Red-vented Bulbul

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.

Range and Habitat

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.

INTERESTING FACTS

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.