Yellow-vented Bulbul – social behaviour/organisation

“Some time ago I posted on my long standing observations of the difference in social behaviour/organisation of Yellow-vented Bulbuls (Pycnonotus goiavier analis) that dwell in cities and those in ‘rural’ environment. See: HERE.

“Wells 2007 states that ‘Typical day-time social units range from loners and pairs to parties of up to ten, the latter presumed to be mobile non-breeders.’

“My experience over many decades of watching is that this only applies to birds in ‘urban’ setting.

“I have regularly seen parties of 20-30 in the non-breeding periods in rural (semi-urban) areas. This is hard to document as they are often strung out when travelling together (see description in article above). I believe that they roost together at night and then travel together to feed.

“On this occasion I was fortunate to watch approximately 70 birds travelling together in the early morning, presumably to a fruiting tree. See the image at the top which documents 21 at one time in a bare tree which served as a staging tree (‘half-way resting point’). Birds were following each other in small and large groups and stopping intermittently along the way.

“The image above was taken 10 minutes earlier and shows a different 22 birds.
Sadly the route they were taking did not allow me to follow them.

“My interest now is to see if they nest communally.”

Dato’ Dr Amar-Singh HSS
Ipoh, Perak, Malaysi
15th December 2017

Location: Tambun, Ipoh, Perak, Malaysia
Habitat: Secondary growth near limestone hills, ex-mining pools