Arabian babbler
The Arabian babbler is a small, gray-brown bird that lives in dry scrub and along riverbeds in the Middle East. It is a highly social, resident species that nests in groups and shares care of the young.
Scientific name and classification: Argya squamiceps. It was once placed in the genus Turdoides, but a 2018 study moved it to the resurrected genus Argya. It belongs to the family Leiothrichidae.
Size and appearance: It is about 26–29 cm long, with a wingspan of 31–33 cm and a weight around 64–88 g. It has a long curved bill, a long tail, rounded wings, and strong legs. Its upperparts are gray-brown, lighter underneath, with dark streaks on the back and a whitish throat.
Range and habitat: The bird is found in eastern, southern, and western Arabia, including the United Arab Emirates, Oman, Yemen, and western Saudi Arabia, and north to Jordan, Israel, and eastern Sinai. It lives in arid scrubland and savanna, up to about 2800 meters in Yemen.
Social life and behavior: Arabian babblers live in groups of 2 to 10 and defend their territory year-round. Each group includes a breeding pair and other non-breeding helpers who usually do not breed but help raise the young, gather food, incubate eggs, and defend the nest and territory. They may also bathe together, give each other gifts, and sometimes clash over who gets to help. They can even feed one another.
Nesting and breeding: Nests are open cups built in dense vegetation. Breeding runs from February to July, depending on rainfall. Most clutches have four eggs laid on consecutive days. Incubation lasts about 14 days after the last egg is laid, and the chicks fledge about 14 days after hatching.
Diet: They eat a variety of food, including invertebrates (mainly arthropods), small vertebrates like lizards, and plant material such as nectar, berries, leaves, and seeds.
Interesting notes: The cooperative and altruistic behavior of Arabian babblers has been studied in ethology. Amotz Zahavi used their feeding by helpers to illustrate the handicap principle, a theory about honest signaling. In Israel, Yitzchak Ben-Mocha found evidence that adults use calls and movement to encourage fledglings to move to a new shelter, showing intentional communication.
Conservation status: Least Concern.
This page was last edited on 2 February 2026, at 15:22 (CET).