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Wednesday, November 18, 2015

African Red-eyed Bulbul

The African Red-eyed Bulbul has a conspicuous wide orange-red eye-ring. We've always had a resident pair of bulbuls in our garden. Last year I featured a pair near their nest in an old rose-bush outside the entertainment area. I'm not sure where they nested [in the garden] this year, but had the pleasure of watching a parent and juvenile in the mulberry tree (not photographed!) and also on our bird feeder. 

 I took this photo too quickly, not checking my function settings and it's a little blurry. The juvenile on the left is waiting for its parent to drop some apple into its wide-open bill! 
The juvenile's eye-ring is narrower and yellowish pink
The juvenile chews on a piece of fruit which it pecked from the apple itself
Mama/papa looks on
And also digs in! 
Both birds having their fill
On closer inspection, the juvenile is still quite fluffy

The African Red-eyed Bulbul is very common and near-endemic. Its food is mainly fruit, also nectar, insects and flower petals. It's call is distinctive - "Wake up, Gregory!"- and can be heard very early in the morning - in our garden - before sunrise.  

I'm linking to Wild Bird Wednesday here

Happy Wednesday to you all! 

5 comments:

  1. Hello, Jo, they are awesome birds. I love their red eyes. Great sighting and photos. Enjoy your day!

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  2. and now i am wanting an apple to eat.. will have to get a few this week end.. i like the one feeding the little one

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  3. Lovely to see the juvenile of this species Jo.

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  4. neat birds and neat feeder for them!

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  5. Fascinating birds! They were really enjoying the apple!

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Thank you for visiting my blog and taking the time to leave a comment. I appreciate your feedback. Jo