Black-browed Babbler

In News: After 170 years, a ‘lost’ bird was found in the jungles of Indonesian Borneo.

Black-browed Babbler

• It is a small brown-grey songbird with a distinctive broad, black eye-stripe running all the way around its head.
• Scientific Name: Malacocincla perspicillata.
• It is a songbird species in the family Pellorneidae.
• The species is endemic to Borneo.
• Habitat: Subtropical or Tropical moist lowland forests, at altitudes of 200-1170 m.
• Due to insufficient information, it is still not classified by IUCN.
• The songbird is threatened by
  • Agriculture.
  • Logging allowed within protected areas.
  • Plantations for rubber and palm oil.
  • Drought fires.
• Within the next few years, there is a risk of near complete loss of dryland lowland forest in Kalimantan.
• Recently after 170 years, on October 5, 2020, this bird was spotted and captured alive in southeastern Kalimantan, the part of Borneo that is administered by Indonesia.
• The finding was reported on February 25 in Birding ASIA, the biannual bulletin of the Oriental Bird Club.
• Last sighting of bird was by a German naturalist by the name of Carl Schwaner Some time between 1843 and 1848

Source: IE