Rusty cheeked Scimitar Babbler - Pangot, Uttarakhand, India - December 2015
Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests and subtropical or tropical moist montane forests.Sexes alike. Olive brown above; orangish - rufous(rusty) sides of face, head,thighs,flanks; remainder of under body mostly pure white; long, curved 'scimitar' beak. Small bands in forest; a bird of under growth, hopping on jungle floor, turns over leaves or digs with beak; sometimes hops in to leafy branches, but more at ease on ground. FOOD:insects,grubs, seeds. VOICE: noisy; mellow,fluty whistle, two-noted CUE..PE...CUE..pe followed by single note replay by mate; guttural alarm call and a liquid contact note. RANGE:the Himalaya foothills to at least 2200m and possibly to 2600m. HABITAT:forest undergrowth, ravines, bamboo.