The Nicobar bulbul (''Ixos nicobariensis'') is a

songbird A songbird is a bird belonging to the suborder Passeri of the perching birds (Passeriformes). Another name that is sometimes seen as the scientific or vernacular name is Oscines, from Latin ''oscen'', "songbird". The Passeriformes contains 500 ...

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate s ...

in 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 Family (from la, familia) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its ...

, Pycnonotidae. It is

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsew ...

to the

Nicobar Islands The Nicobar Islands are an archipelagic island chain in the eastern Indian Ocean. They are located in Southeast Asia, northwest of Aceh on Sumatra, and separated from Thailand to the east by the Andaman Sea. Located southeast of the Indian s ...

Taxonomy and systematics

The Nicobar bulbul was originally described in the genus ''

Hypsipetes __NOTOC__ ''Hypsipetes'' is a genus of bulbuls, songbirds in the family Pycnonotidae. Most of its species occur in tropical forests around the Indian Ocean. But while the genus is quite diverse in the Madagascar region at the western end of its ...

'' and many authorities continue to classify it as such. The synonym ''Hypsipetes virescens'' is often erroneously used to indicate the Sunda bulbul due to a major

taxonomic Taxonomy is the practice and science of categorization or classification. A taxonomy (or taxonomical classification) is a scheme of classification, especially a hierarchical classification, in which things are organized into groups or types. ...

error committed in the Sibley taxonomy, where ''Ixos virescens'' – the

type species In zoological nomenclature, a type species (''species typica'') is the species name with which the name of a genus or subgenus is considered to be permanently taxonomically associated, i.e., the species that contains the biological type specimen ...

of ''Ixos'' – was placed in ''Hypsipetes''. ''Hypsipetes virescens'' has also been used as a scientific name for the

Olive bulbul The olive bulbul (''Iole viridescens'') is a species of songbird in the bulbul family, Pycnonotidae. It is found from southern Myanmar to south-western Thailand and the Malay Peninsula. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical moist lowla ...

Description

The Nicobar bulbul is a rather drab, nondescript species of about 20 cm in length and without a crest. Its wings, back and tail are dull dusky green; the face is lighter, and the throat and underside are yellowish-white. The most prominent feature is a sooty-brown cap reaching down to eye height.BLI (2009) The Nicobar bulbul produces chattering calls, similar to those of the

black bulbul The black bulbul (''Hypsipetes leucocephalus''), also known as the Himalayan black bulbul or Asian black bulbul, is a member of the bulbul family of passerine birds. It is found primarily in the Himalayas, its range stretching from India eastwa ...

Distribution and habitat

It is

to the

, where it only occurs in the central group, namely Bompoka, Camorta, Katchall, Nancowry, Teressa, Tillanchong and Trinkat; a supposed 19th century record from Pilo Milo in the southern group is nowadays generally dismissed.Sankaran (1998), BLI (2008, 2009) Its natural

habitat In ecology, the term habitat summarises the array of resources, physical and biotic factors that are present in an area, such as to support the survival and reproduction of a particular species. A species habitat can be seen as the physical ...

s are

subtropical The subtropical zones or subtropics are geographical zone, geographical and Köppen climate classification, climate zones to the Northern Hemisphere, north and Southern Hemisphere, south of the tropics. Geographically part of the Geographical z ...

and

tropical The tropics are the regions of Earth surrounding the Equator. They are defined in latitude by the Tropic of Cancer in the Northern Hemisphere at N and the Tropic of Capricorn in the Southern Hemisphere at S. The tropics are also referred to ...

moist lowland

primary Primary or primaries may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Music Groups and labels * Primary (band), from Australia * Primary (musician), hip hop musician and record producer from South Korea * Primary Music, Israeli record label Works * ...

and

secondary forest A secondary forest (or second-growth forest) is a forest or woodland area which has re-grown after a timber harvest or clearing for agriculture, until a long enough period has passed so that the effects of the disturbance are no longer evident. ...

