Fareed Mohmed ← The Indian List

Bird Photography · The Indian List

Shrike-Babblers

1 of 6 species photographed

Six species, small forest birds that sit taxonomically between the vireos of the New World and the babblers of the Old — a genuinely odd corner of the tree that only recent DNA work sorted out. Shrike-babblers proper are boldly patterned, active birds of the mid-storey and canopy, often in mixed-species flocks, told apart mainly by the arrangement of black, white, grey and yellow on the head and wings. Erpornis, the family's other member, is a plainer, crestless bird that looks more like an oversized warbler than anything shrike-like.

None of the six behave much like a true shrike despite the name — there is no hooked bill, no habit of impaling prey. The name is a historical holdover from early classification rather than a useful behavioural clue.

6Species in India
1Photographed
Mid-storey and canopyWhere they live
Mixed-species flocksHow they travel
Head and wing patternWhat separates the species

The species

Black-eared Shrike-Babbler

Pteruthius melanotis1 frame
Status
Resident
Range
The Himalayan foothills of the Northeast, including Arunachal Pradesh
Habitat
Mid-storey of moist forest, often in mixed-species foraging flocks
IUCN
Least Concern

A warm brown-backed bird with a chestnut cap, a black patch through and behind the eye (the "black ear" of the name), a bold white supercilium and wingbar, and a yellow-orange wash across the throat fading to olive underparts. Smaller and more delicately built than some of its shrike-babbler relatives, and usually found moving with a mixed flock through the mid-storey rather than sitting in the open for long.

FM0270
Mar 2024Eaglenest Wildlife Sanctuary, West Kameng, Arunachal PradeshPerched beside a cluster of dry seed heads, backlit in early light.

Photographs by Fareed Mohmed