Red-vented Bulbul Pycnonotus cafer Scientific name definitions

Editor's Note: Due to a recent taxonomic revision, this species account is still being edited and may contain content from an earlier version of the account.

Editor’s Note (August 2016): Maps, rich media, and text have been updated to reflect a taxonomic change/split for this species. This species account is still being edited and may contain content from an earlier version of the account.

Bulbuls are slim, long-tailed passerines with small crests. Red-vented Bulbuls are native from Pakistan to southwest China. Popular cage birds, this species has been introduced to many regions of the world, including Australia, New Zealand, islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans, and the United States.

During the 1960s, populations of Red-vented Bulbuls were released on O‘ahu I., in the Hawaiian Archipelago, and have undergone explosive growth and range expansion. Populations of bulbuls in the above-mentioned regions were either deliberately or accidentally released.

This species is associated with human habitation in their natural and introduced ranges. They frequent agricultural and urban areas, including parks, suburban gardens, and arboreta. However, on O‘ahu I., HI, Red-vented Bulbuls occur sparingly in forests up to the highest summits of the Ko‘olau Mtns. They 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. In addition, they feed on a variety of cultivated fruits, vegetables, and flowers and thus are in direct conflict with humans. Bulbuls are potential dispersers of noxious weed seeds and compete with native bird species in their introduced ranges.

Few key studies have been undertaken on the Red-vented Bulbuls in North America. Studies have examined habitat, distribution, and population trends of both species (1 Williams, R. N. (1983d). Bulbul introductions on Oahu. 'Elepaio 43:89-90. Close , 2 Williams, R. N. and L. V. Giddings. (1984). Differential range expansion and population growth of bulbuls in Hawaii. Wilson Bulletin 96:647-655. Close , 3 Williams, R. N. (1987d). Alien birds on O'ahu: 1944-1985. 'Elepaio 47:87-92. Close , 4 Ralph, C. J. (1991). Population dynamics of land bird populations on Oahu, Hawaii: fifty years of introductions and competition. Paper read at Acta XX Congr. Int. Ornithol, at Christchurch, New Zealand. Close ). Elsewhere in their native and other introduced ranges, there are detailed accounts of diet (5 Watling, D. (1977). The ecology of the Red-vented Bulbul in Fiji. Phd Thesis, Cambridge Univ., Cambridge, England. Close ), vocalizations and behavior (6 Short, Jr., L. L. (1964a). Notes on the behaviour of the bulbuls, Pycnonotus cafer (Linnaeus) and P. leucogenys (Gray) in captivity. Pavo 2:26-36. Close , 7 Pernetta, J. C. and D. Watling. (1978). The introduced and native terrestrial vertebrates of Fiji. Pacific Science 32:223-244. Close ), sex ratio (5 Watling, D. (1977). The ecology of the Red-vented Bulbul in Fiji. Phd Thesis, Cambridge Univ., Cambridge, England. Close ), breeding biology (8 Dhondt, A. A. (1977). Breeding and postnuptial molt of the Red-vented Bulbul in western Samoa. Condor 79:257-260. Close , Watling 5 Watling, D. (1977). The ecology of the Red-vented Bulbul in Fiji. Phd Thesis, Cambridge Univ., Cambridge, England. Close , 9 Watling, D. (1983). The breeding biology of the Red-vented Bulbul Pycnonotus cafer in Fiji. Emu 83:173-180. Close , 10 Vijayan, V. S. (1980). Breeding biology of bulbuls, Pycnonotus cafer and Pycnonotus luteolus (Class: Aves, Family Pycnonotidae) with special reference to their ecological isolation. Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society 75(Suppl.): 1090–1117. Close ), diseases and body parasites (5 Watling, D. (1977). The ecology of the Red-vented Bulbul in Fiji. Phd Thesis, Cambridge Univ., Cambridge, England. Close , 11 Bhattacharyya, S. (1988). Mites occurring in the nests of three economically important birds in west Bengal. Environ. and Ecol. 6:690-693. Close ), and molts (Dhondt 12 Dhondt, A. (1976a). Bird notes from the kingdom of Tonga. Notornis 23:4-7. Close , 13 Dhondt, A. (1976b). Bird observations in Western Samoa. Notornis 23:29-43. Close , 8 Dhondt, A. A. (1977). Breeding and postnuptial molt of the Red-vented Bulbul in western Samoa. Condor 79:257-260. Close , 5 Watling, D. (1977). The ecology of the Red-vented Bulbul in Fiji. Phd Thesis, Cambridge Univ., Cambridge, England. Close , 14 Balachandran, S., K. K. Mohapatra, and S. A. Hussain (1995). Moult in three species of bulbuls of the genus Pycnonotus at Tirupati Hills of the Eastern Ghats, India. Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society 92:151-159. Close ).