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Palawan Babbler Malacopteron palawanense 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

17–18 cm; 28–37 g. Medium-sized olive-brown and buffy hook-billed babbler with dull rufescent forecrown, rump and tail. Forecrown is dull rufescent brown with vague blackish scaling, becoming browner on hindcrown and nape; mantle, scapulars and back rufescent olive-brown, shading darker on upperwing and to dull rufous on rump and tail; lores, supercilium and area around eye ashy grey, ear-coverts and lower face pale greyish-tan with vague buffy shaft streaks and grey flecks, submoustachial area greyish with whitish flecks; chin, throat and upper breast silky white with very indistinct and sparse grey streaking, breast and flanks greyish-buff, shading paler and buffier on mid-belly; iris yellow to almost white; upper mandible black, lower mandible paler; legs greyish slate-blue. Sexes similar. Juvenile apparently undescribed.

Systematics History

Sometimes thought to be possibly conspecific with M. magnum. Monotypic.

Subspecies

Monotypic.

Distribution

Palawan and Balabac, in W Philippine Is.

Habitat

Primary and old secondary lowland evergreen forest, bamboo, forest edge, usually in tangles and vines in middle storey or in tops of low trees; lowlands to perhaps 100 m.

Movement

Resident.

Diet and Foraging

No information on diet; presumably small invertebrates and some vegetable matter. Forages singly or in small groups, rather sluggishly, in middle and sometimes lower storey; disturbs prey from bunches of dead leaves trapped in bamboo canopy.

Sounds and Vocal Behavior

Song a loud series of mournful clear whistles increasing in volume, with alternating high and low notes, e.g. “hi-hu-hi-hu-hi” or “hi-hu-hi-hu-hi-hu-hi”, accompanied by stressed antiphonal harsh whiplash, “whit-whit-whit-whit”, or slightly uneven weak “chi-chi-chi-chi-chi”, sometimes given by more than one other bird.

Breeding

Birds in breeding condition in Feb–Mar and May. No other information.

Conservation Status

Conservation status on Birdlife NT Near Threatened
Not globally threatened. Currently considered Near-threatened. Restricted-range species: present in Palawan EBA. Formerly considered Endangered. Uncommon. Possibly an extreme lowland-forest specialist, but in mid-1990s reported as being at good densities in remaining pockets of such habitat. Not known to be present in St Paul’s Subterranean River National Park, however, and best “protected” area for it is apparently Iwahig Penal Colony, outside Puerto Princesa.
Distribution of the Palawan Babbler - Range Map
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  • Year-round
  • Migration
  • Breeding
  • Non-Breeding
Distribution of the Palawan Babbler

eBird and Macaulay Library

Recommended Citation

Collar, N. and C. Robson (2020). Palawan Babbler (Malacopteron palawanense), 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.palbab1.01
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