Description
Has a pointed black crest, white cheeks, and a brown back. It is reddish under the long white-tipped tail. The red whisker mark, from which it gets its common name, is located below the eye, but is not always easy to see. Both sexes are similar in plumage, while young birds are duller with a greyish-black crown. Body size up to 22 cm.
Is a native species of China but was introduced to Australia in the early 1900s. It feeds on a variety of native and introduced fruits, insects and flower buds. Groups of up to 50 or so birds may gather around a food source, although smaller groups of three to five birds are more common. The call, a characteristic descending musical whistle, often indicates a bird's presence long before it is seen. They build an open cup nest of bark and leaves, lined with rootlets and soft fibre. The nest is usually placed in a low tree fork. Both birds incubate the eggs and care for the young. It is not timid around humans, perching prominently on the top of bushes or on power lines.
Author credit: Louise Carter / Australian Museum
Habitat
Urban areas, where they inhabit parks, gardens and vegetation along creeks.
Food
Omnivore
Range
Eastern Australia
Credits:
Map is from Atlas of Living Australia website at https://biocache.ala.org.au licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.
Species Description is from Museums Field Guide, Atlas of Living Australia at website at https://lists.ala.org.au Licensed under Creative Commons Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.
Classification
| Class: | Aves | | Order: | Passeriformes | | Family: | Pycnonotidae | | Genus: | Pycnonotus | | Species: | jocosus | | Common Name: | Red-whiskered Bulbul |
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