Many people who live in rural areas of northern and eastern Australia, will have seen a flock of up to about a dozen Grey-crowned Babblers scurrying across the ground, scratching around through the undergrowth, no doubt looking for insects, lizards, spiders or any other small creatures that they could swallow for food.
In a group of Babblers, also known as the Happy Family, all members participate in the searching. Some of the different groups could be the parents with their young staying with them
There is no difference in the colouring of both male and female.
While searching for birds to photograph, I have come across a number of these groups, some of which are also in company with Apostle Birds who live in similar sized groups and are ground feeders as well. Squabbles seem to break out between the two but they are short and over quickly
I have also found a couple of Babblers’ nests but each of these have been fairly high. These nests were dome-shaped and too high for me to get a clear shot of them.
Although I cannot be sure of the accuracy of the following story, I have heard that a group of Babblers laid claim to the grounds of a small school in the country. At times, the noise they made was quite deafening.
Although the teacher tried to chase them away, as soon as he went upstairs, the Babblers were back. However, the children went on with their lessons ignoring the noise. After a few days, the Babblers moved on and all was peaceful again.
There are actually four different types of Babblers in Australia with the Grey-crowned Variety being the largest.