. It also visits

plantation A plantation is an agricultural estate, generally centered on a plantation house, meant for farming that specializes in cash crops, usually mainly planted with a single crop, with perhaps ancillary areas for vegetables for eating and so on. The ...

s, rural gardens, and occasionally

urban area An urban area, built-up area or urban agglomeration is a human settlement with a high population density and infrastructure of built environment. Urban areas are created through urbanization and are categorized by urban morphology as cities, t ...

s and

grassland A grassland is an area where the vegetation is dominated by grasses (Poaceae). However, sedge (Cyperaceae) and rush (Juncaceae) can also be found along with variable proportions of legumes, like clover, and other herbs. Grasslands occur natur ...

. Restricted to a few islands, it is threatened with

extinct Extinction is the termination of a kind of organism or of a group of kinds (taxon), usually a species. The moment of extinction is generally considered to be the death of the last individual of the species, although the capacity to breed and ...

ion in the long-term future. Already in the early 1990s, though the species was still found on every major island in its range, only single birds or families were usually seen except on Katchall and Teressa. Only in some places on the former was it still as common then as it used to be 100 years ago. At present, it manages to hold its own, but only barely, and

habitat loss Habitat destruction (also termed habitat loss and habitat reduction) is the process by which a natural habitat becomes incapable of supporting its native species. The organisms that previously inhabited the site are displaced or dead, thereby ...

may have been severe enough to accelerate its decline to dangerous proportions. With altogether a few thousand adult birds remaining, it is classified as

Near Threatened A near-threatened species is a species which has been categorized as "Near Threatened" (NT) by the International Union for Conservation of Nature as that may be vulnerable to endangerment in the near future, but it does not currently qualify fo ...

by the

IUCN The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN; officially International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natu ...

Behaviour and ecology

Several factors have contributed to this species' decline. For one thing,

habitat destruction Habitat destruction (also termed habitat loss and habitat reduction) is the process by which a natural habitat becomes incapable of supporting its native species. The organisms that previously inhabited the site are displaced or dead, thereby ...

such as

logging Logging is the process of cutting, processing, and moving trees to a location for transport. It may include skidding, on-site processing, and loading of trees or logs onto trucks or skeleton cars. Logging is the beginning of a supply chain ...

for

rubber plantation A plantation is an agricultural estate, generally centered on a plantation house, meant for farming that specializes in cash crops, usually mainly planted with a single crop, with perhaps ancillary areas for vegetables for eating and so on. The ...

s has encroached upon the native forest, and while more

sustainable Specific definitions of sustainability are difficult to agree on and have varied in the literature and over time. The concept of sustainability can be used to guide decisions at the global, national, and individual levels (e.g. sustainable livin ...

forest uses by humans are tolerated well enough,

monoculture In agriculture, monoculture is the practice of growing one crop species in a field at a time. Monoculture is widely used in intensive farming and in organic farming: both a 1,000-hectare/acre cornfield and a 10-ha/acre field of organic kale are ...

s are of little use to this

island endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsew ...

and are utilized only infrequently. An increasing human population has resulted in much

clear-cutting Clearcutting, clearfelling or clearcut logging is a forestry/ logging practice in which most or all trees in an area are uniformly cut down. Along with shelterwood and seed tree harvests, it is used by foresters to create certain types of fore ...

in the mid-late 20th century, and expansion of

military installations A military base is a facility directly owned and operated by or for the military or one of its branches that shelters military equipment and personnel, and facilitates training and operations. A military base always provides accommodations for ...

in these frontier islands has also resulted in considerable habitat destruction. Also, the

red-whiskered bulbul The red-whiskered bulbul (''Pycnonotus jocosus''), or crested bulbul, is a passerine bird native to Asia. It is a member of the bulbul family. It is a resident frugivore found mainly in tropical Asia. It has been introduced in many tropical are ...

was introduced to Camorta by the

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

; it was later brought to other islands in the Nancowry group by locals, who, like many people elsewhere, consider the red-whiskered bulbul a popular

pet A pet, or companion animal, is an animal kept primarily for a person's company or entertainment rather than as a working animal, livestock, or a laboratory animal. Popular pets are often considered to have attractive appearances, intelligence, ...

