General News
3 July, 2026
Babblers
BARRY'S CORNER: There are three types of babbler in Western Victoria and they all prefer open wood land to live.
All the babbler families make use of ground level and mid height to spend their day feeding, and leaping around.
The babblers can fly but one of the charactiristics and easily recognizable features are these giant strides the birds make.
The birds make the exercise look so easy they cover so much territory in such quick time.
They live in family groups and they chatter all the time and keep in touch with each other.
When it comes to nesting they have an unusual practice.
Each family group finds two reasonably leafy bush acacia or other specimen mid storey tree available and they build two nests.
The trees would only be 20 metres apart.
The nests are made of sticks, bark and leaves and has a roof with an entrance on the side.
Then the eggs are laid in one while the rest of the farm makes use of the second nest as sleeping quarters.
without a babbler.
around towards Darwin.
The red capped babbler can sometimes be found in the Mallee.
Each species has a different call and is soon learned to tune the ears.
With the low flying from bush to bush there is much scratching in the ground litter for roaches and spiders with an industrial fervor.
Babblers are a pleasant bird to have around any workplace and should be encouraged they can normally be heard before coming into sight and it takes a while for the family pass by.
Because they are ground feeders they are at risk of being hunted by cats and foxes.
there has been a sighting in SA and the WImmerra.
It is likely the birds have gone extinct.
A population was rescued in the nineties with co operative efforts by landholders and agencies.
However we should not let the situation get that bad before taking action.
It is a sad indictment on us as a community to watch over this tragedy.