Jerdon's Babbler

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Jerdon's Babbler
Conservation status
Vulnerable (IUCN 3.1)
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Chordata Class: Aves Order: Passeriformes Family: Sylviidae Genus: Chrysomma Species: C. altirostre
Binomial name
Chrysomma altirostre (Jerdon, 1862)
Synonyms
Moupinia altirostris Pyctorhis altirostris Pyctorhis griseigularis Timalia altirostris

Jerdon's Babbler Chrysomma altirostre is a passerine bird from South Asia. Formerly placed in the Timaliidae family - hence the common name "babbler" -, the genus Chrysomma and its relatives are actually closer to the typical warblers and parrotbills in the Sylviidae (Jønsson & Fjeldså 2006).

It is classified as Vulnerable by the IUCN. The nominate subspecies from Myanmar, the Myanmar Jerdon's Babbler ( Chrysomma altirostre altirostre) seems already to be extinct. It occurred in tall-grass habitat in the floodplains of the Ayeyarwady River from Bhamo to Bago and up the Sittang River nearly to Taungoo. It was last seen in July 1941 in habitat fragments at Myitkyo, with the last specimen taken in 1914 or perhaps as late as the mid-1930s. Due to the inaccessibility of its range and consequent lack of fieldwork, it might conceivably still exist.(Collar et al. 2001, BLI 2006)

Of the Sind Jerdon's Babbler (C. a. scindicum) from the Indus basin and the Terai Jerdon's Babbler (C. a. griseigularis) of the sub-Himalayan plains, together less than 10000 mature birds are believed to remain. Its threat category VU A2c+3c (BLI 2004). This means that its population has declined by an estimated 30% and is expected to continue to do so for another decade at least. The reasons are not fully understood, but the population reduction is probably related to habitat destruction for agriculture and flood control.

[edit] References

• BirdLife International (BLI) (2004). Chrysomma altirostre. 2006 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. IUCN 2006. Retrieved on 03 April 2007. Database entry includes justification for why this species is vulnerable

• BirdLife International (BLI) (2006): Species factsheet: Chrysomma altirostre. Retrieved 2007-APR-26.

• Collar, Nigel J.; Andreev, A. V.; Chan, S.; Crosby, M. J.; Subramanya, S. & Tobias, J. A. (editors) (2001): Chrysomma altirostre In: Threatened Birds of Asia: The BirdLife International Red Data Book: 2112-2119. BirdLife International. ISBN 0946888442

• Collar, N. J. & Robson, C. 2007. Family Timaliidae (Babblers) Pp. 70 - 291 in; del Hoyo, J., Elliott, A. & Christie, D.A. eds. Handbook of the Birds of the World, Vol. 12. Picathartes to Tits and Chickadees. Lynx Edicions, Barcelona.

• Jønsson, Knud A. & Fjeldså, Jon (2006): A phylogenetic supertree of oscine passerine birds (Aves: Passeri). Zool. Scripta 35(2): 149–186. doi::10.1111/j.1463-6409.2006.00221.x (HTML abstract)