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Jungle Babbler Index Showed Clear Long-term Increase in India, While Recent Trend Was Unclear

Jungle babbler in Ahmedabad, Gujarat, India
Conservation · Population & status

The 2025 interim update from State of India’s Birds reported revised national numerical estimates for jungle babbler (Argya striata) in India. The numerical update was released on 6 May 2026.

The long-term numerical trend was estimated at +41.2% and clearly supported a long-term increase. The current annual estimate was +0.9% per year, but the uncertainty was broad enough that the recent change could not be distinguished clearly from little or no change. The species page still carries the 2023 categories Trend Inconclusive for the long-term trend and Stable for the current annual trend because these qualitative categories were not recalculated from the 2025 numerical estimates.

The species’ modelled distribution range in India was estimated at 1,985,717 km². State of India’s Birds describes the jungle babbler as resident, without clear habitat specialization and endemic to the Indian Subcontinent, and retains it in the Low conservation-priority category.

The interim release updated numerical range and trend estimates for 942 previously assessed bird species using about 48 million eBird observations through 31 May 2025. The trend values describe change in a reporting-based abundance index rather than direct counts of individual birds.

Sources and image credit

  1. State of India’s Birds Partnership. (2026). State of India’s Birds: Range, trends, and conservation status – 2025 interim update (Version 2) [Data set]. Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.20036633Primary 2026 release, created 6 May 2026. For Jungle Babbler, the India-wide update estimated a long-term change of +41.2% (95% CI +23.9 to +62.8), a current annual trend of +0.9% (−0.1 to +1.9), and a distribution range of about 1,985,717 km².

Image: Connectchintan / Wikimedia Commons — jungle babbler (Argya striata) photographed at Bhagvat Vidyapith, Ahmedabad, Gujarat, India, 25 May 2016. Representative species image, not linked to the national trend analysis. · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Source

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