonensis has crown, supercilium and ear-coverts edged with black.

Systematics History

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.

Morphologically, genus Zosterornis could be restricted to this species, its type, under which arrangement the remaining (striped) taxa would require a new genus name (1). Two subspecies recognized.

Subspecies

SUBSPECIES

Zosterornis whiteheadi whiteheadi Scientific name definitions

Distribution

N and C Luzon, in N Philippines.
SUBSPECIES

Zosterornis whiteheadi sorsogonensis Scientific name definitions

Distribution

SE Luzon.

Distribution

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.

Habitat

Montane mossy forest, broadleaf evergreen forest, pine forest, open forest, secondary growth, scrub, tangled masses of high grass and small trees on mountainsides. Usually above 800 m (mainly above 1000 m), occasionally down to 100 m, and extending to 2600 m; abundant above 1400 m.

Movement

Resident; records from Dalton Pass (migration bottleneck in C Luzon) suggest that some type of local displacement may occur, improbable as this seems.

Diet and Foraging

Seeds, fruit, small beetles (Coleoptera) and spiders (Araneae). Found singly, in pairs or in parties of up to 30 individuals, often in association with other species in mixed flocks. Usually feeds in middle to lower levels of vegetation but frequently ascends to canopy. Drinks water held in pitcher-plants.

Sounds and Vocal Behavior

Call/song a loud, rapid, busy twittering of snappy sharp metallic notes, usually in long series and used as contact call by flock-members, “chip chip chip chip”, 4–5 per second, interspersed with 4–6 alternating “pe-chu pe-chu pe-chu pe-chu”, many birds calling simultaneously.

Breeding

Birds in breeding condition in Apr–Jun. No other information.

Conservation Status

Conservation status on Birdlife LC Least Concern
Not globally threatened. Formerly considered Near-threatened. Restricted-range species: present in Luzon EBA. Common in Sierra Madre above 800 m, and abundant in mossy forests throughout range. Apparently able to survive in secondary growth and scrub. Present in areas under varying types of protection, notably Northern Sierra Madre Natural Park and Mount Isarog National Park.
Distribution of the Chestnut-faced Babbler - Range Map
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  • Year-round
  • Migration
  • Breeding
  • Non-Breeding
Distribution of the Chestnut-faced Babbler

eBird and Macaulay Library

Recommended Citation

Collar, N. and C. Robson (2020). Chestnut-faced Babbler (Zosterornis whiteheadi), version 1.0. In Birds of the World (J. del Hoyo, A. Elliott, J. Sargatal, D. A. Christie, and E. de Juana, Editors). Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, NY, USA. https://doi.org/10.2173/bow.chfbab1.01
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