Common Bulbul Life History

Habitat

Common Bulbuls occur almost anyplace with fruiting trees or shrubs, including wooded savanna, parkland, scrubby thickets, papyrus swamps, timber plantations, and, in the Sahara, oases, palm groves, and wells. They are especially common in orchards, gardens, and scrubby vegetation around human settlements. Common Bulbuls use forest corridors along streams to penetrate otherwise inhospitable habitats like deserts and extensive forests. In a similar manner, they use logging roads and clearings to move into heavily forested areas that would otherwise be unsuitable.

Food

Common Bulbuls eat mostly fruit, including figs, apricots, dates, pomegranates, apples, avocados, guava, mangos, oil palms, papayas, bananas, peaches, pears, plums, and more. They also feed on insects, spiders, nectar, flowers, and even small lizards and geckos.

Common Bulbuls forage mainly in trees and shrubs, where they feed by swallowing berries whole, pecking into larger fruits, probing flowers for nectar, and gleaning insects and spiders from foliage. They also visit bird feeders, forage on buildings for spiders and nocturnal insects, break open termite galleries, catch flying insects in short flights, and follow driver ant swarms.

Nesting

Nest Placement

Placed on a branch or between twigs in a tree fork; attached with spiderwebs. Usually 1–5 meters (3–16 feet) above ground and far from the trunk of the tree.

Nest Description

A cup of dry grass, rootlets, and small twigs, lined with finer plant fibers and animal hair; often thin-walled, but strong.

Nesting Facts

Behavior

Common Bulbuls forage in pairs, family groups of 3–4 birds, or in large groups with other fruit-eating birds. Outside of the breeding season, they sometimes gather into loose flocks of up to 100 birds. During the breeding season, monogamous pairs defend nesting territories. Males perform a distinctive wing-flutter courtship display, accompanied by whining calls. Females build the nest and incubate the eggs. The male feeds the incubating female, and both sexes feed the chicks. Although adult Common Bulbuls are major fruit eaters, they feed nestlings only insects (which are richer in protein than fruit is) for their first week before adding fruit to their diet.

Conservation

IUCN lists Common Bulbul’s conservation status as Least Concern. The species has an extremely large range and the population trend appears to be increasing. IUCN does not provide a global population estimate, but this is one of the most common birds in Africa.

Credits

BirdLife International. 2018. Pycnonotus barbatus. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2018: e.T22712650A132101179. https://dx.doi.org/10.2305/IUCN.UK.2018-2.RLTS.T22712650A132101179.en.

Craig, A. J. (2022). African birds as army ant followers. Journal of Ornithology, 163(3), 623-631.

Fishpool, L. and J. A. Tobias (2020). Common Bulbul (Pycnonotus barbatus), version 1.0. In Birds of the World (J. del Hoyo, A. Elliott, J. Sargatal, D. A. Christie, and E. de Juana, Editors). Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, NY, USA. https://doi.org/10.2173/bow.combul2.01

Jonsson, L. (1992). Birds of Europe with North Africa and the Middle East. Christopher Helm, London, United Kingdom.

Svensson, L., K. Mullarney, and D. Zetterström (2009). Collins Bird Guide. Second edition. HarperCollins, London, UK.

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