Black-breasted Parrotbill

The black-breasted parrotbill is a large, thick-billed parrotbill 19 cm long, more or less brown all over, with black patches on the sides of the head and throat, an extensive black area on the upper breast and uniform rufous-buff remaining underparts. The similar spot-breasted parrotbill has arrow-shaped spotting on the breast and pale buff underparts. Historically it was much more widespread in northern India, extending west into West Bengal as far as Gorumara National Park (no records since 1984) and south into Bangladesh in at least two areas, where it is now considered possibly extinct (Wikipedia, general species account).

It was formerly found up to at least 900 m but is now restricted to the plains, with an upper limit of about 150 m. It is generally found in small flocks except during the breeding season, April to July, and is presumably resident, though there is some indication of local seasonal movements in response to the rainy season. The voice is a gruff howh, jeehw or jahw, and the song a rhythmic series, aw jahw jahw jahw and uhwi uhwi uhwi uhwi. Parrotbills are now considered a distinct family, Paradoxornithidae. SoIB 2023 treats it as an Assam Plains endemic and rates it a High conservation priority, a resident of wetland with a Restricted range of about 8,540 km² (Wikipedia, general species account; SoIB 2023).