Bird Photography · The Indian List

Bulbuls

2 of 23 species photographed

Twenty-three species, and one of the more reliably confiding families in Indian birding — vocal, active, sociable birds of forest edge, gardens and open country, several of which are among the first species anyone learns simply because they turn up so readily around people. Red-vented and Red-whiskered Bulbul are the everyday face of the family across most of the country; the rest of the group ranges into forest and hill country and gets progressively less familiar the further from a garden it lives.

Black Bulbul sits toward that less-familiar end: an all-grey to sooty bird with a shaggy black crest, a bright red bill and red legs, found in flocks in forest and forest edge across the Himalaya and Northeast hills rather than in gardens. Noisy and constantly on the move through the canopy, it's usually heard — a distinctive, slightly grating chatter — before it's seen well enough for a clean photograph.

23Species in India

2Photographed

Forest edge to gardenWhere they range

Vocal and sociableBehaviour

Heard first, seen secondHow most are found

The species

White-throated Bulbul

Not yet found

Striated Bulbul

Pycnonotus striatus1 frame

Status: Resident
Range: The Himalaya from Himachal Pradesh east through Arunachal Pradesh, mid to high elevation
Habitat: Forest and forest edge, often seen on prominent open perches such as wires
IUCN: Least Concern

A streaky olive-brown-and-yellow bulbul with a spiky black crest, a red eye, and a yellow vent — the fine pale streaking over the head and body is the clearest field mark against the region's plainer bulbuls. Often seen in pairs or small groups on exposed perches such as wires and bare branches, as in this frame of two birds squabbling on a line.

FM0278

An all-grey to sooty-grey bird with a shaggy, spiky black crest, a bright red bill, and red legs — plumage varies regionally, with some populations showing a white head. Highly vocal and sociable, moving through the canopy in flocks with a distinctive chattering call that's often the first sign of the bird's presence.

Photographs by Fareed Mohmed