Overview

Red-billed Leiothrix: Native to southeast Asia. Crown, nape, and back are olive-green, lores, eyering, and supraloral stripe are cream to dull yellow. Bright yellow-orange throat, chin is yellow. Underparts are pale yellow. Olive-brown wings have a yellow-orange patch. Red bill, pink legs and feet.

Red-billed Leiothrix: Introduced to Kauai in 1918, to other islands in the 1920s-1930s. May no longer exist on Kauai, populations fluctuate on other islands. Found in native and exotic forests from ocean level to mountain tops. Native to Southeast Asia, Himalayan region of India, and southern China.

Voice Text

"pu pu pu pu", "pe pe pe pa"

• The Red-billed Leiothrix is also known as the Pekin Nightingale, Pekin Robin, Chinese Nightingale, and Japanese Hill Robin.
• They were imported to Hawaii in 1911 and purposefully released into the wild in 1918.
• They prefer areas that receive at least 40 inches of rainfall a year.
• A group of babblers are collectively known as a "tower" and a "brook" of babblers.

• Lawrence's Goldfinch
• Olive Sparrow
• Crescent-chested Warbler
• Japanese White-eye

Babblers (Timaliidae)

ORDER

The PASSERIFORMES (pronounced pas-ser-i-FOR-meez) is large taxonomic order of one hundred eighteen families of birds that includes the larks, the vireos, and the shrikes, and the babblers.

FAMILY TAXONOMY

The babblers, or Timaliidae (pronounced tih-mah-LEYE-ih-dee), are a large family of three hundred and twenty-two species in fifty genera found mostly in Asia and Africa.

NORTH AMERICA

There are four species of babblers in three genera that occur in North America (including three species introduced to Hawaii). These are the exotic sounding Red-billed Leiothrix, the Greater Necklaced Laughingthrush, the Hwamei, and the Wrentit.

KNOWN FOR

Babblers are most well known for their vociferous behavior (hence the name of the family). Like many members of this family, the loud, distinctive vocalizations of the Wrentit reverberate throughout its brushy habitat while it remains hidden in the dense cover it prefers.

PHYSICAL

This large, diverse family ranges from birds the size of warblers small to the jay-like laughingthrushes. The few species that occur in North America and Hawaii also vary in size and shape. They have both short and long tails, short wings, fairly long, strong legs and feet, and rather stout bills.

COLORATION

Babblers are mostly plumaged in various shades of brown and gray. Many species have spotting or streaks in their plumages and light colored eyes. Bright colors are limited to a few species such as the Red-billed Leiothrix with its red bill and yellow edging to the feathers in its wings and tail.

GEOGRAPHIC HABITAT

Although some members of the Timaliidae utilize non-forest habitats, the majority are birds of tropical forests. The three species that were introduced to Hawaii, the laughingthrushes and the Red-billed Leiothrix, are arboreal birds that occur in thickets and open woodlands. The one species native to North America, the Wrentit, occurs in thick, shrubby habitats of the west coast from northern Baja California to Oregon.

MIGRATION

The babbler species that occur in North America do not migrate.

HABITS

Many members of the Timaliidae are social birds that typically occur in family groups and in mixed flocks with other bird species. They forage for small creatures by gleaning and picking them from nooks and crannies in the thick vegetation.

CONSERVATION

The babbler species of North America are not threatened. Some species in Asia, though, have very limited ranges and are threatened by destruction of their tropical forest habitats.

INTERESTING FACTS

Some babbler species are so social in nature that family groups will huddle together while perched.

Author

Crystal Adams

Artist

Yury Lisyak