Chestnut Bulbul

Chestnut Bulbul

Hemixos castanonotus

Silhouette: PhyloPic

LCLeast ConcernNTVUENCR
Daily sighting probability ~30% · Possible
at Hangzhou

In 3 days ~70% in a week ~90%

524 Verified sightings at Hangzhou
December Best month

About the Chestnut Bulbul

The chestnut bulbul or chestnut-backed bulbul (Hemixos castanonotus) is a songbird in the bulbul family, Pycnonotidae. The species was first described by Robert Swinhoe in 1870. It is found in southern China and northern Vietnam. Its natural habitat is subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests; it primarily resides in the canopy.

It is an omnivore. Formerly, some authorities classified the chestnut bulbul in the genus Hypsipetes and also as a subspecies of the ashy bulbul. Wikipedia →

Sounds

Alarm call0:36

China · 2026

© Albert Lastukhin · XC1138407 · CC BY-NC-ND 4.0

Song0:22

China · 2026

© JJSUN · XC1080670 · CC BY-NC-SA 4.0

Call0:35

China · 2024

© ZHOU Ying · XC953129 · CC BY-NC-SA 4.0

Global Distribution

Parks Where Found

# Park Country Daily sighting probability

More parks will be added in future updates.

Cities Where Found

# City Country Daily sighting probability
1 Fuzhou 🇨🇳 China
~40%
2 Changsha 🇨🇳 China
~30%
3 Hangzhou 🇨🇳 China
~30%
4 Guiyang 🇨🇳 China
~30%
5 Hefei 🇨🇳 China
~20%
6 Ningbo 🇨🇳 China
~10%
7 Hong Kong 🇨🇳 China
~10%
8 Xiamen City 🇨🇳 China
~10%
9 Guangzhou 🇨🇳 China
~10%
10 Nanjing 🇨🇳 China
~10%

Before you go

What are the chances of seeing a Chestnut Bulbul in Hangzhou?

Possible

About 30% of wildlife watchers report a Chestnut Bulbul sighting in Hangzhou on a given day, based on 524 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data. It is the 24th most-seen of the 219 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 70%, and over a week to about 90%, if each day is a fresh chance.

When is the best time to see a Chestnut Bulbul in Hangzhou?

December

In that month about 50% of wildlife watchers report a Chestnut Bulbul in Hangzhou on a given day, against about 20% in March, June and August–October, the lowest months. That is one of Hangzhou's driest months, with about 65 mm of rain against 250 mm in June.

Is Hangzhou the best place to see a Chestnut Bulbul?

3rd of 14

Of the 14 cities where we can rate Chestnut Bulbul sightings, Hangzhou ranks 3rd at about 30%. The best odds are in Fuzhou (China, about 40%) and Changsha (China, about 30%).

Which relatives of the Chestnut Bulbul live in Hangzhou?

Same family: Pycnonotidae

The closest relatives of the Chestnut Bulbul that you can see in Hangzhou (family Pycnonotidae, Bulbuls) are Light-vented Bulbul (about 80%), Black Bulbul (about 30%) and Mountain Bulbul (about 10%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.

Where does the Chestnut Bulbul sighting chance come from?

GBIF citizen-science records

It is estimated from how often the Chestnut Bulbul is recorded against all the birds logged in Hangzhou (524 verified sightings), calibrated against known sighting rates. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10% because citizen-science data supports honest approximations, not decimals, and months with records from fewer than five people show "—". How it works.

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