BULBULS - Birds of the Month March 2014

[Toko]

Bontebok National Park

Cape Bulbul Pycnonotus capensis

Description: The Cape Bulbul is 19-21 cm long, mainly dull, blackish brown with a white eye-ring, and yellow undertail coverts. The head has a small crest. The short, straight bill, legs and feet are black and the iris is dark brown. The sexes are similar in plumage.
This species cannot be confused with the other South African bulbuls - African Red-eyes and Dark-capped bulbuls - since it is much darker, has a different eye ring colour and brown lower belly, whereas the other dark bulbuls have a pale lower belly. The dark belly also helps to identify juveniles, which lack the distinctive eye ring of the adult.

Distribution: It is endemic to southern South Africa , and can be found from the south of the Western Cape to Port Elizabeth.

Habitat: The Cape Bulbul prefers moist habitats and is a resident breeder in coastal and riverine bush, open forest, fynbos, plantations and gardens and fynbos. It is particularly found of exotic wattle (Acacia cyclops).This bird is usually found within 100km of the coast and below 500m.

Feeding: This species eats mostly fruits but it will also take seeds; nectar and even insects, which are either hawked on the wing or taken from flowers.

Breeding: The Cape Bulbul is a monogamous bird which, usually, pairs for life. It is territorial during the breeding season, though its territory is neither strongly advertised nor defended. The male has been observed giving courtship displays. This species can nests any time between August and March, but breeding peaks during the southern spring, from September to November. Besides, it is not uncommon for a couple to have two broods a year.

Nest: The nest site is chosen by the female, which also builds the nest, using twigs, grass stems and rootlets laid on a foundation of coarse twigs. The result is a thick walled cup structure placed in a small tree or shrub, concealed by the foliage. The nest can be lined with a variety of materials, from animal wool, cobwebs, string, cotton, paper to vegetable fibers.

Eggs: The Cape Bulbul lays between 2 to 5 pink eggs (usually 2-3) which are incubated solely by the female for some 11to 14 days.

Young: Both parents feed the nestlings. For the first 6 or 7 days, they receive mostly insects, then the chicks diet consist mainly on fruits. The nestling fledge in 12 to 14 days. Juveniles don't have the distinctive white eye ring of the adults.

Call: The most typical call of this species is a liquid whistle of two or more varied notes "pit-peet-pitmajol, piet-piet-patata". Its contact calls sound like “chirrup” or “key-link”. The alarm call is a low pitched “churr”.

[Lisbeth]

Cape Bulbul

[nan]

West Coast National Park
6.3.2011

Cape Bulbul... sharing



+ Southern Masked Weaver



+ Common Waxbill

[nan]

Cape Bulbul

2.10.2009 Boulder

6.3.2011 West Coast

13.10.2012 Kirstenbosch

[Tina]

cape bulbul - WCNP 30.08.2012

[nan]

Dark-capped (Blackeyed) Bulbul/Bulbul tricolore
Kruger 7.11.2009







Distribution and habitat
It occurs across much of sub-Saharan Africa, from Chad to Ethiopia south to southern Africa. Here it is common to abundant across Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Northern Botswana, the Caprivi Strip, the Limpopo Province, Mpumalanga, KwaZulu-Natal and the Eastern Cape. It can occupy any habitat with adequate supply of fruiting trees and bushes, absent only from dense woodland or grassland with few bushes. It is particularly common in gardens, plantations and parks in and around human settlements.

Brood parasites
It has been recorded as host of the Jacobin cuckoo.

Food
It eats a range of fruit, petals, nectar, seeds and arthropods, foraging in groups and using a wide variety of techniques. These include plucking fruit from trees and bushes, probing the flowers of Aloe for nectar, hawking flying insects, hunting for spiders on buildings and picking up fallen fruit. The following food items have been recorded in its diet:
•Fruit
•Seeds of Cassia plants
•Nectar◦Aloe
◦Grevillea (silky oaks)
◦Sideroxylon inerme (White milkwood)

•Petals of Aloe ferox (Bitter aloe)
•Insects
•Spiders

Breeding
•Monogamous and territorial, with males defending their territories against other males by lowering their wings and head and chasing the intruder. If the confrontation escalates into a fight, the males viciously peck and scratch each other, sometimes interlocking their claws in mid flight and falling to the ground.
•The female builds the nest, which is a tidy and well-built cup built of rootlets, dry grass and twigs with an outer layer of spider web, and lined with finer plant material. it is typically placed on a branch or slung between a few twigs, generally concealed towards the edge of the canopy, often found in suburban gardens.

Not threatened.

References
•Hockey PAR, Dean WRJ and Ryan PG 2005. Roberts - Birds of southern Africa, VIIth ed. The Trustees of the John Voelcker Bird Book Fund, Cape Town.
•Harrison, J.A., Allan, D.G., Underhill, L.G., Herremans, M., Tree. A.J., Parker, V. & Brown, C.J. (eds). 1997. The atlas of southern African birds. Vol. 2: Passerines. BirdLife South Africa, Johannesburg

[Dewi]

Dark-capped Bulbul

[Mel]

Dark-capped bulbul in Kruger, October 2009

[Toko]

Dark-capped Bulbul in iMfolozi, Mpila camp

[Lisbeth]

Dark-capped Bulbul - Marloth