Rusty-cheeked Scimitar Babbler

The rusty-cheeked scimitar babbler is a babbler of the family Timaliidae found in the Himalaya from north-east Pakistan to Bhutan and on to Myanmar. It is olive-brown above with rusty colouring on the sides of the face, head, thighs and flanks, and a mostly white belly. It was formerly considered conspecific with the red-eyed scimitar babbler of eastern Myanmar and north-western Thailand (Wikipedia, general species account).

It inhabits subtropical or tropical moist lowland and montane forest at elevations up to 2,600 m, feeding mostly on the forest floor and in the low canopy, in small groups. Calls are a mellow, fluty whistle, a two-note CUE..PE...CUE..pe answered by a single note from the mate, guttural alarm calls and a liquid contact note. SoIB 2023 rates it a Low conservation priority, a resident forest bird with a Moderate range of about 95,700 km² and an increasing current trend (Wikipedia, general species account; SoIB 2023).