Willem is a wildlife artist based in South Africa. He says "My aim is simply to express the beauty and wonder that is in Nature, and to heighten people's appreciation of plants, animals and the wilderness. Not everything I paint is African! Though I've never been there, I'm also fascinated by Asia and I've done paintings of Asian rhinos and birds as well. I may in future do some of European, Australian and American species too. I'm fascinated by wild things from all over the world! I mainly paint in watercolours. . . but actually many media including 'digital' paintings with the computer!"

Here you have a couple of Arrowmarked Babblers, Turdoides jardineii. The scientific name means 'Jardin's thrush-like thingy'. They used to be considered typical babblers, members of the Timaliidae-family. Recent studies of bird relationships have 'shuffled' the species around and moved several into other, even new, families, with the family Leiotrichidae, the Laughingthrushes, now considered to house the arrowmarked babbler and some others. The Turdoides babblers constitute a fairly large genus with many African and Asian members. They resemble thrushes, or for American readers, mockingbirds, in size and shape.

The 'arrowmarks' are unique head, breast and throat feathers with sharp, white points, conspicuous amidst the otherwise dull brownish feathers of the body. The only other notable visual feature of this babbler is its striking eye, which is red with a bright yellow rim around the pupil. But those are merely features of its appearance. Its most noteworthy feature is its voice! The terms 'babbler' and 'laughingthrush' which are used for the groups to which it belongs, both refer to that. All babbler species are highly vocal, and tend to 'call' in groups. The arrowmarked babbler occurs in smallish flocks, and every now and then the whole bunch of them erupts into raucous, mocking laughter – 'caw, caw, caw, caw …'. The flock members all call in sync, so that it sounds almost like a gigantic, single bird calling.

There's a little event I'll always remember about these babblers. Years ago, the church my family and I were members of held a little getaway to the Kruger National Park for the entire congregation. In camp one evening there was a group of elderly ladies, amicably chatting. A flock of babblers landed nearby and started laughing at them, which set the ladies laughing too, and they and the birds were all laughing at each other, causing mirth for the entire camp.

These birds have recently started turning up in my garden. That might mean my aim of creating a 'wildlife garden' is succeeding, since they're mainly birds of wild lands. What is strange, is that on a few occasions, they've landed on a windowsill and started pecking at the windowpane, the first time giving me quite a scare. Hearing the tapping, I thought it was someone trying to break into my house! I was much relieved when I tracked the sound down to find that it was a babbler at the window. I think they are completely unfamiliar with windows; seeing their own reflection, they must think it's another bird, and the tapping might be some kind of reaching out or a test or investigation of its reality. I am very fond of these babblers, and happy they're finding a home here; even now as I'm writing these words, there's a group of them I can hear calling from my back garden.

Babblers are very sociable birds. The small flocks they form are typically all related: a parental couple and their grown-up offspring. Flocks number between three and thirteen birds. They occur in savannah or bush country, but avoid dense forests, open grassland and desert. They eat mostly insects, but also small vertebrates like lizards. They consume a small amount of plant food: fruits, seeds, and nectar from aloe flowers. Most of their food is taken from the ground. As a flock, they methodically move through their territory in short flights and hops over the ground. Several eyes make it easier to spot their prey. They will sometimes use their curved bills to flick leaves aside to expose small critters. Their synchronized calling is likely to bond and attune themselves finely to each other. They defend fixed territories, and conflicts with neighbouring flocks can become very noisy as the two groups scold each other with drooped wings and quivering tails. Most often, the disputes are settled through song. Babblers can act more hands-on also, and will band together to drive away birds of prey; on one occasion, five pied babblers, a related species, managed to kill a goshawk that attacked one of their chicks.

Because of their versatility and the fairly benign climate of their habitat, arrowmarked babblers can breed any time of the year. The group members all help out with breeding. It's typically only the senior male and female that actually breed. The nest is cup-shaped and made of grass, leaves and twigs, lined with rootlets and soft plant fibres, well-hidden in a leafy bush or thorny tree. Rarely they may even nest inside a tree cavity. It appears that the whole flock builds the nest. The senior female lays two to four (rarely up to six) eggs, a lovely light turquoise-green colour. (These eggs' colour is matched by a brood parasite that sometimes targets the babblers, the striped cuckoo.) It seems that the senior female incubates the eggs, but other flock members may also help out. When the chicks emerge, all the flock helps to feed and brood them. They also eat the chicks' droppings, which are contained in handy faecal sacs. The chicks leave the nest aged 18 to 21 days. The juveniles differ from the adults in having dull brown eyes, these brightening up when they reach sexual maturity. They remain with the flock long-term; only when the flock becomes too large, some may leave and start their own flocks.

Arrowmarked babblers occur over much of South Africa and northwards into central and eastern Africa. In suitable habitat they are abundant, and currently not endangered.

Willem

12.06.23 Front Page

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