Red-vented bulbul

The Red-vented Bulbul is a member of the bulbul family of passerine birds. It is resident breeder in tropical southern Asia from India and Sri Lanka east to Burma and southwestern China. It has been introduced and has established itself in the wild in many Pacific islands including Fiji, Samoa, Tonga, and Hawaii. It has also established itself in parts of Dubai, the United Arab Emirates and New Zealand. It is included among the world's worst invasive alien species.

Picture of the Red-vented bulbul has been licensed under a GFDL
Original source: Own work
Author: J.M.Garg
Permission: GNU Free Documentation License

The Red-vented bulbul is classified as Least Concern. Does not qualify for a more at risk category. Widespread and abundant taxa are included in this category.

areas, and Red-vented Bulbuls occur sparingly in forests up to the highest summits of the Ko‘olau Mtns. Both species are sedentary throughout their distribution and have protracted breeding seasons in most of their introduced and native ranges; thus pairs are able to raise 2–3 broods annually. Bulbuls are highly gregarious during the nonbreeding season and gather in large communal roosts. They are primarily frugivores but also feed on animal and plant material, including leaves, flowers, buds, and nectar. More

The Red-vented Bulbul (Pycnonotus cafer) is a member of the bulbul family of passerine birds. It is resident breeder in tropical southern Asia from India and Sri Lanka east to Burma and southwestern China. It has been introduced and has established itself in the wild in many Pacific islands including Fiji, Samoa, Tonga, and Hawaii. It has also established itself in parts of Dubai, the United Arab Emirates and New Zealand. It is included among the world's worst invasive alien species. More

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. More

The red-vented Bulbuls are comparatively very small birds which rarely exceed 8 inches is length; but the miniature size does not in any way lessen their invasive, quarrelsome and aggressive postures. More

Impacts: The red-vented bulbul feeds on fruits, vegetables, flower buds, and insects. It is estimated to cost $300,000 in damages to orchids per year on Oahu. Bulbuls are very agressive birds and could compete with other desireable birds for nesting and foraging areas. This bird is a Hawaii State injurious animal, making it illegal to import them to the state, transport them to places they do not exist, release them into the wild, or export them from the state. More

Red-vented Bulbul in India and those in the east, in particular, are much darker so the scaling is less striking. It would be a real contribution to our birding aids if the already excellent bird picture galleries could make more effort to collect (and label) different sub-species of birds so that we could familiarise ourselves with the regional variations. More

The red-vented bulbul can be seen perching on power lines, houses, fences and other man-made structures. The bulbul is often a belligerent and aggressive bird that chases off other species. Habitat - Red-vented bulbuls live around secondary growth and shrub, cultivation, parks and gardens. They are also found in forest and agricultural areas. More

The Red-vented Bulbul was originally described by Linnaeus in 1766. Several populations of this widespread species have been named as subspecies (or races). The nominate race is found in southern India. The type locality of Pondicherry was designated by Erwin Stresemann. The race in the western part is intermedius and is found in Kashmir and Kohat down to the Salt Range and along the Himalayas to Kumaon. The race bengalensis is found in the Himalayas from Nepal east to Assam. More

Red-vented bulbul at nest with chicks© Neeraj Mishra / www.indianwildlifeimages.com Red-vented bulbul feeding chicks on a branch© Neeraj Mishra / www.indianwildlifeimages.com Red-vented bulbul feeding chicks© Neeraj Mishra / www.indianwildlifeimages.com Red-vented bulbul on a twig© Neil Bowman / www.flpa-images.co.uk Captive red-vented bulbul portrait© Gregory Guida / www.gguida.com / naturalvisions.co.uk Red-vented bulbul eating fruit on lawn© Hanne & Jens Eriksen / naturepl. More

Red-vented bulbul eating fruit on lawn Red-vented bulbul eating fruit on lawnPrint factsheet Facts - Kingdom Animalia Phylum Chordata Class Aves Order Passeriformes Family Pycnonotidae Genus Pycnonotus (1) Status - Classified as Least Concern More

The Red-vented Bulbul is easily identified by its short crest giving the head a squarish appearance. The body is dark brown with a scaly pattern while the head is darker or black. The rump is white while the vent is red. The black tail is tipped in white. The Himalayan races have a more prominent crest and are more streaked on the underside. The Race intermedius of the Western Himalayas has a black hood extending to the mid-breast. More

For the purposes of our bird news services, Red-vented Bulbul is classed as ungraded: species which are unlikely to appear as wild birds in Britain or Ireland (Note that rarity levels are currently applied nationally and may not reflect local variations in abundance. More

Red-vented Bulbul Red-vented Bulbul image courtesy of Travis Baker Family: (Pycnonotidae) Bulbuls Preferred Habitat: Woodlands, plains. Seasonal Occurrence: Rare permanent resident. Sighting Reports Request: Dan Brooks of the Houston Museum of Natural Science is conducting a study of exotic species in Texas: Egyptian Goose, Mute Swan, Monk Parakeet, Nutmeg Mannikin, Orange Bishop, Red-vented Bulbul. If you see any of the species mentioned above, please fill out a report form. More information and report form. More

also had one who called everything a Red-vented Bulbul unless it was clearly too small, in which case it became a munia (actually he was probably correct..!) This controlled access has advantages for park management (if applied carefully), but also means that visits are not particularly relaxed, and the "getting away from it all" aspect is somewhat reduced since in certain parks you end up following other jeeps full of rather similarly pasty looking travellers. More

The red-vented bulbul is larger than the red-whiskered bulbul (P. jocosus) (Berger, 1981) The male and female are similar in appearance, although the male tends to be slightly larger, (Stuart & Stuart 1999, in Vander Velde, 2002). More

"The red-vented bulbul is about 8.25 inches in length (Berger, 1972). It weighs between 26 and 45 grams (Long, 1981). In general it is dark and is crested (Pratt, 1987) with a white abdomen and rump and is crimson under the tail coverts (Berger, 1981). The immature bird is like the adult except there is some brownish edging on the feathers (Hawai'i Audubon Society, 1993). The red-vented bulbul is larger than the red-whiskered bulbul (Berger, 1981). More

Picture of Pycnonotus cafer above has been licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike.
Original source: Petr Baum
Author: Petr Baum
Permission: Some rights reserved
Order : Passeriformes
Family : Pycnonotidae
Genus : Pycnonotus
Species : cafer
Authority : (Linnaeus, 1766)