Family Bulbuls (Pycnonotidae)
Least Concern
Red-vented Bulbul (Pycnonotus cafer)
Taxonomy
French: Bulbul à ventre rouge German: Rotsteißbülbül Spanish: Bulbul cafre
Taxonomy:
[Turdus] cafer
Linnaeus
, 1766,Cape of Good Hope; error = Pondicherry, south-east India
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Subspecies and Distribution
P. c. intermedius
Blyth, 1846 – W Himalayas from Pakistan, Jammu and Kashmir E at least to Nepal.
P. c. humayuni
Deignan, 1951 – SE Pakistan (Sind) and NW & NC India (including N plains).
P. c. bengalensis
Blyth, 1845 – C & E Himalayas and Gangetic Plain, and Bangladesh.
P. c. stanfordi
Deignan, 1949 – NE India (S Assam hills), N Myanmar and S China (W Yunnan).
P. c. melanchimus
Deignan, 1949 – S Myanmar.
P. c. wetmorei
Deignan, 1960 – NE peninsular India.
P. c. cafer
(Linnaeus, 1766) – S India.
P. c. haemorrhousus
(J. F. Gmelin, 1789) – Sri Lanka.
Introduced in Polynesia, including Fiji, Samoa and Tonga (bengalensis); also E Arabia (Kuwait, Qatar, United Arab Emirates, Oman) and Hawaii (Oahu) (races unknown).
Descriptive notes
19–20 cm; 28–40 g. Medium-sized, noisy, conspicuous bulbul, generally dark brown and scaly-looking, with bushy crest. Nominate race has black hood, brown... read more
Voice
Produces loud gurgly notes almost constantly. Songs of S races include loud, jaunty, guttural... read more
Habitat
Drier deciduous woodland, sparse secondary forest, scrub, orchards and gardens, including in large... read more
Food and feeding
An opportunist and generalist; diet includes fruit, nectar, buds and invertebrates, occasionally vertebrates. In Pakistan, said to feed... read more
Breeding
Breeds Apr–Oct (mainly Jun–Jul) in W India, although usual season given as Aug–Mar (associated with fruiting season) in... read more
Movements
Resident, but subject to local movements in response to environmental conditions. In India, W... read more
Status and conservation
Not globally threatened (Least Concern). Generally common and familiar, even in heavily populated areas. Abundant throughout much of India, Sri Lanka, Nepal and Bangladesh;... read more
Type locality has twice been corrected, first from South Africa, second from Sri Lanka; Sri Lankan race therefore no longer the nominate. Species sometimes treated as conspecific with P. aurigaster owing to interbreeding in Myanmar; hybrids earlier described incorrectly as separate species (P. nigropileus and P. burmanicus). In NW India, often hybridizes with P. leucogenys; hybrids between latter and race intermedius of present species erroneously described as a separate species (Molpastes magrathi). Sometimes hybridizes also with P. leucotis. Race wetmorei previously referred to as saturatus, but that name preoccupied by a race of Eurillas latirostris (which was formerly placed in present genus) and was replaced prior to 1961 so is permanently invalid. Some listed races weakly differentiated or perhaps described from mid-points of clines or hybrid zones; full review needed. In India, primrosei (Assam) and afer (Meghalaya) included in bengalensis, and vicinus (Mysore) and pusillus (NE Tamil Nadu) in nominate. Eight subspecies provisionally recognized.