. The two bulbuls presumably compete for food, nesting locations and other resources, and if the human-assisted ''P. j. whistleri'' is not actually displacing ''I. nicobariensis'', being well-established on Katchall, Nancowry, Teressa and Trinkat, it is certainly keeping the Nicobar bulbul's population lower than it could be. On the other hand, there is no reason to suppose that the native species is an inferior competitor; rather the two bulbuls' populations seem to be reaching an equilibrium: on Katchall, the red-whiskered bulbul was already established in the 1910s or so, and this has not prevented healthy Nicobar bulbul stocks from persisting on that island to the present day. The Nicobar Islands were hit hard by the

2004 Indian Ocean tsunami An earthquake and a tsunami, known as the Boxing Day Tsunami and, by the scientific community, the Sumatra–Andaman earthquake, occurred at 07:58:53 local time (UTC+7) on 26 December 2004, with an epicentre off the west coast of northern Suma ...

, and the central group was perhaps most severely affected, with at least hundreds, maybe thousands of its inhabitants dead. On Katchall, there was perhaps the highest loss of life in the entire Nicobars, but this was due to catastrophic destruction of settled areas and much of the island's interior forest was not affected. Trinkat was literally torn into three pieces, while on Camorta flooding was extreme in the northern part only. Nancowry on the other hand suffered rather little damage overall. On Teressa, the low-lying plains suffered extensive flooding, bisecting the island in fact, but the remaining forest fragments are mostly confined to the hills and were spared. Bompoka and Tillanchong, though small, are quite steep and consequently were not much affected. Though the effect upon the Nicobar bulbul's population on Trinkat, for example, might have been devastating, the tsunami is not known to have significantly harmed the overall stocks of the species.Isles (2005), BLI (2009), NRSC (2009)

Footnotes

References

* *

BirdLife International BirdLife International is a global partnership of non-governmental organizations that strives to conserve birds and their habitats. BirdLife International's priorities include preventing extinction of bird species, identifying and safeguarding ...

(BLI) (2009)
Nicobar Bulbul Species Factsheet
Retrieved 2009-JUN-06. * Gregory, Steven M. (2000): Nomenclature of the ''Hypsipetes'' Bulbuls (Pycnonotidae). ''

Forktail The forktails are small insectivorous birds in the genus ''Enicurus''. They were formerly in the thrush family, Turdidae, but are more often now treated as part of the Old World flycatcher family, Muscicapidae. Their name derives from their lon ...

'' 16: 164–166
PDF fulltext
* Isles (2005)
Satellite pictures of Tsunami 2004 from India's satellites
Version of 2005-SEP-04. Retrieved 2009-JUN-06. * National Remote Sensing Centre (NRSC) (2009)
Tsunami case Studies: Nadaman/Nicobar Islands
Version of January 2009. Retrieved 2009-JUN-06. * Sankaran, R. (1998): An annotated list of the endemic avifauna of the Nicobar islands. ''

'' 13: 17–22
PDF fulltext
* Imag
andaman bird watching at andamanbirdwatching.com
{{Taxonbar, from=Q27075435

Nicobar bulbul The Nicobar bulbul (''Ixos nicobariensis'') is a songbird species in the bulbul family, Pycnonotidae. It is endemic to the Nicobar Islands. Taxonomy and systematics The Nicobar bulbul was originally described in the genus '' Hypsipetes'' and m ...

Birds of the Nicobar Islands Endemic fauna of the Nicobar Islands

Taxa named by Frederic Moore Taxonomy articles created by Polbot