Common Bulbul: how to recognise it
A bird of Europe and Africa. Learn the marks that make it easy to identify, then practise with real photographs in Lore.
Practise with real photosAll species guides
Photo © Lip Kee · CC BY-SA · iNaturalist · all photo credits
- Scientific name
- Pycnonotus barbatus
- Family
- Bulbuls
- Size
- About 19 cm
- Habitat
- Gardens, towns, scrub and open woodland
- Found in
- Europe and Africa
The key marks
Brown bulbul with a blackish head and small crest, a brown back, a pale belly and a yellow patch under the tail. Cape Bulbul is much darker, blackish-brown all over including the belly, with a white ring around the eye.
Voice
A bubbly, whistled song and harsh, grating calls.
Good to know
Very adaptable, it lives in gardens and towns across much of Africa, including Morocco and Egypt, eating fruit, nectar and insects.
Do not confuse with
Compare it with the Cape Bulbul. Look at the marks above one by one rather than the overall colour, and practise telling the two apart with real photos.
Where and when
You can expect to find it in gardens, towns, scrub and open woodland. It is especially common in Morocco, Kenya and Tanzania. Distribution changes with the seasons and from year to year, so check a recent local observation source before you go looking.