Turdoides plebejus
Silhouette: Sheatherius · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~60% in a week ~90%
The brown babbler (Turdoides plebejus) is a species of bird in the family Leiothrichidae. It is predominantly found in West Africa, but ranging from the Gambia to Kenya. The species is common across its range. The species is also known as the Sudan babbler.
The brown babbler was described in 1828 by Philipp Jakob Cretzschmar from a specimen collected in the Kordofan Province of Sudan. He originally placed it in the bulbul genus Ixos. The species is closely related to and forms a superspecies with the white-headed babbler of eastern Sudan, Ethiopia and Eritrea, and the arrow-marked babbler of central and southern Africa. The Old World babbler family Timaliidae has been the subject of much research and has been split by some taxonomic authorities. This move would place this species with the laughingthrushes in the family Leiothrichidae.
There are three recognised subspecies, the nominate race, platycirca and cincera. A fourth subspecies, uamensis, is synonymized with cincera. The brown babbler is a medium-sized Turdoides babbler, measuring 22–25 centimetres (8.7–9.8 in) in length and weighs around 52–80 grams (1.8–2.8 oz). The plumage... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Niokolo-Koba National Park | 🇸🇳 Senegal | |
| 2 | Kidepo Valley National Park | 🇺🇬 Uganda | |
| 3 | Murchison Falls National Park | 🇺🇬 Uganda | |
| 4 | Lake Mburo National Park | 🇺🇬 Uganda | |
| 5 | Queen Elizabeth National Park | 🇺🇬 Uganda | |
| 6 | Kibale National Park | 🇺🇬 Uganda |
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Accra | 🇬🇭 Ghana | |
| 2 | Maiduguri | 🇳🇬 Nigeria | |
| 3 | Ouagadougou | 🇧🇫 Burkina Faso | |
| 4 | Abuja | 🇳🇬 Nigeria | |
| 5 | Serrekunda | 🇬🇲 Gambia | |
| 6 | Cotonou | 🇧🇯 Benin | |
| 7 | Lomé | 🇹🇬 Togo |
Possible
About 30% of wildlife watchers report a Brown Babbler sighting in Maiduguri on a given day, based on 37 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data. It is the 28th most-seen of the 65 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 60%, and over a week to about 90%, if each day is a fresh chance.
January and August
In those months about 40% of wildlife watchers report a Brown Babbler in Maiduguri on a given day, against about 20% in February, April–May, July, October and December, the lowest months. November has too few records to rate.
Between 8 and 11 am
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Brown Babbler sightings with a recorded time, and about 8 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
Among the best
Of the 7 cities where we can rate Brown Babbler sightings, Maiduguri ranks 2nd at about 30%, level with the leaders once rounded. The best odds are in Accra (Ghana, about 30%).
Same order: Passeriformes
The closest relatives of the Brown Babbler that you can see in Maiduguri (order Passeriformes, Perching Birds) are Greater Blue-eared Starling (about 90%), Common Bulbul (about 80%) and Long-tailed Glossy Starling (about 50%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Brown Babbler is recorded against all the birds logged in Maiduguri (37 verified sightings), calibrated against known sighting rates. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10% because citizen-science data supports honest approximations, not decimals, and months with records from fewer than five people show "—". How it works.
