Sooty-capped Babbler (Malacopteron affine)

Other Names (World)
Sooty-capped Babbler, Sooty-headed Babbler, Plain Babbler, Small Tree-babbler

Family
Pellorneidae (Ground Babblers)

Size
15 - 16.50 cm

First Described (Guide)
(Blyth, 1842)

Habitat
Primary evergreen forests, where it is an edge specialist, occupying naturally-occurring light gaps and riverine areas, peat-swamp forest, selectively logged forest, tall secondary growth and overgrown plantations. From sea-level - 700 m.

Range (Guide)

Brunei Darussalam (B), Indonesia (B), Malaysia (B), Thailand (B).

Population
Estimated population is unknown (2010) and decreasing.

Status NT
Habitat loss and degradation through escalation of illegal logging and land conversion, with deliberate targeting of all remaining stands of valuable timber including those inside protected areas, and forest fires are the main threats.

For more information see BirdLife International Species Factsheet.

Voice
Xeno-Canto Sound Files (more (21)...)

Sooty-capped Babbler (Malacopteron affine) [XC797419]
by Lim Ying Hien from Lenggor, Mersing District (near Kahang), Johor, Malaysia (song)

Sooty-capped Babbler (Malacopteron affine) [XC823633]
by id from Mersing (near Jementah), Johor, Malaysia (duet, song)

Subspecies
Has often been treated as monotypic, but subspecies phoeniceum appears sufficiently distinctive to warrant recognition. Birds from Banyak Is (off western Sumatra) separated as subspecies notatum on basis of size difference, but this was later shown to be non-existent.

The following 3 subspecies are recognised:

affine (Blyth, 1842) - Southern Thailand, Peninsular Malaysia and Sumatra (including Banyak Is, off western coast).
phoeniceum Deignan, 1950 - Borneo.
notatum Richmond, 1902 - Banyak I. (off Sumatra).

References
See References.

Files:

JPG files for Sooty-capped Babbler (Malacopteron affine) - 10 files

More Information

BirdLife International

For more information about the Sooty-capped Babbler see... Show Articles

BirdLife International Species Factsheet.

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