It is 6.30 am in the foothills of the southern Western Ghats. The sun sleepily pulls itself above the surrounding hills, its warm rays filtering through the clouds. The relentless “khutrooo-khutrooo” of white-cheeked barbets plays on repeat, occasionally punctured by the strangled yell of a rufous treepie. A few minutes later, a different set of shrieking calls pierce through. What begins with a few high-pitched notes soon descends into harsh, chaotic chatter. Dressed in drab brown, with dark brows and pale eyes frozen in a perpetual glare, is a company of jungle babblers (Argya striata). They glide in, one after another, to perch on low branches overlooking the road. Loud proclamations by the mob announce their arrival. Their calls have the potential to be somewhat pleasant if only one babbler was allowed to speak on its own. But where’s the fun in having a conversation all by yourself? The ensuing chatter plays out like chalk scraping on a blackboard.
Sentinel protects the flock
The flock survey the space from a height before sweeping to the ground, tails spread out as fans with white bases. A lone bird hangs back in the trees, playing sentinel to its foraging brethren. The foragers make their way across the uneven earth in quick little hops. These birds are predominantly ground feeders, sifting through leaf litter with quick, decisive flicks of the beak to pick out insects, caterpillars, and spiders from underneath. They remain alert as they move about, never straying too far from each other. The sentinel scans the surroundings constantly, pausing only to preen itself and wipe its beak on a branch. An alarm call from the watchtower (sentinel) sends the whole flock scurrying for shelter.
Cover photo: Jungle babblers are found in a variety of habitats across the Indian subcontinent. They are sometimes mistaken for yellow-billed babblers, which have a much paler, cream-white head (crown). Photo: Kallol Mukherjee
Flock together
The jungle babbler is a near-ubiquitous bird occupying lowland areas across the Indian subcontinent. Displaying no regard for the human-assigned label of “jungle” babbler, they are commonly seen outside forested areas, chatting in city gardens and backyards. These birds (along with their South Indian and Sri Lankan cousins, the yellow-billed babblers) may be dismissed by birdwatchers. Seen as common, dull birds that show up in large numbers to make a huge racket, they don’t seem to have too many fans. But in the intricacies of their unpleasant racket lies the most interesting thing about these birds.
Jungle babblers are highly social beings, as illustrated by their colloquial name of “seven sisters” or “sat-bhai” (seven brothers in Hindi). And as social animals, they constantly communicate with each other. Group activities need to be coordinated — foraging, movement, and brood care — and foragers must be warned of imminent danger. Coordinating such a wide range of social behaviours requires flock members to be armed with a suitable vocabulary to communicate coherently. Here, their vast repertoire of calls comes into play.
Expanded vocabulary
Research carried out by Dr Manjari Jain and her students at the Behavioural Ecology Lab in IISER-Mohali has shed some light on the variety of vocalisations (calls) these birds make in different situations. Their research shows that with increasing social complexity in a species, the complexity of calls also develops and rises. There is more information encoded in complex calls, and this allows receivers to respond in a more nuanced manner. For instance, a soft four-note call by a member of a foraging group (known as a “flight call”) signals that it’s time for the group to move on. A loud single note (contact call) from a panicked lone bird indicates it has been left behind; the others respond with the same note, calling back and forth until they locate the straggler.
Even within the calls produced against rivals, vocalisations vary circumstantially. A chorus call is employed when two groups are in conflict, chasing each other through the trees, sometimes even engaging in physical fights. A loud “kya-kya-kya” is produced by a bird in distress, bringing the rest of the flock to its aid. A shriek from the sentinel high above is met with immediate dispersal into the foliage. Once the threat has passed, they casually resume their routine as if they weren’t the physical embodiment of sheer panic moments earlier.
Support of the extended family
Besides foraging together, jungle babblers also practise allogrooming (where members of a flock groom each other), communal roosting, and cooperative brood care. Their large families are fragmented into smaller groups during the breeding season; these nuclear units consist of a dominant breeding pair and a few “helpers” that assist in raising the offspring. Such a cooperative social system in which some birds give up their chance to breed in order to help raise the offspring of others is rare in the wild.
Unfortunately, this “it takes a village” philosophy babblers practise is exploited by other species like the common hawk-cuckoo and the Jacobin cuckoo. The Jacobin or pied cuckoo, like others in its family, has virtually no parental care. Its eggs are similar in colour to those of the jungle babbler (turquoise blue), which it uses to its advantage. The cuckoo parasitises jungle babbler’s nest by laying its eggs in it. While babblers typically chase cuckoos away on sight, these parasites still find windows of opportunity while the host is away. This forced adoption is no careful exercise. For example, a cuckoo was spotted perching above a babbler’s nest for fifteen seconds, quickly laying her egg and cracking the host’s egg in the process. Young cuckoos are also quick to monopolise the food supply, and babbler chicks are sometimes found dead by starvation in parasitised nests.
Jungle babblers are omnipresent, fascinating birds with immense personalities. Behind their seemingly angry glares are soft, social beings who have developed a wide vocabulary to better engage with each other. A birdwatcher interested in ticking exotic species off a checklist may reserve little attention for these birds, but if you wish to observe bird behaviour in all its complex glory, I recommend starting with the noisy babblers bouncing around your backyard. I assure you they have rather interesting things to say.
About the author
Smriti Mahesh
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