Red-whiskered Bulbul Pycnonotus jocosus 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, many of which have small crests. During the 1960s, populations of introduced Red-whiskered Bulbuls became established in southern Florida and southern California, although these populations remain small and limited in distribution. In contrast, populations of bulbuls released during the same time period on O‘ahu I., in the Hawaiian Archipelago, have undergone explosive growth and range expansion, although the Red-whiskered has shown a less dramatic increase in numbers and range than the Red-vented. Populations of bulbuls in the above-mentioned regions were either deliberately or accidentally released.

Red-whiskered Bulbul 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-whiskered Bulbuls range regularly into low-elevation forested areas. 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.

Because Red-whiskered Bulbuls pose a potential threat to agricultural crops, the U.S. Department of Agriculture Code of Federal Regulation prohibits their importation into the U.S. and its territories.

Few key studies have been undertaken on the Red-whiskered Bulbul in North America. Carleton (1 Carleton, A. R. (1971). Studies on a population of the Red-whiskered Bulbul, Pycnonotus jocosus (Linnaeus), in Dade County, Florida. Master's Thesis, Univ. of Florida, Coral Gables. Close ) and Carleton and Owre (2 Carleton, A. R. and O. T. Owre. (1975). The Red-whiskered Bulbul in Florida: 1960-71. Auk 92:40-57. Close ) detail the release, population expansion, feeding ecology, and breeding biology of the Red-whiskered Bulbul in Florida. On O‘ahu I., van Riper et al. (3 Van Riper III, C., S. G. Van Riper and A. J. Berger. (1979). The Red-whiskered Bulbul in Hawaii. Wilson Bulletin 91:323-328. Close ) have studied the feeding habits and breeding biology of the Red-whiskered Bulbul; other studies have examined habitat, distribution, and population trends of both species (4 Williams, R. N. (1983d). Bulbul introductions on Oahu. 'Elepaio 43:89-90. Close , 5 Williams, R. N. and L. V. Giddings. (1984). Differential range expansion and population growth of bulbuls in Hawaii. Wilson Bulletin 96:647-655. Close , 6 Williams, R. N. (1987d). Alien birds on O'ahu: 1944-1985. 'Elepaio 47:87-92. Close , 7 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 vocalizations and behavior (8 Pernetta, J. C. and D. Watling. (1978). The introduced and native terrestrial vertebrates of Fiji. Pacific Science 32:223-244. Close ), diseases and body parasites (9 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 10 Dhondt, A. (1976a). Bird notes from the kingdom of Tonga. Notornis 23:4-7. Close , 11 Dhondt, A. (1976b). Bird observations in Western Samoa. Notornis 23:29-43. Close , 12 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 ).