Pomatorhinus erythrogenys
Silhouette: Jiekun He · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~20% in a week ~50%
The rusty-cheeked scimitar babbler (Erythrogenys erythrogenys) is a passerine bird in the babbler family Timaliidae that is found in the Himalayas from northeast Pakistan to Bhutan. It was formerly considered as conspecific with the red-eyed scimitar babbler that is found in eastern Myanmar and northwestern Thailand.
The rusty-cheeked scimitar babbler was formally described in 1831 by the Irish zoologist Nicholas Vigors under the binomial name Pamatorhynus erythrogenys in John Gould's book "Century of Birds from the Himalaya Mountains". The description was accompanied by a hand coloured illustration drawn by Elizabeth Gould. In 1924 the type locality was restricted to "Shimla–Almora". The specific epithet combines the Ancient Greek ερυθρος/eruthros meaning "red" with γενυος/genuos meaning "cheek". The rusty-cheeked scimitar babbler is now one of seven scimitar babblers placed in the genus Erythrogenys. The species was formerly regarded as conspecific with the red-eyed scimitar babbler (Erythrogenys imberbis) that is found in eastern Myanmar and northwestern Thailand. The red-eyed scimitar babbler is now considered as a separate species based on the differences in morphology... Wikipedia →
Recording0:12
India · 2023
© dbeadle · iNaturalist · CC BY-NC 4.0
Recording0:10
India · 2026
© Kapish Garg · iNaturalist · CC BY-NC 4.0
Recording0:08
India · 2026
© GURSEWAK SINGH · iNaturalist · CC BY-NC 4.0
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jim Corbett National Park | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 2 | Royal Manas National Park | 🇧🇹 Bhutan | |
| 3 | Langtang National Park | 🇳🇵 Nepal |
With luck
About 10% of wildlife watchers report a Rusty-cheeked Scimitar-Babbler sighting in Royal Manas National Park on a given day, based on 86 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 158th most-seen of the 388 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 20%, and over a week to about 50%, if each day is a fresh chance.
May and June
In those months about 20% of wildlife watchers report a Rusty-cheeked Scimitar-Babbler in Royal Manas National Park on a given day, against under 5% in October, the lowest month. Those are among Royal Manas National Park's wettest months, with about 570 mm of rain a month against 10 mm in December. August and September have too few records to rate.
Between 6 and 9 am
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Rusty-cheeked Scimitar-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.
2nd of 3
Of the 3 parks where we can rate Rusty-cheeked Scimitar-Babbler sightings, Royal Manas National Park ranks 2nd at about 10%. The best odds are in Jim Corbett National Park (India, about 20%).
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Rusty-cheeked Scimitar-Babbler is recorded against all the birds logged in Royal Manas National Park (86 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.
