Bird Grey-crowned Babbler (Pomatostomus temporalis)

[Hairyman]

Scientific Name: Pomatostomus temporalis'

Common Name: Grey-crowned Babbler.

Order: Passerformes.

Family: Pomatostomidae

Other Names: Happy Jack, Grey-crowned Chatterer, Yahoo, Dog Bird, Barker, Barking Bird.

Distribution: Most of Australia except drier areas and S.WA.

Habitat: Open forest with some shrub understory and fallen timber.

Field Notes: Largest Australian Babbler to 30 cm lng.
Dark brown/grey above. Grey crown. Dark face mask. Chin and throat white. Curved bill.
Food is mainly insects and some seeds. Noisy and gregarious in groups of app. 4 to 12.
Builds nests for breeding and nests for roosting.
Domed nests made of small twigs line with grass.

Sources:Wikipedia article http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grey-crowned_Babbler
Birds in Backyards http://birdsinbackyards.net/species/Pomatostomus-temporalis


South Burnett SEQ, Jan 2012

 

[auscraft]

Nest

Grey-crowned Babblers live and breed in co-operative territorial groups of two to fifteen birds (usually four to twelve). Groups normally consist of a primary breeding pair along with several non-breeding birds (sometimes groups may contain two breeding pairs or two females that both breed). Most members of the group help to build nests, with the primary female contributing the most effort. Two types of nest are built: roost-nests (usually larger and used by the whole group) and brood-nests (for the breeding females), and often old nest sites are renovated and re-used from year to year. The large domed nests (40-50cm) are placed in a tree fork 4 m - 7 m high and are made of thick sticks with projections that make a hood and landing platform for the entrance tunnel. The nest chamber is lined with soft grass, bark, wool and feathers. The brooding female (sometimes more than one) is fed by the other group members and all help to feed the nestlings. Larger groups tend to raise more young, and two broods are usually raised per season.
source:http://birdsinbackyards.net/species/Pomatostomus-temporalis
Photo auscraft

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[auscraft]

Here a couple of pics I took recently.
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[auscraft]

Actively building a new nest
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[Hairyman]

"Babbler birds use primitive language to communicate with meaning, study shows"
"A bird in the Australian outback is communicating in a way previously attributed only to humans, a study shows."
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-06-30/outback-babbler-birds-use-primitive-language-study-says/6582860

The study was of the chestnut-crowned babbler, a close relative of the grey crowned babbler above.