Brown-capped Babbler

The brown-capped babbler is an endemic resident breeder in Sri Lanka, a smallish to medium-sized babbler 16 cm long including its long tail, brown above and rich cinnamon below with a dark brown crown and a short dark bill. It lives in forest undergrowth and thick scrub, where it is hard to see, though its noisy calls are the best sign of it. It builds its nest on the ground or in a hole, hidden in dense foliage, and lays two or three eggs (Wikipedia, species account).

Birds are usually believed to occur in pairs, and males make a distinctive pretty dear call, with territorial behaviour in the first half of the year. Three subspecies are found: babaulti in the dry-zone lowlands, fuscocapillus in the hill country and scotillum in the wet-zone lowlands. In Sinhala it is called parandel-kurulla. Nationally Least Concern (Sri Lanka National Red List 2012).