Malacopteron affine
Silhouette: Sheatherius · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~20% in a week ~40%
The sooty-capped babbler (Malacopteron affine) is a member of the family Pellorneidae. It occurs in Malaysia, Indonesia, Brunei, Thailand, and Singapore. The sooty-capped babbler is also known in Malay as rimba tinjau belukar. Its main diet is small insects.
It is threatened by habitat loss. Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Danum Valley Conservation Area | 🇲🇾 Malaysia | |
| 2 | Taman Negara National Park | 🇲🇾 Malaysia | |
| 3 | Way Kambas National Park | 🇮🇩 Indonesia | |
| 4 | Kinabatangan Wildlife Sanctuary | 🇲🇾 Malaysia | |
| 5 | Gunung Leuser National Park | 🇮🇩 Indonesia | |
| 6 | Kinabalu Park | 🇲🇾 Malaysia | |
| 7 | Sepilok | 🇲🇾 Malaysia |
With luck
About 10% of wildlife watchers report a Sooty-capped Babbler sighting in Gunung Leuser National Park on a given day, based on 16 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 82nd most-seen of the 166 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 20%, and over a week to about 40%, if each day is a fresh chance.
March
In that month about 20% of wildlife watchers report a Sooty-capped Babbler in Gunung Leuser National Park on a given day, against under 5% in April–July and November–January, the lowest months. That is one of Gunung Leuser National Park's driest months, with about 180 mm of rain against 700 mm in September.
Between 2 and 5 am
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Sooty-capped Babbler sightings with a recorded time, and about 7 in 10 of them come between 6 pm and 6 am: it is most active around dawn and dusk.
5th of 7
Of the 7 parks where we can rate Sooty-capped Babbler sightings, Gunung Leuser National Park ranks 5th at about 10%. The best odds are in Danum Valley Conservation Area (Malaysia, about 40%), Taman Negara National Park (Malaysia, about 30%) and Way Kambas National Park (Indonesia, about 20%).
Same genus: Malacopteron
The closest relatives of the Sooty-capped Babbler that you can see in Gunung Leuser National Park (genus Malacopteron, Malacopteron Babblers) are Rufous-crowned Babbler (about 10%) and Scaly-crowned Babbler (about 10%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Sooty-capped Babbler is recorded against all the birds logged in Gunung Leuser National Park (16 verified sightings from 2019 to 2026), 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.
