Brown-cheeked Fulvetta

The brown-cheeked fulvetta, formerly called the quaker babbler in India and the common nun babbler in Malaya, is a small, dull babbler-like bird 15 cm long from beak to tail tip, found in the forests of South and Southeast Asia. The bill is grey, short and weak, the wings brownish, the underside buff and the crown grey, and the sexes are indistinguishable. It is widely distributed in peninsular India, with other populations east of the Brahmaputra extending into Southeast Asia (Wikipedia, general species account).

It forages in trees for insects, sometimes hanging from branches in a tit-like manner, and visits flowers for nectar; several birds may forage in a loose flock, sometimes joining mixed-species flocks. It is hard to see in vegetation but has loud multi-note whistling calls in the morning and afternoon. A study in southern India found 38 nests within 50,000 square metres, with a mean nest width of 91.8 mm and depth of 48.7 mm. SoIB 2023 rates it a Moderate conservation priority, a resident forest bird with a Large range of about 252,000 km² and a rapid long-term decline of about 67% (Wikipedia, general species account; SoIB 2023).