Red whiskered Bul-bul (Pycnonotus jocosus)

Hello people!
How are you all?
Today I'm going to post about the most commonly found bird in our locality after the house crows and the Rock pigeons.

These birds perch in the shrubbery below our apartment and are frequent visitors to us. they have the characteristic call which is very pleasant to the ear I love waking up to their calls in the morning, their call is translated as Kick-pettigrew and it is also translated as Pleased to meet you. Isn't it intersting folks?

These birds as the name suggests belongs to the bul-bul family, they are small passerine birds, and are predominantly furgivorous which means they primarily feed on fruits. But they do eat insects also.

TIP FOR IDENTIFICATION:
1. The thick tuft of fine red feathers near the mouth refereed to as whiskers. (Picture 1)
2. The elevated or heightened crest.(Picture 2)
3. The red vent.(Picture 3)

These birds have their characteristic red whiskers on their cheek it is rather a tuft of soft feathers.

The characteristic tuft of red feathers.
This image was captured by my husband.

The distinctive crest on it's head is used as an easy identification mark.

Like its cousin The Red vented bul-bul even this has a red vent
 very soon I will post about the red-vented Bul-bul

An interesting point of note for biology geeks like me out there, This species of bul bul was first described by Sir Carl Linnaeus in his Systema nature.

For people who heard about them for the first time can check out the attached wiki links.

PS: Please click on the images for a larger view.

Keep smiling and keep Clicking.

Cheers,
Deepthi Nannam