Yellow-billed Babbler - Turdoides affinis
A noisy sociable thrush that frequented the understory across Sri Lanka. I hope these birds eat leaches. These horrible things would come out and attach themselves to your ankles when it rained. They really freaked the kids out after walks - the screams could be heard across the valley. We ended up walking wit little bags of salt or an indian lime in our pocket to make them fall off. Truly disgusting creatures.
I used watch one of these birds making its way through the leaf litter each morning tossing aside debris in its search for goodies - all the world like a Song Thrush back home. There are clearly "niches" for birds but I wonder why a super thrush couldn't dominate the world ? Tiny differences in food, fauna, other competitive pressures non-existant elsewhere ?
A fairly plain bird but on our side in the war against leaches !
Yelow-billed Babbler - Turdoides affinis
Sri Lanka, Ellerton Lodge near Kandy
April 2011
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