Overview

Red-vented Bulbul: Popular caged bird, native from Pakistan to southwest China. Upperparts and breast are brown to black. Shiny black head has a small crest. Buff belly, white rump and uppertail coverts, undertail coverts are red. Brown-black tail is white-tipped. Legs and feet are brown-black.

Red-vented Bulbul: A small flock was seen on O'ahu in 1966. Now numerous and found in many types of habitat throughout most of O'ahu. Prefers lower level residential, agricultural, and scrubland. Also resides in native forests.

Voice Text

"wheet-wheet-ear", "PEEP", "peep-peep-peep"

• The Red-vented Bulbul was first descibed in 1766 by Carolus Linnaeus.
• On Oahu they eat the orange morphs of the Monarch butterfly, causing a rise in the white morph population over the last twenty years.
• The word bulbul may have come from a Turkish or Persian word for nightingale.
• They are considered agricultural pests because they damage fruit crops. In Hawaii, they also feed on cultivated dendrobium orchids. Ziram and methiocarb have been spread as repellents, however the bulbuls learn to avoid them.

Bulbuls (Pycnonotidae)

ORDER

The bulbuls are one of the one hundred eighteen families of birds in the order PASSERIFORMES (pronounced pas-ser-i-FOR-meez), a large taxonomic order that also includes the babblers, the wrens, and the accentors.

FAMILY TAXONOMY

A large bird family with a primarily African and Asian distribution, the Pycnonotidae (pronounced pik-noh-NOH-tuh-dee) is composed of one hundred forty-four species in twenty-five genera.

NORTH AMERICA

The only representatives of the bulbul family that occur in North America are two introduced species from one genus; the Red-vented Bulbul and the Red-whiskered Bulbul.

KNOWN FOR

In Asia, bulbuls are most well known for their singing ability; several species kept as cagebirds because of this. The Red-whiskered Bulbul is no exception with populations of this species in the United States derived from birds that escaped from captivity.

PHYSICAL

Members of the Pycnonotidae are medium-sized Passerines that are rather slender in appearance with long tails, short wings, medium length legs, and short, fairly thin bills. Like several other members of this family, the two North American species are crested.

COLORATION

The many species of bulbuls are plumaged in olive, brown, gray, black, and white, some with streaked plumage and many with patches of yellow or red on the face and vent.

GEOGRAPHIC HABITAT

In Asia and Africa, members of this family reside in tropical forest and non-forest habitats, all species being arboreal in nature. The two species that have been introduced to North America are non-forest species that have adapted nicely to urban settings and open areas with warm climates such as Los Angeles, Miami, and Hawaii.

MIGRATION

The two North American bulbuls are non-migratory birds.

HABITS

Bulbuls do not nest in colonies but often occur in flocks while foraging. Many species are frugivorous, the two North American species feeding on the fruits of introduced trees so commonly planted in Miami. In addition to feeding on fruits, they also take flower nectar and insects.

CONSERVATION

The two introduced species of this family in North America are not threatened. They aren’t threatened in their native range either, although some localized populations of the Red-whiskered Bulbul have been extirpated by capture for the cagebird trade. The formerly common Straw-headed Bulbul of Indonesia and Malaysia has been especially affected by this practice and is now extirpated or rare in most areas of its range.

INTERESTING FACTS

The Red-whiskered Bulbul gets its name from the distinctive red tuft of feathers located just below and behind the eyes.

Author

Crystal Adams

Artist

Yury Lisyak