Shemgang, Bhutan
April 2008

The White-browed Shrike-Babbler is distributed from north-east Pakistan along the Himalayas to southern and eastern China and south through Indochina and the Malaysian Peninsula to Indonesia and Borneo.

It is found in a variety of forest types where it feeds on insects, beetles, berries, fruit and seeds.

The male has a striking white supercilium and orange tertials which can just be seen in photo 1. Otherwise upperparts are black while underparts are greyish-white with a pinky-buff tinge to the lower flanks and belly.

The female, seen here in photo 3, is very different with a grey head, brownish mantle yellow and orange on the wings and buffy-grey underparts.

Recent genetic work apparently shows that this genus is not a babbler but more correctly belongs to the New World family of vireos with which it shares a lot of behavioural characteristics.

There are recordings on xeno-canto and additional information is available via Avibase.