CreatureData

Mourning babbler

Pellorneum malaccense (Hartlaub, 1844)

NTNear Threatenedsongbirds

The mourning babbler (Pellorneum malaccense) is a species in the family Pellorneidae, order Passeriformes. Recorded adults weigh 21 g to 21.5 g. Its IUCN Red List status is Near Threatened.

Mourning babbler (Pellorneum malaccense)
Photo: Wich’yanan L · CC BY 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Quick facts about the mourning babbler

Weight
21 g – 21.5 gsrc for Weight
Length
Not recorded
Lifespan
Not recorded
Diet
Invertivoresrc for Diet
Main food
Not recorded
Habitat
forestsrc for Habitat
Young per litter or clutch
2.4src for Young per litter or clutch
Lifestyle
Generalistsrc for Lifestyle
Migration
Sedentarysrc for Migration
Conservation status
Near Threatened (IUCN)src for Conservation status
Countries on record
Not recorded

Where does the mourning babbler live?

Not recorded

What is the mourning babbler?

Quoted from WikipediaCC BY-SA 4.0

The mourning babbler (Pellorneum malaccense), previously the short-tailed babbler, is a species of bird in the ground babbler family Pellorneidae. It is found in the Malay Peninsula, Anambas Islands, Sumatra, Banyak Islands, Batu Islands, Riau Islands, Lingga Islands and the Natuna Islands. It was formerly considered to be conspecific with the glissando babbler (Pellorneum saturatum) and the leaflitter babbler (Pellorneum poliogene).

Its natural habitat is tropical moist lowland forests. The species is generally solitary, not joining larger mixed-species flocks, instead foraging as singles or pairs. They forage in the understory on the ground on a variety of insects including beetles, grasshoppers, and ants. Like other babblers they will use their foot to grasp food items, an unusual behaviour for passerine birds.

The mourning babbler is locally common at a number of places within its range but is considered near-threatened due to the loss of lowland forest in its range.

From the Wikipedia article “Mourning babbler” (en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Mourning_babbler&oldid=1379847631), by Wikipedia contributors, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0 (creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0). This block is kept separate from our own text.

Is the mourning babbler endangered?

The mourning babbler is listed as Near Threatened on the IUCN Red List: it is close to qualifying as threatened.

  1. LCLeast Concern
  2. NTNear Threatened
  3. VUVulnerable
  4. ENEndangered
  5. CRCritically Endangered
  6. EWExtinct in the Wild
  7. EXExtinct

Category via Wikidata (CC0). Find the full assessment on the IUCN Red List. See all Near Threatened species. What the categories mean.

How is the mourning babbler classified?

  1. kingdomAnimalia
  2. phylumChordata
  3. classAves
  4. orderPasseriformes
  5. familyPellorneidae
  6. genusPellorneum
  7. SpeciesPellorneum malaccense (Hartlaub, 1844)

Synonyms Brachypteryx malaccensis, Malacocincla malaccensis, Malacocincla malaccensis malaccensis, Pellorneum malaccense malaccense, Trichastoma malaccense, Trichastoma malaccense malaccense

Other names and names in other languages (40)
  • Short-tailed babblerEnglish
  • matinera cuacurtaCatalan
  • timálie krátkoocasáCzech
  • preblyn jyngl cwtaWelsh
  • Korthalet DrosseltimalieDanish
  • KurzschwanzmaustimalieGerman
  • Kurzschwanz-MausdrosslingGerman
  • Kurzschwanz-MaustimalieGerman
  • funebra pelorneoEsperanto
  • Tordina colicortaSpanish
  • lyhytpyrstötimaliFinnish
  • Akalat à queue courteFrench
  • Turdinule à queue courteFrench
  • kratkorepi drozdaljCroatian
  • rövidfarkú egértimáliaHungarian
  • Pelanduk dada-putihIndonesian
  • Pelanduk ekor-pendekIndonesian
  • Garrulo codacortaItalian
  • タンビムジチメドリJapanese
  • trumpauodegė malakocinklaLithuanian
  • korthaletimalNorwegian Bokmål
  • TreurmuistimaliaDutch
  • KortstaartmuistimaliaDutch
  • kortstjerttimalNorwegian
  • dżunglak kusyPolish
  • tordina-carpideiraPortuguese
  • tordina-de-cauda-curtaPortuguese
  • tordina-rabicurta-malaiaPortuguese
  • Короткохвостый шелкопёрRussian
  • Короткохвостая мышиная тимелияRussian
  • dudroš krátkochvostýSlovak
  • Kratkorepa brbljušaSerbian
  • klagotimaliaSwedish
  • kortstjärtad timaliaSwedish
  • นกกินแมลงป่าหางสั้นThai
  • Kısa Kuyruklu ArdıçesmeriTurkish
  • тордина сірощокаUkrainian
  • 短尾雅鶥Chinese
  • 短尾雅鶥Chinese
  • 短尾雅鹛Chinese

Catalogue of LifeWikipediaiNaturalistWikidataIUCN Red List

Relatives of the mourning babbler

Other species in the same genus Pellorneum.

CompareMourning babbler vs Puff-throated babblerMourning babbler vs Javan black-capped babblerMourning babbler vs Malayan swamp babblerMourning babbler vs Spot-throated babbler

Common questions

Answered only where our data holds the answer.

How big is the mourning babbler?

An adult mourning babbler weighs 21 g – 21.5 g, according to values recorded on Wikidata.

Is the mourning babbler endangered?

The mourning babbler is listed as Near Threatened on the IUCN Red List, meaning it is close to qualifying as threatened.

What kind of animal is the mourning babbler?

The mourning babbler (Pellorneum malaccense) belongs to the family Pellorneidae in the order Passeriformes.

Sources and how to cite this page

Data as of 2026-11-11. How this page is put together.

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APA

CreatureData. (2026). Mourning babbler (Pellorneum malaccense). Retrieved from https://creaturedata.com/animals/mourning-babbler

MLA

“Mourning babbler (Pellorneum malaccense).” CreatureData, 2026, https://creaturedata.com/animals/mourning-babbler.

BibTeX
@misc{mourning_babbler_2026,
  title = {Mourning babbler (Pellorneum malaccense)},
  author = {{CreatureData}},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://creaturedata.com/animals/mourning-babbler},
  note = {Data as of 2026-11-11}
}