Thursday, November 26, 2009

White-browed Bulbul


The white browed Bulbul is a shy member of the Bulbul family of passerine birds. It is a resident breeder in Sri Lanka and the coasts of peninsular India. More info after the jump.

The white-browed Bulbul is about 20cm in length with a long tail. The upper part of the bird is an olive gray while the under parts are whitish. This species of Bulbul is identified by the white supercilium, the white crescent below the eye and the dark eye stripe. It also has a yellow vent, which is not always seen. The sexes are similar in plumage. It feeds on fruits, nectar and insects. It builds a cup shaped nest in a tree and typically lays two eggs per clutch.

The bird is usually detected by its characteristic call, a "loud rattle of sweetish notes", which is a familiar sound in the dry zone forests of Sri Lanka.

This photograph was taken at the Thalangama tank. I was out looking for Kingfishers when I came around a bend in the road and found it perched on a branch about 6 feet off the ground. It was very close to where I was standing and surprisingly it did not fly off or hide. I took these images at a focal length of 400mm. The light wasn't the best so I had to crank up the ISO to 1600. I was using the 400D at the time and wasn't too happy about increasing the ISO that much. At least I got a half decent image though!

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