Black Crested Bulbul
Scientific Name: Pycnonotus melanicterus. The bird belongs to the Pycnonotus melanicterus family and is mainly found in Southeast Asia up to Indonesia in the far east.
Origin:
India and Sri Lanka.
Description:
Size: 20 cm (8 in) COCK:
Head, crest, and throat: black.
Breast and upper parts: olive green, fading to dully yellowish olive on the belly and around the vent. Rather striking yellow eye.
Beak and legs: black.
HEN: The hen is somewhat similar to the cock concerning physical appearance. The sex of the bird can not easily be determined based on the color of the plumage. The flight of the bird is like the flight of a woodpecker which is bouncy.
The Black-Crested Bulbul is very hardy to manage. A single bird can be kept in a mixed aviary with birds of similar size and temperament. This lively bird can be easily tamed and adapts well to the captive environment.
Diet: (Softbill) The bird should be given food items that are ideal for soft-billed birds. The food for the bird can be in the form of small-sized insects and fruits including apples, oranges, and particularly pears and chopped grapes. It loves to eat berries and should provide live food regularly. Six meal worms per bird can be given each day. The insectile mix should be coarse-grained rather than fine.
Black Crested Bulbul Breeding:
It is necessary to segregate a pair in a flight on their own. It builds a rather messy cup-shaped nest in bushy vegetation but has been known to utilize boxes or baskets in captivity. A thickly planted area must be provided or it does not attempt to build a nest. In captivity, the bird should be given a proper environment for building nests.
In the wild, the bird thrives in densely forested areas and builds nests in bushy areas. So, tree branches, stones, and other bushy areas can be created inside the aviary for the bird.
In the wild, the bird thrives in densely forested areas and builds nests in bushy areas. So, tree branches, stones, and other bushy areas can be created inside the aviary for the bird.
Two to three eggs are laid at a time and both cock and hen take part in the building of the nest and the incubation of the eggs and the rearing of the young. Incubation normally lasts about 14 to 16 days and the chicks mature quickly when hatched and are ready to leave the nest after two weeks. Successful rearing of chicks depends on the provision of plenty of live food, mealworms, maggots, woodlice, small smooth-backed caterpillars, grasshoppers, and small locusts.
Two broods per season are normal. The chicks should be removed from the parents as soon as they can feed themselves, or they may be attacked. The plumage of the young bird is dull in appearance. As feather of the bird becomes dark in color as the bird grows and matures.
The other subspecies of the bird include the ruby-throated bulbul found in Java and Sumatra, the flame-throated bulbul found in the Western Ghats regions of India, black clapped bulbul found in Srilanka, and the Bornean bulbul found in Borneo.
See more: Black Chinned Yuhina