Explore Taxonomy
Order
Passeriformes
Family
Leiothrichidae
Genus
Turdoides
Surprise Me
Previous Cretzschmar's Babbler
Next Dusky Babbler
- Blackcap Babbler
© Chris Wood
- Blackcap Babbler
- Blackcap Babbler
+5
- Blackcap Babbler
- Blackcap Babbler
- Blackcap Babbler
- Blackcap Babbler
- Blackcap Babbler
- Blackcap Babbler (Blackcap)
Watch
- Blackcap Babbler (Blackcap)
Listen

Blackcap Babbler Turdoides reinwardtii 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

25–26 cm; 69–91 g. Fairly large Turdoides babbler, tail not particularly long, with solid blackish hood, plain grey-brown upperparts and spotted breast. Nominate race has lores, crown, ear-coverts, cheek and submoustachial area brownish-black, neck side and mantle to rump olive-tinged pale grey-brown, upperwing and tail dark brown; chin and throat dirty white, upper breast pale greyish-buff with dusky-brown narrow streaking and mottling, lower breast plain or plainer greyish-buff, belly to vent pale buffy brown, creamier on mid-belly; iris straw-yellow to creamy white; bill greenish-black; legs sepia to brownish-grey. Sexes similar. Juvenile has forehead and face dark brown, reduced mottling below, and bill pale-tipped. Race stictilaema has darker and greyer underparts than nominate, throat greyish with narrow blackish streaks and mottling extending up from breast.

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.

Has been thought possibly to be conspecific with T. melanops and T. tenebrosa. Race stictilaema moderately distinctive, with its greyer lower head sides, lightly streaked pale grey-buff vs plain whitish chin and upper throat, and slightly darker breast markings. Two subspecies recognized.

Subspecies

EBIRD GROUP (MONOTYPIC)

Blackcap Babbler (Blackcap) Turdoides reinwardtii reinwardtii Scientific name definitions

Turdoides reinwardtii reinwardtii
T. r. reinwardtii

Distribution

Senegal E to S Mali and Sierra Leone.
EBIRD GROUP (MONOTYPIC)

Blackcap Babbler (Dusky-throated) Turdoides reinwardtii stictilaema Scientific name definitions

Turdoides reinwardtii stictilaema
T. r. stictilaema

Distribution

N Ivory Coast, S Burkina Faso and Ghana E to Cameroon, S Chad, Central African Republic and extreme N DRCongo.

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

Gallery forest, thick clumps of riverine vegetation in open savanna woodland, swampside thickets, bamboo groves, tall scrub and rank grass along streams, parkland, sometimes mangroves; from sea-level in many areas, to c. 1000 m in Cameroon. In denser cover than that favoured by T. plebejus.

Movement

Resident.

Diet and Foraging

Insects and berries found in stomachs. Forages on ground among fallen leaves and debris under tangled vegetation, also among dead banana leaves, etc. Flips litter with bill. Found in small flocks of six or so, sometimes ten, individuals, even when breeding.

Sounds and Vocal Behavior

Chorus song involves accelerating and crescendoing single, scraping “jaaaaaaaa” or double “gwááá-ga” notes, raspy and chattering, punctuated with staccato “cha-ka-ta” or “ko-kwee”. Calls include continuous grating “ja-ja-ja-ja…” or lower, faster, almost trilling “jaagagagagaga”, used in contact; a loud braying, descending “waaa… haa-haa-haa-haa”; and various short harsh grating notes, e.g. “dzwit”, “dzwuk-dzwuk-dzwuk”, “jwiu”, “jut”.

Breeding

Nov–Dec in Gambia, Jan in Senegal, Sept–Jan in Sierra Leone and Nov–Jul in Mali; fledged dependent young in Jan in Ghana; Jun–Jul and Nov–Dec in Nigeria. Co-operative breeder. Nest a large open cup made of leaves, a few twigs and tendrils, scantily lined with roots and tendrils, placed 1·5 m or more up in head of small oil palm (Elaeis), palm-stump fronds or heavily foliaged tree. Clutch 2–3 eggs, dark sky-blue (much darker than blue variety of T. plebejus). No other information.

Conservation Status

Conservation status on Birdlife LC Least Concern
Not globally threatened. Uncommon to locally common across range. Fairly common and widespread in Gambia, S Senegal, Guinea-Bissau and Guinea, less so in Sierra Leone; widespread in Boucle du Baoulé National Park, in Mali; uncommon in Arli National Park, in Burkina Faso, but frequent around Ouagadougou; uncommon in Ivory Coast except in two areas, one being N Comoé National Park; fairly common and widespread yet patchy in Ghana; common in Togo. Presumed to be widespread in appropriate habitat in N Cameroon; fairly common in S Chad. Present in Dzanga-Ndoki National Park, in Central African Republic.
Distribution of the Blackcap Babbler - Range Map
Enlarge
  • Year-round
  • Migration
  • Breeding
  • Non-Breeding
Distribution of the Blackcap Babbler

eBird and Macaulay Library

Recommended Citation

Collar, N. and C. Robson (2020). Blackcap Babbler (Turdoides reinwardtii), 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.blabab2.01
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