Journal of the Department of Agriculture, Western Australia, Series 4
Volume 9 Number 8 1968 Article 8
1-1-1968
The red-whiskered bulbul
John L. Long
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Recommended Citation Long, John L. (1968) "The red-whiskered bulbul," Journal of the Department of Agriculture, Western Australia, Series 4: Vol. 9 : No. 8 , Article 8. Available at: https://researchlibrary.agric.wa.gov.au/journal_agriculture4/vol9/iss8/8
This article is brought to you for free and open access by Research Library. It has been accepted for inclusion in Journal of the Department of Agriculture, Western Australia, Series 4 by an authorized administrator of Research Library. For more information, please contact [email protected]. BIRD PESTS
THE RED-WHISKERED BULBUL
By J. L. LONG, M.D.A., Research Technician, Agriculture Protection Board
Widely distributed in both Africa and Asia, Bulbuls are a largely tropical group of fruit eating birds ranging in size from that of a house sparrow to a blackbird.
The Red-whiskered Bulbul (Pycnonotus around Sydney and suburbs and is estab jocosus) is one of the commonest bulbuls lished around Melbourne in Victoria. It is in the oriental region. It is about eight gradually spreading to outlying districts up inches in length, with a brown back and to 60 miles from these centres and threat wings; the sides of the fac3 and underparts ens to become a major pest to fruit are white, but with a broken blackish band growers. on the breast. A black upstanding, pointed In its native habitat the Red-whiskered crest on the head; the whiskers are crim Bulbul has become a symbiont of man as son and also a patch under the root of the has the starling. It feeds on berries, tail. The tail is dark brown, the under fruits and insects and does a certain side being pale and white near the tip. amount of damage to both fruit and veg Both male and female are alike and it is etables. The bird's diet includes many in difficult to tell them apart. jurious insects and this habit is said to This species is widely distributed from offset some of the damage done to fruit. India, Nepal and East Pakistan, east to It is a popular cage bird and is widely kept Burma, the Indo-Chinese sub-region to in captivity in India, Malaya and Indon Hong Kong and the adjacent South China esia. coast. It has been introduced and estab lished in parts of Malaya, Singapore, Damage Mauritius, Nicobar Islands and in eastern Australia. A somewhat similar species, the The introduction of this species to the Red-vented Bulbul (Pycnonotus cafer) eastern States of Australia has not been also from Southern Asia, has been intro popular. By 1933 it had shown a liking for soft fruits and was said by many to be duced into Singapore, Fiji Islands, Sumatra a nuisance. In the 1950's it was said to be and in suburbs around Auckland, New a serious pest which unfortunately, was Zealand. becoming common. Besides its fruit eat ing habits, the bird was also eating buds Introduction and the tender shoots of plants. It seems In Australia, the Red-whiskered Bulbul likely that as the species increases in has been introduced into New South Wales, numbers and spreads even further, it will Victoria and South Australia (the few become even more of a nuisance. records from Adelaide are thought to refer This species and other members of the to aviary escapees.) The first liberations appear to have been by the Zoological and bulbul family would all have dangerous Acclimatization Society of New South pest potential in Western Australia. The Wales in 1880. By the 1930's there were Red-whiskered Bulbul has been declared flocks of hundreds in Sydney suburbs. At vermin under the Vermin Act of 1918-1964, present the species is well established and and every effort should be made to see that common in parks, gardens and orchards it does not become established here. 378
Journal of Agriculture, Vol 9 No 8 1968 373 Journal of Agriculture, Vol 9 No 8 1968