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Updated Estimates Put India’s Large Grey Babbler Trends Close to Zero, but With Wide Uncertainty

Large grey babbler in New Delhi, India
Conservation · Population & status

Updated national estimates for large grey babbler (Argya malcolmi) placed both its long-term and current trends close to zero, but with uncertainty broad enough to include either an increase or a decline. These trends describe changes in how often the species appears in complete eBird lists rather than direct changes in a counted number of birds. The figures were released on 6 May 2026 in the interim update to State of India’s Birds.

The update used 48 million field observations submitted to eBird across India through 31 May 2025. It recalculated numerical values for distribution range size, long-term trend and current annual trend for 942 species previously assessed by the project. The larger observation base was used to update the numerical trend estimates and distribution range.

The national estimates were close to flat

For large grey babbler, the updated long-term trend estimate for India, covering more than 25 years of change, was +1.1%. The uncertainty was broad, meaning the estimate did not distinguish clearly between a national increase and a decline.

The current annual trend, describing the more recent period since 2015, was estimated at −0.23% per year. Its uncertainty was also broad enough that the data did not show a clear recent increase or decline. The updated national distribution range size was estimated at about 1.46 million km².

This was a numerical update, not a new classification

State of India’s Birds explicitly describes the 2025 interim release as an update of numerical values only. The project did not change the existing categories assigned to distribution range size, long-term trend or current annual trend.

This distinction matters for large grey babbler because the new numerical estimates and their uncertainty should not be read as a formal reclassification of the species. The update adds more recent observations to the trend calculations while leaving the categorical assessment unchanged until a later full reassessment.

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 interim update, created 6 May 2026.
  2. State of India’s Birds Partnership. (2026). Large Grey Babbler (Argya malcolmi) factsheet: 2025 update.Factsheet reports India-wide LTT +1.11% (CI −17.32 to +24.11), CAT −0.23%/year (CI −1.59 to +1.13), and DRS 1,460,620 km².

Image: Robin Abraham — large grey babbler photographed at Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, India. Source: Wikimedia Commons. Representative image for this story; not presented as an animal or scene from the reported study or event. · CC BY 2.0 · Source

About this content: This story was produced with AI assistance within an editorial workflow developed by Wildlife Vagabond. Editorial responsibility remains with Wildlife Vagabond.How AI is used

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