Timaliidae – Tree & Scimitar Babblers

The Timaliidae is a large family with a lot of recent work on DNA sequencing changing orders and leading to several splits, lumps and reassignments. Moreover, it has now spawned several new families Leiothrichidae (Laughingthrushes) and Pellorneidae (Fulvettas & Ground Babblers)], which are treated separately leaving only the following genera in this family: Timalia, Dumetia, Mixornis, Macronus, Cyanoderma, Spelaeornis, Melanocichla, Pomatorhinus, Erythrogenys and Stachyris.

They are a family of mostly Old-World passerines. They are rather diverse in size and coloration, but are characterised by soft fluffy plumage. These are birds of tropical areas, with the greatest variety in Southeast Asia and the Indian subcontinent. The Timaliidae & Pellorneidae are not related to the other group also called babblers – the Australasian babblers of the family Pomatostomidae (also known as pseudo-babblers).

Morphological diversity is rather high; most species resemble ‘warblers’, jays or thrushes. This group is among those Old-World bird families with the highest number of species still being discovered.

They are small to medium birds with strong legs, and many are quite terrestrial. They typically have generalised bills, similar to those of a thrush or warbler, except for the scimitar babblers which, as their name implies, have strongly decurved bills. Most have predominantly brown plumage, with minimal difference between the sexes, but others are more brightly coloured.

White-necked Babbler Stachyris leucotis

This group is not strongly migratory, and most species have short rounded wings, and a weak flight. They live in lightly wooded or scrubland environments, ranging from swamp to near-desert. They are primarily insectivorous, although many will also take berries, and the larger species will even eat small lizards and other small vertebrates.

Grey-faced Tit-Babbler Mixornis kelleyi

Typical babblers live in communities of around a dozen birds, jointly defending a territory. Many even breed communally, with a dominant pair building a nest, and the remainder helping to defend and rear their young. Young males remain with the group, while females move away to find a new group, and thus avoid inbreeding. They make nests from twigs, and hide them in dense vegetation.

Bar-winged Wren-Babbler Spelaeornis troglodytoides

The systematics of Old-World babblers have long been contested. During much of the 20th century, the family was used as a “wastebin taxon” for numerous hard-to-place Old-World passerines (such as Picathartidae and Pnoepygidae, as well as the New World species the Wrentit). The German ornithologist Ernst Hartert summarised this attitude, saying that, in the passerines: “Was man nicht unterbringen kann, sieht man als Timalien an.” – What one can’t place systematically is considered an Old-World babbler.

Red-billed Scimitar Babbler Pomatorhinus ochraceiceps

Timaliid vocalizations are diverse and frequently heard, and some species inflate blue-pigmented throat sacs when they sing. Many species are quite social, but quite a few of the others appear to be monogamous, defending simple all-purpose territories.