Red Whiskered Bulbul

The bulbuls are a family, Pycnonotidae, of medium-sized, slim passerine songbirds, and includes the greenbul, Brownbul, leaflove, and Bristlebill. In the wild, the red-whiskered bulbul can live forup to 11 yearsand possibly longer in captivity.

Origin and History

The family is distributed across most of Africa and into the Middle East, tropical Asia to Indonesia, and north as far as Japan found in forest edges, semi-open areas and towns. Mostly in areas with wide variety of exotic trees and shrubs that provide berries and small fruits at all times of year.

Diet and Needs

In the wild the Bulbul takes insects by flying out to capture them in mid-air, hovering to pick them from bark, or searching among foliage. They like to eat Berries, small fruits, and insects because of its small bill it probably won’t feed on large fruits unless they are overripe. They will also eat Nectar, pieces of flowers and green shoots of vegetation and many insects such as mealworms, crickets and commercially grown cockroaches are ideal in captivity, the mealworm larvae, pupa and the mealworm beetle can be offered to these birds to give them a variety of colour and shape in the insects offered as stated above at the beginning of the paragraph.

Full Spectrum Lighting is vital for a captive bird’s health, your bird can develop health problems if they do not have adequate exposure to full spectrum light each day. You can supplement this need artificially if your environment does not provide enough natural light. The use of full spectrum (UV) light means that they will also get the vitamin D that they need.

Additionally, UV lighting improves your birds’ psychological health, it can help towards stopping destructive behaviours like feather plucking and it improves appetite, feather condition and overall health. Even if your birds cage is in direct sun light it may not provide enough full spectrum light to meet their needs. Most windows filters out UV rays. Provide additional full spectrum light by using a light that provides both UV and UVA rays.

Common Health Problems

Malnutrition, make sure your bird is fed the correct diet, changes in their diet can distress the bird.

Overweight birds are more susceptible to arthritis and fatty liver disease.

Other very common diseases are conjunctivitis, pneumonia, diarrhea, constipation.

Keep an eye on your bird’s health and if any of these symptoms arise seek veterinary advice.

Beak swelling or accumulations, Fluffed, plucked, or soiled feathers especially around the vent, Constant sitting on floor of cage, Wheezing or coughing, Runny or discoloured stool, favouring one foot when not asleep-- it is normal for birds to sleep on one foot, Eye or nasal discharge, Red or swollen eyes or Loss of appetite.

Housing

An aviary of about 300cm long and 90cm wide (10ft x 3 ft) is sufficient. Bulbuls are not strong fliers in the aviary. They prefer a planted aviary; they can hop from branch to branch and will nest in a suitable shrub or tree. They generally nest high up in the aviary.

Exercise

Making sure the aviary is well planted with shrubs and branches will be great for your bird as they are very active so this will keep them busy and inquisitive.

Enrichment

Placing insects into the cage will give the Bulbul a chance to forage for itself amongst the foliage in increase natural behaviours like they would in the wild.

It’s good to chop some pieces of fruit small but also leave some much larger to encourage them to pull pieces of fruit off themselves.

Temperament

As long as they are not crowded or stressed, Red-Vented Bulbuls are very curious about people.

They can be aggressive to other Bulbuls so it is advisable to house them as one pair per aviary, however they can usually be safely housed during the non-breeding season with other finches or small parrots.

Some pairs can become aggressive during the breeding season. Bulbuls will usually be aggressive to other Bulbuls in an adjoining aviary. If possible, do not place breeding pairs in adjoining aviaries unless they are separated with solid walls.

Difference between Male and Female

Both male and female birds are similar in plumage, while young birds are duller with a greyish-black crown.

Females have a presence of brood patches (only females seem to develop these), juveniles develop an area without feathers but not to be confused with a brood patch.

Females also have shorter whiskers than males and a shorter wing length.

Males do not have brood patches they have longer whiskers and longer wing length.

Many birds don’t have a brood patch but doesn’t mean that they are males they could be a non- breeding female.