Orange-billed Babbler Argya rufescens Scientific name definitions

25 cm. Medium-sized rusty-chestnut Argya babbler with orange-yellow bill and yellow legs. Crown to mantle are rufous-brown with pale greyish tinge, shading darker to rusty chestnut on back, upperwing and tail; nostril feathering, lores, cheek and ear-coverts pale rusty chestnut, chin, submous­tachial area, throat and upper breast rusty chestnut with vague greyish-white stippling or edging, mid-breast and upper flanks to mid-belly rufous-chestnut, rest of underparts dull chestnut; iris white or yellowish-white, orbital skin pale greenish-yellow; bill bright orange-yellow, darkest on basal half; legs bright chrome-yellow. Sexes similar. Juvenile apparently undescribed.

Has been treated as conspecific with A. striata. Monotypic.

SW Sri Lanka.

Broadleaf evergreen forest, thickets and bamboo scrub in well-wooded areas; apparently restricted to primary forest in some areas, but sometimes found in selectively logged forest or secondary forest, scrub or tea plantations. Lowlands to 2100 m.

Resident.

Mainly insects, including large black beetles (Coleoptera); also fruit. Gregarious and noisy; found in parties of 6–12, sometimes up to 50–60 individuals (mean in one study 16·2), often with other species in mixed feeding flocks and often a primary component. Forages in lower storeys of trees and in canopy, as well as in understorey, gleaning from leaves and working along branches.

In groups, gives constant chattering, squeaking and chirping, principally a petulant, short, sharply downturned “tscheurk”, each note whiny at start and toneless at end; sometimes drawn out into a short trill. Call notes resemble those of A. cinereifrons. A “kraa-kraa-kraa-kraa” also described; gives other less distinct notes.

Mar–May. Nest a fairly loose cup of grasses, small twigs and leaves, placed in low fork of small tree or among creepers surrounding larger trunk. Clutch 2–3 eggs, deep greenish-blue. No other information.

Not globally threatened. Currently considered Near Threatened. Restricted-range species: present in Sri Lanka EBA. Fairly common to common in wet lowlands, usually rare on adjacent hills, but occasionally common above 700 m. Common in Sinharaja Forest Reserve. Forest in Sri Lanka has suffered degradation and fragmentation in recent decades owing to excessive fuelwood-gathering, permanent agriculture, shifting cultivation, fire, urban growth and logging, although encroachment in the wet zone is relatively restricted.