The Cape bulbul (''Pycnonotus capensis'') 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 of

passerine A passerine () is any bird of the order Passeriformes (; from Latin 'sparrow' and '-shaped'), which includes more than half of all bird species. Sometimes known as perching birds, passerines are distinguished from other orders of birds by t ...

bird Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the laying of hard-shelled eggs, a high metabolic rate, a four-chambered heart, and a strong yet lightweigh ...

s. It is an endemic resident breeder in coastal bush, open forest, gardens and

fynbos Fynbos (; meaning fine plants) is a small belt of natural shrubland or heathland vegetation located in the Western Cape and Eastern Cape provinces of South Africa. This area is predominantly coastal and mountainous, with a Mediterranean clim ...

in western and southern South Africa. This species nests mainly in the southern spring from September to November. The nest is a thick-walled cup concealed by foliage in a small tree or shrub.

Taxonomy

In 1760 the French zoologist

Mathurin Jacques Brisson Mathurin Jacques Brisson (; 30 April 1723 – 23 June 1806) was a French zoologist and natural philosopher. Brisson was born at Fontenay-le-Comte. The earlier part of his life was spent in the pursuit of natural history; his published works ...

included a description of the Cape bulbul in his ''Ornithologie'' based on a specimen collected from the

Cape of Good Hope The Cape of Good Hope ( af, Kaap die Goeie Hoop ) ;''Kaap'' in isolation: pt, Cabo da Boa Esperança is a rocky headland on the Atlantic coast of the Cape Peninsula in South Africa. A common misconception is that the Cape of Good Hope is t ...

in South Africa. He used the French name ''Le merle brun du Cap de Bonne Espérance'' and the Latin ''Merula Fusca Capitis Bonae Spei''. The two stars (**) at the start of the section indicates that Brisson based his description on the examination of a specimen. Although Brisson coined Latin names, these do not conform to the binomial system and are not recognised by the

International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature The International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature (ICZN) is an organization dedicated to "achieving stability and sense in the scientific naming of animals". Founded in 1895, it currently comprises 26 commissioners from 20 countries. Orga ...

. When in 1766 the Swedish naturalist

Carl Linnaeus Carl Linnaeus (; 23 May 1707 – 10 January 1778), also known after his ennoblement in 1761 as Carl von Linné Blunt (2004), p. 171. (), was a Swedish botanist, zoologist, taxonomist, and physician who formalised binomial nomenclature, the ...

updated his ''

Systema Naturae ' (originally in Latin written ' with the ligature æ) is one of the major works of the Swedish botanist, zoologist and physician Carl Linnaeus (1707–1778) and introduced the Linnaean taxonomy. Although the system, now known as binomial nomen ...

'' for the twelfth edition, he added 240 species that had been previously described by Brisson. One of these was the Cape bulbul. Linnaeus included a brief description, coined the

binomial name In taxonomy, binomial nomenclature ("two-term naming system"), also called nomenclature ("two-name naming system") or binary nomenclature, is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, bot ...

''Turdus capensis'' and cited Brisson's work. The specific name ''capensis'' denotes the Cape of Good Hope. This species is now placed in the genus ''Pycnonotus'' that was introduced by the German zoologist

Friedrich Boie Friedrich Boie (4 June 1789 – 3 March 1870) was a German entomologist, herpetologist, ornithologist, and lawyer.Beolens, Bo; Watkins, Michael; Grayson, Michael (2011). ''The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles''. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University ...

in 1826. The Cape bulbul is considered to belong to a superspecies along with the

Himalayan bulbul The Himalayan bulbul (''Pycnonotus leucogenys''), or white-cheeked bulbul, is a species of songbird in the bulbul family found in Central and South Asia. Taxonomy and systematics The Himalayan bulbul is considered to belong to a superspecies ...

white-eared bulbul The white-eared bulbul (''Pycnonotus leucotis'') is a member of the bulbul family. It is found in south-western Asia from India to the Arabian peninsula. Taxonomy and systematics The white-eared bulbul was originally described in the genus ''Ix ...

white-spectacled bulbul The white-spectacled bulbul (''Pycnonotus xanthopygos'') is a member of the bulbul family. It is in length with a wingspan of . These birds live in fruit plantations, gardens, and cities. It is the most common member of the bulbul family in Isr ...

African red-eyed bulbul The African red-eyed bulbul or black-fronted bulbul (''Pycnonotus nigricans'') is a species of songbird in the family Pycnonotidae. It is found in south-western Africa. Its natural habitats are dry savanna, subtropical or tropical dry shrubland ...

, and the

common bulbul The common bulbul (''Pycnonotus barbatus'') is a member of the bulbul family of passerine birds. It is found in north-eastern, northern, western and central Africa. Taxonomy and systematics The common bulbul was originally described in the genus ...

. Alternate names for the Cape bulbul include the Cape geelgat and two names used for other species (common and dark-capped bulbul).

Description

The Cape bulbul is long, mainly dull, blackish brown with a diagnostic 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 is much darker than the other South African bulbuls, and differs in the eye ring colour and brown lower belly, whereas the other dark bulbuls have a pale lower belly. The dark belly helps to identify juveniles, which lack the distinctive eye ring of the adult. The most typical call of this species is a liquid whistle of two or more varied notes ''pit-peet-pitmajol, piet-piet-patata''.

Behaviour and ecology

The Cape bulbul is a common and conspicuous bird, which tends to perch at the top of a bush. It is active and noisy, usually seen in pairs or small groups foraging for fruit, nectar and insects. In part of its range, it gets parasitized by the

Jacobin cuckoo The Jacobin cuckoo (''Clamator jacobinus''), also pied cuckoo or pied crested cuckoo, is a member of the cuckoo order of birds that is found in Africa and Asia. It is partially migratory and in India, it has been considered a harbinger of the mons ...

Gallery

Image:Cape Bulbul RWD3.jpg Image:Cape Bulbul RWD.jpg Image:CapeBulbul1095.jpg

References

*Sinclair, Hockey and Tarboton, ''SASOL Birds of Southern Africa'',

External links

* Cape Bulbul
Species text in The Atlas of Southern African Birds

SASOL e-guide

iSpot
{{Taxonbar, from=Q525707

Cape bulbul The Cape bulbul (''Pycnonotus capensis'') is a member of the bulbul family of passerine birds. It is an endemic resident breeder in coastal bush, open forest, gardens and fynbos in western and southern South Africa. This species nests mainly in t ...

Endemic birds of South Africa