Turdoides malcolmi
Silhouette: Jiekun He · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~60% in a week ~90%
The large grey babbler (Argya malcolmi) is a member of the family Leiothrichidae found across India and far western Nepal. They are locally common in the scrub, open forest and gardenland. They are usually seen in small groups and are easily distinguished from other babblers in the region by their nasal call and the whitish outer feathers to their long tail. It is one of the largest babblers in the region.
This long-tailed and large babbler has a brown body with creamy white outer tail feathers which are easily visible as they fly with fluttery wing beats low over the ground. The lores are dark and forehead is grey with white shaft streaks on the feathers. The rump and uppertail covers are pale grey. The mantle has dusky blotches and no shaft streaks. The three outer tail feathers are white and the fourth pair has the outer web white. The wings are darker brown. The iris is yellow and the upper mandible is dark brown while the lower mandible is yellowish. The tail is faintly cross barred. Abnormal specimens showing albinism or leucism have been reported.
The species was first described from the Deccan Plateau region. The scientific name was given by Colonel W H Sykes... Wikipedia →
Recording0:07
India · 2025
© R Sreeja · iNaturalist · CC BY 4.0
Recording0:08
India · 2024
© Nandini · iNaturalist · CC BY-NC 4.0
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India · 2024
© SONU KUMAR · iNaturalist · CC BY-NC 4.0
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ranthambore National Park | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 2 | Keoladeo National Park | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 3 | Gir National Park | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 4 | Bandhavgarh National Park | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 5 | Bandipur National Park | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 6 | Kanha National Park | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 7 | Satpura National Park | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 8 | Mudumalai National Park | 🇮🇳 India |
Possible
About 30% of wildlife watchers report a Large Grey Babbler sighting in Keoladeo National Park on a given day, based on 647 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 93rd most-seen of the 278 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.
May to July
In those months about 40% of wildlife watchers report a Large Grey Babbler in Keoladeo National Park on a given day, against about 10% in April, the lowest month. Those are among Keoladeo National Park's wettest months, with about 110 mm of rain a month against 5 mm in November.
Between 3 and 6 am
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Large Grey Babbler sightings with a recorded time, and about 6 in 10 of them come between 6 pm and 6 am: it is most active around dawn and dusk.
2nd of 8
Of the 8 parks where we can rate Large Grey Babbler sightings, Keoladeo National Park ranks 2nd at about 30%. The best odds are in Ranthambore National Park (India, about 40%).
Same genus: Turdoides
The closest relatives of the Large Grey Babbler that you can see in Keoladeo National Park (genus Turdoides, Turdoides Babblers) are Jungle Babbler (about 80%) and Common Babbler (about 30%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Large Grey Babbler is recorded against all the birds logged in Keoladeo National Park (647 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.
