Sooty-headed Bulbul

The sooty-headed bulbul is a medium-sized, fairly long-tailed bulbul 19–21 cm long. Adults have a short black crest, sooty-black head, chin and nape, brown upperparts, white rump and pale underparts. The undertail coverts are orange-red in many forms and the dark tail is tipped white. Juveniles have a browner head and paler vent. Its plain dark head lacks the red ear patch of the red-whiskered bulbul (Hong Kong Bird Watching Society; Birds of Singapore).

Native from southern China through mainland Southeast Asia, with separate populations on Java and Bali, it favours open wooded country rather than dense forest. Farmland, scrub, secondary growth, roadsides, gardens and parks are widely used. Groups feed mainly on soft fruit and berries, supplementing them with small insects. A cup nest of twigs, leaves and fine grass is placed low in a shrub or small tree, and the normal clutch is two or three eggs (PanduanHewan species synthesis; Global Bird Index account).