Explore Taxonomy
Order
Passeriformes
Family
Leiothrichidae
Genus
Turdoides
Surprise Me
Previous Bare-cheeked Babbler
Next Blackcap Babbler
- Cretzschmar's Babbler
© Zlatan Celebic
- Cretzschmar's Babbler
- Cretzschmar's Babbler
- Cretzschmar's Babbler
- Cretzschmar's Babbler

Cretzschmar's Babbler Turdoides leucocephala Scientific name definitions

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

Sign in to see your badges

Originally Appeared in

HBW Alive

Field Identification

22–25 cm. Medium-sized greyish-brown Turdoides babbler with white hood and black bill. Head and chin are off-white, cleanly defined from nape and throat, but with blackish bare skin from lores to around and behind eye, and ear-coverts appearing greyer owing to thinness of white feathers over black skin; plain pale greyish-brown upperparts, slightly paler on rump, upperwing and tail brown, tail darker distally; neck side grey-brown, throat and upper breast greyish-brown with narrow buffy-white scaling, lower breast to vent paler buffish-brown; iris yellow; bill black; legs greyish. Sexes similar. Juvenile has crown brownish-white, underparts browner.

Systematics History

Sometimes treated as conspecific with either T. plebejus or T. jardineii. Monotypic.

Subspecies

Monotypic.

Distribution

SE & E Sudan, NW Ethiopia and N Eritrea.

Habitat

Dense riverine scrub and dry acacia woodland, mainly below 1000 m, but extending up to 1475 m.

Movement

Resident.

Diet and Foraging

Only “insects” reported. Lives in parties of 5–6 individuals, occasionally up to twelve together.

Sounds and Vocal Behavior

Noisy. Chorus song, given by birds sitting closely side by side on branch, a loud “waak-waak-waak…”. Contact call in group a grating “kwik” or “kwik-u”; single birds give “wok”. Inquisitive birds following human intruder give long series of rattling “churr” notes in mild agitation.

Breeding

May–Jun in Ethiopia. No other information.

Conservation Status

Conservation status on Birdlife LC Least Concern
Not globally threatened. Uncommon to fairly common in Sudan; frequent in Ethiopia and Eritrea.
Distribution of the Cretzschmar's Babbler - Range Map
Enlarge
  • Year-round
  • Migration
  • Breeding
  • Non-Breeding
Distribution of the Cretzschmar's Babbler

eBird and Macaulay Library

Recommended Citation

Collar, N. and C. Robson (2020). Cretzschmar's Babbler (Turdoides leucocephala), 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.crebab1.01
Birds of the World

Partnerships

A global alliance of nature organizations working to document the natural history of all bird species at an unprecedented scale.

American Ornithological Society American Ornithilogical Society Armonia Bolivia Aves Argentinas Avibase Aves Uruguay Birds Caribbean Bird Count India Conservación de Islas Corbidi Fundación Ñankulafkén Instituto Humboldt Lynx Edicions Oikonos Oriental Bird Club Ornithological Society Of The Middle East The Caucasus And Central Asia RED DE OBSERVADORES DE AVES Y VIDA SILVESTRE DE CHILE Roberts Birds Save Brasil Taiwan Biodiversity Research Institute Union Venezolana De Ornitologos