Jungle babbler

Jungle babbler
Turdoides striata striata
Conservation status
Least Concern (IUCN 3.1)
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Aves
Order:	Passeriformes
Family:	Leiothrichidae
Genus:	Turdoides
Species:	T. striata
Binomial name
Turdoides striata (Dumont, 1823)
Synonyms
Turdoides striatus Malacocercus terricolor Cossyphus striatus Crateropus canorus

The jungle babbler (Turdoides striata) is a member of the Leiothrichidae family found in the Indian subcontinent. They are gregarious birds that forage in small groups of six to ten birds, a habit that has given them the popular name of Seven Sisters or Saath bhai in Hindi with cognates in other regional languages which means "seven brothers".

The jungle babbler is a common resident breeding bird in most parts of the Indian subcontinent and is often seen in gardens within large cities as well as in forested areas. In the past, the orange-billed babbler, Turdoides rufescens, of Sri Lanka was considered to be a race of this babbler, but is elevated to a species.

Description

Adult ssp. orientalis in Kawal, A.P., India.

The jungle babbler's habitat is forest and cultivation. This species, like most babblers, is non-migratory, and has short rounded wings and a weak flight. The sexes are identical, drably coloured in brownish grey with a yellow-bill making them confusable only with the endemic yellow-billed babblers of peninsular India and Sri Lanka. The upperparts are usually slightly darker in shade and there is some mottling on the throat and breast. The race T. s. somervillei of Maharashtra has a very rufous tail and dark primary flight feathers.The jungle babbler can be separated from the white-headed babbler by the dark loreal zone between the bill and the eye as well as the lack of a contrasting light crown. The calls of the two species are however distinct and unmistakable. The jungle babbler has harsh nasal calls while the white-headed babbler has high pitched calls. Another babbler that is similarly found in urban areas is the large grey babbler, however that species has a distinctive long tail with white outer tail feathers.

The jungle babbler lives in flocks of seven to ten or more. It is a noisy bird, and the presence of a flock may generally be known at some distance by the harsh mewing calls, continual chattering, squeaking and chirping produced by its members.

Taxonomy and systematics

Nominate race from Kolkata allopreening

The species was described in 1823 under the name of Cossyphus striatus and was based on a specimen from Bengal. There are several named geographically isolated subspecies that show plumage shade differences. Former race rufescens of Sri Lanka is considered a full species. The widely accepted subspecies include:

• striata ( Dumont de Sainte Croix, 1823) which is found over much of northern India south of the Himalayan foothills extending to Bhutan, Assam, Uttar Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh and northeastern Andhra Pradesh. The form in parts of Odisha, orissae, is said to be more rufous above is usually subsumed into this.
• sindiana ( Ticehurst, 1920) is a paler desert form that is found in the Indus plains of Pakistan and extends into Rajasthan and the Rann of Kutch in India
• somervillei ( Sykes, 1832) is found in the northern Western Ghats south to the Goa Gap
• malabarica ( Jerdon, 1845) is found in the southern Western Ghats
• orientalis ( Jerdon, 1845) is found in peninsular India east of the Western Ghats

Some older literature can be confusing due to some incorrect usage such as Whistler (1944, Spolia Zeylanica, 23:131), who used the name affinis (which could be confused with Turdoides affinis when intending to indicate the subspecies of striatus found in peninsular India.

Behaviour and ecology

These birds are gregarious and very social. They sometimes form the core of a mixed-species foraging flock. They feed mainly on insects, but also eats grains, nectar and berries. The groups maintain territories and will defend it against neighbours but will sometimes tolerate them. For their size, they are long lived and have been noted to live as long as 16.5 years in captivity.

When foraging, some birds take up a high vantage point and act as sentinels. They are known to gather and mob potential predators such as snakes.

Young birds have a dark iris. Older birds have a pale creamy colour and it has been found that the iris has a dark epithelium which become invisible when the muscle fibres develop in the iris and make the dark basal colours invisible and then appear cream coloured.

