The flame-throated bulbul is a beautiful bird that lives in untouched forests in India, gathering berries with its friends. It has recently been elevated to a full species due to differences noted by scientists. Despite not being common in many places, it is still a bird worth learning about for its natural beauty and ability to live a human-free life.
This is the flame-throated bulbul.
It is a member of the bulbul family of passerine birds. The bulbul family describes a collection of birds that are medium-sized, and they are distributed across a wide area: across most of Africa, and over into the Middle East, from tropical Asia to Indonesia, and there are even some as far north as Japan!
The flame-throated bulbul is native to Southern India. It is only found in the forests of the Western Ghats. They can be found in the lowlands and foothills of the Ghats, and they go up to 900m to 1200m high. The main location of flame-throated bulbul is the Western Ghats from southern Maharashtra and Goa southwards.
The flame-throated bulbul is a funky-looking, medium-sized bird. It has an olive-green back, yellow chest, little black head, and an orangey-red throat. Its eyes have a white iris that appears pale blue, and its beak is dark-colored. Unlike other birds, it doesn’t have a crest.
Male and female flame-throated bulbuls are very similar in appearance.
Their favourite place is in scrubby habitats, evergreen forests, in the scrub and thickets alongside rivers, in amongst mixed bamboo, and old forest clearings that are overgrown with jungle. Rarely, they have been spotted in coffee plantations or on the edges of forests. Luckily for them, their habitat is largely untouched, meaning that the flame-throated bulbul gets to live a solitary life.
Flame-throated bulbul’s are often spotted foraging in small groups for berries and small insects. They feed on berries, insects, figs, and small fruits. The idea of these birds going out in small groups on gathering missions is super cute!
After she has laid the legs, the female flame-throated bulbul will incubate them for 18 to 20 days alone. The male will help to feed her, and, once the eggs have hatched, he will help to feed them too.
Flame-throated bulbuls breed from January to August, building their nests in small, sturdy trees. The construction process is lengthy, taking up to 10 days to gather dead leaves, cobwebs, and grass stalks for the exterior, and lining the inside with softer grass.
