White earbulbul

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White earbulbul
Weißohrbülbül (Pycnonotus leucotis)

Weißohrbülbül ( Pycnonotus leucotis )

Systematics
Order : Passerines (Passeriformes)
Subordination : Songbirds (passeri)
Superfamily : Sylvioidea
Family : Bulbüls (Pycnonotidae)
Genre : Real Bulbüls ( Pycnonotus )
Type : White earbulbul
Scientific name
Pycnonotus leucotis
( Gould , 1836)

The Weißohrbülbül ( Pycnonotus leucotis ) is a real Bülbül from the family of the Bülbüls . It is common in tropical Asia from India to Southeast Asia and China , Yuan Province.

The status of the Weißohrbülbül is indicated as least concern (= not endangered).

features

The Weißohrbülbül reaches a body length between 21 and 23 centimeters. They weigh between 28 and 34 grams. There is no noticeable gender dimorphism . Males and females are colored the same, only the young birds are more dull.

The Weißohrbülbül wears a forelock and has a brown top and a cream-colored underside, which merges into yellow at the end. He wears a dark face mask on his head and throat. Behind the eyes and around the ears, the characteristic white color runs on both sides of the head. For this species within the genus, the tail is rather short and brown with white feather tips, the rump itself is yellowish.

Distribution area

P. leucotis (light green) and P. leucogenys (dark green)

In the large distribution area, a large number of species are distinguished from the genus.

Most similar is very likely the Himalayan abulbul ( Pycnonotus leucogenys ), which is found in overlapping areas.

habitat

The Weißohrbülbül lives in rather damp forests with a dense undergrowth of bushes and shrubs and is occasionally found in agricultural areas. It also opens up urban space and occurs in parks and gardens, especially where areas of grass are mowed. It is believed that he is specifically on the lookout for flying insects, which are startled when mowing.

It is usually in a max. A height of three meters can be found, whereby you hear it more often than you see it. Occasionally, he drops conspicuously on the floor. As is often the case with sparrow-sized birds, its threats in human proximity are more like cats and electrical cables on poles.

Way of life

Weißohrbülbüls feed on fruits such as wild figs , berries, nectar and insects, which they sometimes prey on in the air. Your flight is powerful and straightforward. When they sit, they spread their tails.

Their behavior is very similar to that of the mockingbirds . They twitter together when they hop back and forth in the trees and bushes or fly from one jungle to the next. When there are young birds in the nest, a human whistle triggers the youngsters' reaction.

When the white-eared bulbul is roaming around in groups of 5 to 15 birds, they can be easily identified by the resulting noise. Food envy and rivalry fights in particular are usually the cause of noise.

Reproduction

The breeding season varies with the area of distribution and is usually from March to June. Males and females build the nest together. It is a large nest that is built from root fibers, bamboo leaves and dried up leaves hidden in climbing plants or blackberry bushes. It's about a meter above the ground.

The clutch usually consists of 3 to 4 eggs. The nestlings hatch after a breeding period of 12 to 14 days. Since the brood is picked up when the first egg is deposited, the nestlings hatch asynchronously. At the beginning they are mainly fed animal food by the parent birds. They fledge after about two weeks.

literature

  • W. Grummt , H. Strehlow (Ed.): Zoo animal keeping birds. Verlag Harri Deutsch, Frankfurt am Main 2009, ISBN 978-3-8171-1636-2 .
  • Theo Pagel , Bernd Marcordes: Exotic soft-eaters . Eugen Ulmer Verlag, Stuttgart 2011, ISBN 978-3-8001-5192-9 .
  • Pocket Guide to the Birds of the Indian Subcontinent (1999) and multiple reprints . Richard Grimmett, Carol Inskipp and Tim Inskipp, Oxford University Press, New Delhi.

Web links

Commons : Weißohrbülbül  - album with pictures, videos and audio files

Single receipts

  1. ↑ Pagel, Marcordes: Exotic soft-eaters . P. 100ff.