The Jungle Babbler is a gregarious bird that forages in little groups comprising six to ten birds, a practice because of which it is popularly called ‘Seven Sisters’.

This bird is a common resident breeding bird in a majority of the Indian Subcontinent and is often spotted in gardens in large cities and forested regions.  Also spotted at Orange County, Coorg, both sexes of this bird are identical, being brownish grey in colour, possessing short rounded wings and a yellow bill.

A Jungle Babbler

The Jungle Babbler is important to Coorg’s plantations as it eats the pests that damage crops there.

The Jungle Babbler is a noisy bird, and the presence of a flock may generally be identified at some distance by its mewing calls, continual babble (perhaps the reason for its name!), squealing and chirping that its members often indulge in.

The bird mainly feeds on insects, but grains, nectar and berries also form part of its diet. Territorial by nature, the species is known to defend its territory against neighbours, but sometimes also tolerates them. The bird has a long lifespan considering its size, being known to live for as long as 16.5 years in captivity!

By the Well...

While foraging, some birds stand sentinel from an elevated vantage point. They are known to gather and mob prospective predators including snakes. The Jungle Babbler can breed after its third year and breeds all year round, its clutch generally comprising three to four deep greenish blue eggs. When threatened by predators, this bird has occasionally been stated to pretend to be dead.

Deepti Michelle John

Deepti, based out of Bangalore, works as Assistant Manager (Marketing) at Orange County Resorts. Possessing Master’s degrees in Psychology and Media and Communications from the London School of Economics, she enjoys spirituality, music, nature, and children.

This entry was posted on Monday, March 28th, 2011 at 5:49 PM and is filed under Birds, Plantation. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.