Yellow-eyed Babbler

About the Yellow-eyed Babbler

The yellow-eyed babbler (Chrysomma sinense) is a passerine bird native to South and Southeast Asia. It inhabits shrubland, grassland and wetland habitats. On the IUCN Red List, it is listed as Least Concern because of its wide distribution and stable population.

Its common name refers to the traditional placement in the Old World babbler family Timaliidae although the genus Chrysomma forms a clade along with the parrotbills within the family Paradoxornithidae. The yellow-eyed babbler was formally described in 1789 by the German naturalist Johann Friedrich Gmelin in his revised and expanded edition of Carl Linnaeus's Systema Naturae. He placed it with the tits and manakins in the genus Parus and coined the binomial name Parus sinensis. Gmelin based his account on the "Chinese titmouse" that had been described in 1783 by the English ornithologist John Latham in his book A General Synopsis of Birds. Gmelin gave the type locality as China but it is now restricted to the province of Guangdong. The yellow-eyed babbler is now placed together with Jerdon's babbler in the genus Chrysomma that was introduced in 1843 by the English zoologist Edward Blyth.

Three subspecies are recognised... Wikipedia →