Wednesday, January 8, 2014

BulBul

The alcoholic bird! The bulbul, a brown or green sparrow, loves ripe fruit and will eat it constantly- sometimes TOO constantly. Often, people will find these birds dead from intoxication of fruit. The bulbul gets its name from the Arab word bulbul, to describe its song. Some of the 119 species of bulbul sing so beautifully they have been mistaken for nightingales- numerous times!

I know that my Dad will sometimes talk about his "flavor savor" (his beard) jokingly. To this bird, facial hair is not a joke- the two tufts of hair on each side of their beak serve as almost flypaper, catching and slowing down insects. A few common types of bulbuls are the red-whiskered bulbul, the white-cheeked bulbul, and the black bulbul. These birds are native to South Africa. The mating of the bulbul is quite strange- the male will display the colors on his tail and the female will sing a special song. The female will then go to the nest (often low in a tree and made out of grass and vegetable debris) and lay 2-3 eggs. She will hatch these on her own.
Newborn bulbuls

The male guards the female as she sits on the nest, bringing her food and watching for enemies, like owls, crows, and mongooses. If an enemy DOES come near the nest, a bulbul will sound the alarm and the whole flock will come together and fight the predator. This goes on for 10-15 days (the incubation period of the eggs).

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