The grey-headed bulbul (''Brachypodius priocephalus'') is a member of the

bulbul The bulbuls are members of a family, Pycnonotidae, of medium-sized passerine songbirds, which also includes greenbuls, brownbuls, leafloves, and bristlebills. The family is distributed across most of Africa and into the Middle East, tropical As ...

family, Pycnonotidae. It is endemic to the Western Ghats in south-western India, and found from

Goa Goa () is a state on the southwestern coast of India within the Konkan region, geographically separated from the Deccan highlands by the Western Ghats. It is located between the Indian states of Maharashtra to the north and Karnataka to the ...

south to

Tamil Nadu Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is a States and union territories of India, state in southern India. It is the List of states and union territories of India by area, tenth largest Indian state by area and the List of states and union territories of India ...

at altitudes up to 1200m. It is found in dense reeds or thickets mainly near rivers and swampy areas inside forests. They have a distinctive call that reveals their presence inside dense vegetation where they are hard to spot.

Taxonomy and systematics

Pycnonotus priocephalus - Bonite-oiseaux-pl05 clean

The grey-headed bulbul was originally described by Thomas Jerdon under the name of ''Brachypus priocephalus''. It was moved to ''Brachypodius poiocephalus'' by

Edward Blyth Edward Blyth (23 December 1810 – 27 December 1873) was an English zoologist who worked for most of his life in India as a curator of zoology at the museum of the Asiatic Society of India in Calcutta. Blyth was born in London in 1810. In 1841 ...

, who erroneously "emended" the species epithet, with subsequent confusion in the literature. Formerly, some authorities placed this species within the genus ''

Ixos ''Ixos'' is a genus of passerine birds in the bulbul family (biology), family, Pycnonotidae. Taxonomy and systematics The genus ''Ixos'' was introduced in 1825 by the Dutch zoologist Coenraad Jacob Temminck to accommodate the Javan bulbul. The ...

'' and later ''

Pycnonotus ''Pycnonotus'' is a genus of frugivorous passerine birds in the bulbul family Pycnonotidae. Taxonomy and systematics The genus ''Pycnonotus'' was introduced by the German zoologist Friedrich Boie in 1826 with the Cape bulbul as the type speci ...

''. The genus ''Pycnonotus'' was found to be

polyphyletic A polyphyletic group is an assemblage of organisms or other evolving elements that is of mixed evolutionary origin. The term is often applied to groups that share similar features known as homoplasies, which are explained as a result of converg ...

in recent molecular phylogeny studies and the species returned to ''Brachypodius''. The common name 'grey-headed bulbul' is also used as an alternate name for the

yellow-bellied bulbul The yellow-bellied bulbul (''Alophoixus phaeocephalus'') is a species of songbird in the bulbul family, Pycnonotidae. It is found on the Malay Peninsula, Sumatra and Borneo. Its natural habitat is subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests. T ...

Description

This bulbul is resident in moist broad-leaved evergreen forest with bamboo and dense undergrowth. Its plumage is olive-green, with a medium-grey on the crown head, nape and throat. The forehead is yellow-green. The back and wings are olive-green becoming lighter towards the vent. The rump has yellowing green feathers edged in black giving a barred appearance. The flanks are dark and grey edged. The undertail coverts are grey. The beak is greenish and grey while the legs are pinkish yellow. The iris is distinctly bluish white. The tail is grey on the central feathers (the shaft being black), the outer ones are black and are broadly tipped with grey. Both sexes are similar but juveniles have the head dark olive with the yellow on the forehead duller. (Length 143-152mm; head 33-35mm; tail 74-77mm) The call is a sharp ''chraink''. The call is distinct in having a single syllable unlike those of the core genus ''Pycnonotus'' members.

Behaviour and ecology

Found singly or in small groups, grey-headed bulbuls actively join

mixed-species foraging flock A mixed-species feeding flock, also termed a mixed-species foraging flock, mixed hunting party or informally bird wave, is a flock of usually insectivorous birds of different species that join each other and move together while foraging. These ar ...

s during the non-breeding season. Grey- headed Bubul (Pycnonotus priocephalus)

Breeding

Grey-headed bulbuls breed from January to June with a peak in April. The nest is a typical platform placed inside a low bush. They build their nest over a period of a week using vines, grasses or leaves. Many nests in a study in the Silent Valley National park were found to be made on saplings of ''Syzygium'' species or in reeds of ''

Ochlandra travancorica ''Ochlandra travancorica'', or Reed bamboo is a species of bamboo, endemic to the Western Ghats, India. It is naturalised in the West Indies The West Indies is a subregion of North America, surrounded by the North Atlantic Ocean and th ...

''. The typical clutch is one egg or sometimes two eggs that are incubated for 12 to 14 days. Eggs are sometimes destroyed and eaten by palm squirrels (''

Funambulus tristriatus The jungle palm squirrel, jungle striped squirrel, or Western Ghats squirrel (''Funambulus tristriatus'') is a species of rodent in the family Sciuridae endemic to India. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical dry forest A for ...

''). The eggs are pale pink to lavender and flecked in red, more densely on the broad end. Both parents take part in incubation and feeding. The nestlings leave the nest after 11 to 13 days.

Feeding

The diet consists mainly of fruits (>65%) and invertebrates (>30%). Fruits include those of '' Symplocos cochinchinensis'', ''

Antidesma menasu ''Antidesma'' is a genus of tropical plant in the family Phyllanthaceae formally described by Linnaeus in 1753. It is native to tropical Africa, S + E + SE Asia, Australia, and various oceanic islands. The greatest diversity occurs in South ...

'', ''

Clerodendrum viscosum ''Clerodendrum infortunatum'', known as bhat or hill glory bower, is a perennial shrub belonging to the family (biology), family Lamiaceae, also sometimes classified under Verbenaceae. It is the type species among ~150 species of ''Clerodendrum'' ...

'', ''

Syzygium cumini ''Syzygium cumini'', commonly known as Malabar plum, Java plum, black plum, jamun, jaman, jambul, or jambolan, is an evergreen tropical tree in the flowering plant family Myrtaceae, and favored for its fruit, timber, and ornamental value. It is ...

'', '' Litsea floribunda'', ''

Maesa indica ''Maesa'' is a genus of flowering plants. It is placed in the family Primulaceae, subfamily Maesoideae, for which it is the sole genus (monotypic).

'', '' Callicarpa tomentosa'', ''

Leea indica ''Leea indica'', the bandicoot berry, is a large shrub in the family Vitaceae. It is seen as common undergrowth in secondary and disturbed evergreen forests in Indomalaya, Indochina, Australia and Pacific Islands and throughout in the Western ...

'' and ''

Lantana camara ''Lantana camara'' (common lantana) is a species of flowering plant within the verbena family (Verbenaceae), native to the American tropics. It is a very adaptable species, which can inhabit a wide variety of ecosystems; once it has been introduc ...

''.

References

Other sources

* Balakrishnan, Peroth (2007). Status, distribution and ecology of Grey-headed Bulbul ''Pycnonotus priocephalus'' in the Western Ghats, India. Ph.D. thesis. Bharathiar University, Coimbatore.

External links

Photographs and media
{{Taxonbar, from=Q943401, from2=Q28878167

grey-headed bulbul The grey-headed bulbul (''Brachypodius priocephalus'') is a member of the bulbul family, Pycnonotidae. It is endemic to the Western Ghats in south-western India, and found from Goa south to Tamil Nadu at altitudes up to 1200m. It is found in ...

Birds of South India Endemic fauna of the Western Ghats