They breed throughout the year; peak breeding in northern India has been noted between March–April and July–September. Birds are able to breed after their third year. The nest is built halfway in a tree, concealed in dense masses of foliage. The normal clutch is three or four (but can be up to seven) deep greenish blue eggs. In northern India, birds breeding during June–September tend to be parasitized by the pied crested cuckoo and sometimes by the common hawk-cuckoo. Helpers assist the parents in feeding the young. Post fledging survival is very high.

Birds fledge and females tend to leave their natal group after about two years. Birds within a group often indulge in allopreening, play chases and mock fights. When threatened by predators, they have been said to sometimes feign death.

In culture

Jungle babbler in Molem, Goa, India

These birds are very common near towns and cities particularly in northern India and are well known for their habit of moving in groups giving them the local name of "Sath Bhai" which means seven brethren but translated by the English in India to "Seven sisters". Visitors to India were very likely to notice these vocal and active birds and Frank Finn notes an incident during the Colonial period in India:

Some years back, a new Viceroy was being shown the wonders of his temporary kingdom, and among these the Taj at Agra held, of course, an important place. Arrived before the glorious monument of Eastern love and pride, the artless Aide-de-Camp was mute; the gilded staff were still as Kipling says, in anxious expectation of the comment of His Excellency. But this, alas when it came was merely the remark: "What are those funny little birds ? The shock must have been the greater for the fact that the mean fowls thus honoured were it seems, of that singularly disreputable species which is commonly known in India as the "Seven Sisters" or "Seven Brothers," or by the Hindustani equivalent of sat-bhai."

Other sources

• Andrews MI & RM Naik (1965) Some observations on flocks of the Jungle Babbler Turdoides striatus (Dumont) during winter. Pavo 3:47-54.
• Naik,RM; Andrews,MI (1966) Pterylosis, age determination and moult in the jungle babbler. Pavo 4(1-2):48-57.
• Andrews,MI; Naik,RM (1966) The body weight and the thyroid and gonadal cycles of the jungle babbler. Pavo 4(1&2):48-57.
• Andrews,MI; Naik,RM (1972) The biology of the jungle babbler. Pavo 08(1&2):1-34.
• Rana,BD (1972) Some observations on food of the Jungle Babbler, Turdoides striatus, and the Common Babbler, Turdoides caudatus in the Rajasthan Desert, India. Pavo 8(1&2):35-44.
• Rana,DB (1985) Abnormality in the testis of Streptopelia decaocto and Turdoides striatus in the Rajasthan desert. Pavo 23(1&2):101-102.
• Suresh,PK; Chaturvedi,CM (1986) Annual endocrine cycles in male babbler, Turdoides somerveillei. Pavo 24(1&2):43-54.
• Parasharya,BM (1986) Early breeding date of Jungle Babbler in Gujarat. Pavo 24(1&2):117-118.
• Inglis,CM (1936) The Bengal Jungle Babbler or "Seven Sisters," Turdoides terricolor terricolor (Hodgson). J. Darjeeling Nat. Hist. Soc. 10(4):117-123
• Ali,S (1974) Jungle Babblers at Pali Hills, Bandra, Bombay 400050. Newsletter for Birdwatchers . 14(11):5-6.
• R. Ray-Chaudhuri, T. Sharma, S. P. Ray-Chaudhuri (1969) A comparative study of the chromosomes of birds. Chromosoma 26(2):148-168 doi:10.1007/BF00326452
• Mitra, Sarat Chandra (1926-27?) Studies in bird-myths:
  • No. {X}: On a probable aetiological myth about the jungle babbler;
  • No. {XI}: On an aetiological myth about the Indian house-crow;
  • No. {XII}: On three aetiological myths about the spots on the peacock's tail-feathers;
  • No. {XIII}: Quarterly Journal of the Mythic Society 17:63-64

External links

• Jungle Babler videos, photos & sounds on the Internet Bird Collection.
• Photo of a leucistic individual