Yellow-eyed babbler

Chrysomma sinense

Photo by Sharad Agrawal (Facebook)

Common name:
yellow-eyed babbler (en); timali-de-olho-dourado (pt); timalie aux yeux d'or (fr); timalí ojigualdo (es); goldaugentimalie (de)

Taxonomy:
Order Passeriformes
Family Timaliidae

Range:
This species is found is found in Pakistand and India, and through Nepal and Bangladesh into southern China, Thailand and Vietnam.

Size:
These birds are 17-18 cm long and weigh 12-20 g.

Habitat:
The yellow-eyed babbler is found in grasslands and scrublands, along the margins of rivers and fresh water wetlands, and rice paddies and other arable land.

Diet:
They feed on various adult and larval insects, particularly caterpillars.

Breeding:
Yellow-eyed babblers breed in April-September. The nest is a compact cup made of grasses, bark and spider webs, woven around an upright twig or stem of a scrub or sometimes among reeds. The nest in lined with fine grasses and roots. The female lays 4-5 pinkish-white eggs with red streaks. The eggs are incubated by both sexes for 12-14 days. The chicks are fed by both parents and fledge 12-13 days after hatching.

Conservation:
IUCN status - LC (Least Concern)
This species has a very large breeding range and is described as uncommon and local in Pakistan, local to fairly common in Nepal and widespread and locally common in India. The population is suspected to be stable in the absence of evidence for any current declines or substantial threats.