Puff-throated Babbler

The puff-throated, or spotted, babbler is brown above and white below with heavy brown streaks towards the breast and belly. The throat is white and sometimes puffed out, giving the English name. Some subspecies have streaks on the mantle while others, especially in peninsular India, are unstreaked; the nominate population is in peninsular India excluding the Western Ghats, a paler form in the northern Eastern Ghats and a dark form in the southern Western Ghats, while the western Himalayan population is punctatum and the eastern mandellii, with streaking on the back and nape and different calls (Wikipedia, general species account).

It is found in scrub and moist forest mainly in hilly regions, foraging in small groups on the forest floor and turning over leaf litter for prey, usually low in the undergrowth and hard to spot, at first glance like a song thrush. Despite this, it has loud and distinct calls, including a morning song and contact and alarm calls. The clutch is two to five eggs, and young fledge and leave the nest about 12 to 13 days after hatching. SoIB 2023 rates it a Low conservation priority, a resident of forest and plantation with a Large range of about 548,000 km² and a decline of about 43% over the long term (Wikipedia, general species account; SoIB 2023).