Grey-eyed Bulbul

The grey-eyed bulbul is a medium-sized, subdued forest bulbul with olive-brown upperparts, paler underparts, a fairly long bill and a characteristically pale grey iris. The face and ear-coverts are only weakly patterned, so eye colour, voice and habitat assist identification. Five subspecies are recognised; four occur across northern, central or southern Vietnam, producing modest regional variation in tone and size (Wikipedia, general species account; Oiseaux.net species data).

It ranges from southern China and Myanmar through Thailand and Indochina, living mainly in moist lowland evergreen forest. The species is omnivorous, taking both fruit and invertebrates while moving through dense vegetation. A Thai study found females alone built the nest and incubated, while males joined them in feeding nestlings and defending the site. The observed nesting season extended from mid-January into early May, followed by a long post-breeding moult (Pierce 2009; Oiseaux.net species data).