Bare-faced bulbul

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Bare-faced bulbul
Bare-faced bulbuls in Na Hin National Park, Laos

Least Concern  (IUCN 3.1)[1]
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Passeriformes
Infraorder:
Passerides
Family: Pycnonotidae
Genus: Nok
Fuchs et al., 2018
Species:
N. hualon
Binomial name
Nok hualon
(Woxvold, Duckworth & Timmins, 2009)
Synonyms
  • Pycnonotus hualon

The bare-faced bulbul (Nok hualon) is a member of the

newly described from central Laos in 2009. It is one of the very few Asian songbirds with a bald (featherless) face and is the first new species of bulbul to be described from Asia in almost a century.[2]

Taxonomy and systematics

A sketch of bare-faced bulbul

The species epithet hualon is from the Lao word for "bald-headed". A 2018 molecular phylogenetic study of the bulbuls suggested that the species does not fit in the clade containing the core Pycnonotus and stood apart suggesting its placement in a new genus Nok from Lao language for "bird" as Nok hualon.[3]

Description

The mainly olive-green bare-faced bulbul is distinctive in having a bare pink face with blueish skin around the eyes. The two specimens so far collected were around 20 cm in length and weighed 32-40 g. The breast and belly are fawn-grey, the uppersides olive and the throat is off-white.[4] According to researchers, its call is a "dry bubbly tweet".

Habitat

The bare-faced bulbul is known only from the limestone

Laotian rock rat.[4]

Behaviour

The bare-faced bulbul is mainly arboreal but sometimes perches on rocks on the steep hillsides. It is a conspicuous species, foraging during the day in pairs or as singles. Single birds tend to call regularly, and will link up with another before flying to a new area to forage. They have not been observed to join

mixed-species feeding flocks. The breeding behaviour of this species has not yet been observed.[4]

Status and conservation

The bare-faced bulbul was assessed for the first time in 2010 by

Least Concern, on the basis that the species has a large range, and there is insufficient evidence on population trend and size.[5] In the paper describing the species it was suggested that it be listed as data deficient until further surveys of likely habitat were undertaken.[4] The limestone karst in which it lives is threatened by quarrying and habitat degradation caused by overgrazing.[4]

References

  1. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2016-3.RLTS.T22735824A95119271.en
    . Retrieved 20 November 2021.
  2. ^ "Bulbuls « IOC World Bird List". www.worldbirdnames.org. Retrieved 2017-04-01.
  3. doi:10.1111/ibi.12580
    .
  4. ^ a b c d e I.A. Woxvold; J.W. Duckworth & R.J. Timmins (2009). "An unusual new bulbul (Passeriformes: Pycnonotidae) from the limestone karst of Lao PDR" (PDF). Forktail. 25: 1–12. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2012-02-26.
  5. ^ Birdlife Species Factsheet

External links

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