Giant babax
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The giant babax (Pterorhinus waddelli) is a species of bird in the laughingthrush family Leiothrichidae, found in India and Tibet. It prefers the low bushes at the edge of the southern Tibetan plateau,[1] but it can adapt to both dry and cold mountain habitats.[2] It is also commonly seen around villages and monasteries, where it feeds off scraps.[1]
Description
It is a bulky, long-tailed brown bird with a curved bill and dark streaks.[1] On average, it is Template:Cvt long.[2] Its vocalizations vary between melodic flute-like notes and harsh jabbering ones.[1]
Threats
It is threatened by habitat loss.[1]
Diet
Its diet includes insects (Lepidoptera and Diptera) and berries in the summer, and crop seeds, berries, and plant rhizomes in the winter.[2]
Breeding
Its breeding season lasts from May to July.[2] It mainly nests in willows (Salix longistamina), Rosa sericea, Populus szechuanica, Cotoneaster microphyllus, and elm trees.[2] It prefers to nest in areas dense with trees, close to water but far from human settlements.[2]
Taxonomy
The giant babax was described by the English ornithologist Henry Dresser in 1905 from a specimen collected by the British explorer Laurence Waddell in the Yarlung Tsangpo river valley in Tibet.[3] Based on the results of a comprehensive molecular phylogenetic study of the Leiothrichidae that was published in 2018, the giant babax was placed in the resurrected genus Pterorhinus.[4][5]
References
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