Red-whiskered Bulbul

ABA 2

(Pycnonotus jocosus)

A species originally introduced into the U.S. from India, a few small Red-whiskered Bulbul colonies are now established in Kendall, Florida (Miami area), Pasadena and Arcadia, California, and one or two other very local California spots.

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34 Responses to Red-whiskered Bulbul

  1. Jim says:

    Hi,
    We’ve noticed a few Red Whiskered Bulbuls lately for the first time in our backyard in Pasadena, Ca. At first we thought it was a strange Titmouse! 5/19/12.

    • john says:

      Indeed, Pasadena is one of the few places in the US where you can see this species. Not bad for a back yard bird!

  2. Jodie Keszek says:

    My husband got a picture of a red-whiskered bulbul in our Pasadena backyard today April 27, 2013. It was the first time we’d ever seen one, and it took over an hour to identify it! We’ve noticed quite a few birds new to our backyard over the past few years.

  3. Paul says:

    Saw four of them today, 4/9/2014, on Elizabeth Street. Couldn’t identify their song, looked out and hadn’t seen anything like them in our backyard before. Glad to know what they are. They were harassing one of our many resident squirrels.

  4. kelly says:

    I have a pair making a nest in my patio tree today. Arcadia, Ca.

  5. kelly says:

    These birds are the most interesting i have ever watched. The parents are moving them all over my yard tree to tree and they stay together. Now they are right outside my bathroom window in a camelia bush. They feed them and them call them to another tree. I assume they are teaching them to fly. They have total control over these 2 babies. No nonsense going on. I wish i had a good camera, let me try. They are so small and today getting a little point on their heads, Still no tails.

  6. kelly says:

    I do not know how to post pictures of them. I have several of the babies. Can i email them to you?

  7. kelly says:

    Parents are already building a new nest in my topiary.

  8. kelly says:

    We have new babies, can’t tell how many are in the nest. Hatched today.

  9. kelly says:

    I noticed a mockingbird hanging around my yard. Will they eat the babies? How do i deter them?

    • john says:

      While the Northern Mockingbird is well-known for its ferocity defending its own nest against any interlopers including humans, to my knowledge it does not predate the nests of other birds.

  10. Lisa says:

    We saw at the LA County Arboreteum on August 8. 2015. Beautiful bird!

  11. M. Luanne Murkar says:

    I have a pair in my back yard. I first saw them two years ago, and they disappeared. Now they’re bac! Love to see and hear them, here in Duarte, California.

  12. jellis says:

    I mostly find them in the Los Angeles County Arboretum and Botanic Garden and the joining neighborhood.

  13. Knight says:

    4 red wiskered bulbul in my yard in south pasadena january 1st 2019. Never seen them before. Beautiful chatty birds.

  14. Kate Borger says:

    I just saw 2 bathing in our pond. First time seeing them in Altadena

  15. Connie says:

    Has anyone ever seen this bird in Virginia?

    • john says:

      The only e-bird reports in the U.S.are from South Florida and Southern California, the two areas where the species is established in the wild.

  16. Linda Netherwood says:

    2 beautiful red whiskered bulbuls sighted this morning in Highland Park/Los Angeles by a neighbor’s tree full of red berries.

  17. Paul Anderson says:

    I was relaxing on bed today and heard a bird song that was foreign to me. I slowly pulled back the blinds and saw a bird with a prominent pointy Crest that looked a bit like a sharks fin. Thin black line emanating between the beak and the eye and sweeping across a white cheek and throat. Red under the eye and tail. It then flew to a pyracantha bush and feasted on the berries. By this time I had my binoculars on it. Diagnostic red-whiskered Bulbul. Calabasas, CA.

  18. Anne Chomyn says:

    I first spotted a pair of these birds in my Altadena backyard last year . Yesterday I saw one again and he was singing up a storm, sitting on a utility wire that runs along the back of my property and above my vegetable garden. The closest ID I could find in my birding books was bulbul. Today I finally found their full ID, and that they are very local. They are considered an agricultural pest in Australia. Are there any concerns about them becoming a pest here?

    • john says:

      I don’t think so. They have been established in Kendall, Florida for many years and remain more of a curiosity than anything else. Out-of-state birders always want to look for them (and not always successfully).

  19. Shawn says:

    We’ve been hosting a few of them for several years now, in a little ravine neighborhood west of Pasadena, Mount Washington North.
    Lovely! But I prefer the ever-changing song of our native mockingbirds, and I hope these newcomers can cohabit peacefully.

  20. DB says:

    Family of Bulbuls took up residence in a tree previously occupied by Mockingbirds. Lovely singers with an unusual repertoire and appearance.

  21. Rebekah says:

    There is a pair currently in Eagle Rock neighborhood in Los Angeles. I see one or both on my walks with the dog.

  22. Matthew Drain says:

    Saw a single bird in the Occidental College area in late May 2023. The head crest startled me.

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