Tawny-bellied Babbler

Bright orange-brown babbler, brighter-colored than any similar babblers. Stays away from dense mature forests, instead favoring forest edges, open woodlands, dense scrub, and grassy areas interspersed with trees. Song is a short series of moderately-spaced high sibilant whistles. Call repertoire ranges from high thin notes to noisy yapping.

The tawny-bellied babbler is found from Nepal and north-central India to Sri Lanka. The populations in India are all intergrading and no disjunct distributions exist. Its natural habitat is scrub and tall grassland. In Sri Lanka it is found in the hills up to about 1500 m above sea level.

It feeds mainly on insects but also takes nectar from flowers of Bombax and Erythrina. They produce cheeping, twittering or harsh chattering notes while foraging in bushes.