THE blackeyed bulbul prefers the moister East, North East and North of Southern Africa.
Its voice is a lively, liquid ‘klip klop kallop’ (sweet-swat-potatoes) and it has a nasal alarm call ‘chirrik-chirrik’.
Highly vocal, the blackeyed bulbul is restless and conspicuous and often calls from the tops of bushes or trees.
Its preferred habitat is woodland, forest edge, riverine bush, dense montane scrub, exotic plantations, gardens and parks.
They are usually found in pairs and loose groups at good food sources. It forages arboreally, picking fruit and gleaning insects from leaves. It also feeds on the ground and hawks insects in flight. Its food is generally fruit, nectar, insects and small lizards.
It calls a loud alarm in the presence of a cat, snake or mongoose.
The blackeyed bulbul breeds between September and April. The nest is neat and strong, and is made up of thin-walled dry grass, plant fibres and small twigs. It is usually lined with finer materials of hair, between two and 12m above the ground in the fork of a tree.
It usually lays three eggs which are white/pink spotted, speckled and blotched with dark red.
Incubation is 12 to 14 days by female, and nestlings remain for 10 to 12 days.
The Zulus have two names for this bird – iPhothwe or iPogota. In Afrikaans it is known as swartoogtiptol.
