Old World warblers are a large group of birds formerly grouped together in the bird family Sylviidae. They are not closely related to the New World warblers. The family held over 400 species in over 70 genera, and were the source of much taxonomic confusion. Two families were split out initially, the cisticolas into Cisticolidae and the kinglets into Regulidae. In the past ten years they have been the subject of much research and many species are now placed into other families, including the Acrocephalidae, Cettiidae, Phylloscopidae, and Megaluridae. In addition some species have been moved into existing families or have not yet had their placement fully resolved. A smaller number of warblers, together with some babblers formerly placed in the family Timaliidae and the parrotbills, are retained in a much smaller family Sylviidae.
The Old World babblers or Timaliidae are a family of mostly Old World passerine birds. They are rather diverse in size and coloration, but are characterised by soft fluffy plumage. These are birds of tropical areas, with the greatest variety in Southeast Asia and the Indian subcontinent. The timaliids are one of two unrelated groups of birds known as babblers, the other being the Australasian babblers of the family Pomatostomidae.
The parrotbills are a family, Paradoxornithidae, of passerine birds that are primarily native to East and Southeast Asia, though feral populations exist elsewhere. They are generally small, long-tailed birds that inhabit reedbeds and similar habitats. They feed mainly on seeds, e.g. of grasses, to which their bill, as the name implies, is well-adapted. Living in tropical to southern temperate climates, they are usually non-migratory.
The white-eyes are a family, Zosteropidae, of small passerine birds native to tropical, subtropical and temperate Sub-Saharan Africa, southern and eastern Asia, and Australasia. White-eyes inhabit most tropical islands in the Indian Ocean, the western Pacific Ocean, and the Gulf of Guinea. Discounting some widespread members of the genus Zosterops, most species are endemic to single islands or archipelagos. The silvereye, Zosterops lateralis, naturally colonised New Zealand, where it is known as the "wax-eye" or tauhou ("stranger"), from 1855. The silvereye has also been introduced to the Society Islands in French Polynesia, while the Japanese white-eye has been introduced to Hawaii.
The wrentit is a small bird that lives in chaparral, oak woodlands, and bushland on the western coast of North America. It is the only species in the genus Chamaea.
Micromacronus is a bird genus in the family Cisticolidae endemic to the Philippines. Long considered to be monotypic, its members are known as miniature babblers or miniature tit-babblers. As the scientific as well as the common names indicate, their habitus resembles a diminutive version of the tit-babblers (Macronus). The genus was only described in 1962, upon the description of the first species, which had been collected by collector Manuel Celestino and Godofredo Alcasid, a zoologist at the Philippine National Museum. The genus was formerly placed in the family Timaliidae but a molecular phylogenetic study published in 2012 found that the genus was more closely related to species in the family Cisticolidae.
Pnoepyga is a genus of passerines endemic to southern and southeastern Asia. Its members are known as cupwings or wren-babblers. The genus contains four species. The genus has long been placed in the babbler family Timaliidae. A 2009 study of the DNA of the families Timaliidae and the Old World warblers (Sylviidae) found no support for the placement of the genus in either family, prompting the authors to erect a new monogeneric family, the Pnoepygidae.
The Mishmi wren-babbler is a species of bird in the family Timaliidae. It is endemic to Northeast India.
The rufous-throated wren-babbler is a species of bird in the family Timaliidae. It is found in Bhutan, India, and Nepal.
The Naga wren-babbler or long-tailed wren-babbler is a bird species in the family Timaliidae. In India it is found in Nagaland and Manipur.
The spotted elachura or spotted wren-babbler is a species of passerine bird found in the forests of the eastern Himalayas and Southeast Asia. In the past it was included in the babbler genus Spelaeornis as S. formosus, but molecular phylogenetic studies in 2014 provided evidence that it was distinct from the babblers and part of a basal lineage with no other close living relatives within the passerine bird clade Passerida. This led to the creation of a new family, Elachuridae, to accommodate just one species.
The tawny-breasted wren-babbler is a species of bird in the family Timaliidae. It is endemic to the Khasi Hills of Northeast India.
The bar-winged wren-babbler is a species of bird in the family Timaliidae. It is found in Bhutan, China, India, and Myanmar. Its natural habitat is subtropical or tropical moist montane forest.
Alcippe is a genus of passerine birds in the monotypic family Alcippeidae. The genus once included many other fulvettas and was previously placed in families Pellorneidae or Timaliidae.
Fulvetta is a genus of passerine birds. Originally proposed in 1877, it was recently reestablished for the typical fulvettas, which were long included with their presumed relatives in the Timaliidae genus Alcippe. But they are actually quite closely related to the parrotbills, and are thus now placed in the family Paradoxornithidae.
The Chin Hills wren-babbler is a bird species in the family Timaliidae. It was until recently considered a subspecies of the long-tailed wren-babbler; the IUCN for example started recognizing it as distinct species in 2008.
The grey-bellied wren-babbler is a bird species in the family Timaliidae. It was until recently considered a subspecies of the long-tailed wren-babbler; the IUCN, for example, started recognizing it as distinct species in 2008.
The pale-throated wren-babbler is a bird species in the family Timaliidae. It was until recently considered a subspecies of the long-tailed wren-babbler; the IUCN for example started recognizing it as distinct species in 2008. It is endemic to Vietnam
Several bird genera in multiple families contain species commonly known as wren-babblers, including:
The jungle babblers are a family, Pellorneidae, of mostly Old World passerine birds belonging to the superfamily Sylvioidea. They are quite diverse in size and coloration, and usually characterised by soft, fluffy plumage and a tail on average the length of their body, or longer. These birds are found in tropical zones, with the greatest biodiversity in Southeast Asia and the Indian subcontinent.
