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Grey crowned Babbler
Pomatostomus temporalis
-30.3584, 153.086
Field Notes
Description:
Active, family-orientated birds, living in groups of up to 12 individuals. males and females look similar with grey crown, white eyebrow, strip of brownish grey extending from black downcurved beak through eye area along shoulder and back and wings. Chest and throat off white colour, underbelly is a rufous colour. in flight a beautiful cinnamon patch is visible under the wings. tail feathers are tipped with white. eyes are a pale yellow with centre black pupil.
known by many other names including the popular Happy Family which describes exactly how they behave playing, chattering and discovering the world around them. Happy Jack, cackler, and temporal babbler are other names as well as at least 20 other names.
Habitat:
Found throughout much of Australia, but most often in open dry woodland areas, cleared areas with access to some trees and near water. becoming scarce in much of the original range due to environmental changes and human impact, feral predation, predation by more aggressive species.
Notes:
This photo is of one of the breeding adults which didn't like being interrupted while building a nest - even from a distance. this group had become like a family that eventually included me. they would alert me to any dangers that affected them and tap on windows and doors to bring me outside to check any attackers such as the usual magpies or butcherbirds. they would often 'back me' as I approached attackers, crowding in behind me and chattering, following me into 'battle'.
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