Hypsipetes leucocephalus
Silhouette: PhyloPic
In 3 days ~90% in a week >90%
The black bulbul (Hypsipetes leucocephalus), also known as the Himalayan black bulbul or Asian black bulbul, is a member of the bulbul family of passerine birds. It is found primarily in the Himalayas, its range stretching from Pakistan eastward to Southeast Asia. It is the type species of the genus Hypsipetes, established by Nicholas Aylward Vigors in the early 1830s. There are a number of subspecies, mostly varying in the shade of the body plumage which ranges from grey to black, and some also occur in white-headed morphs, as also suggested by its specific epithet leucocephalus, literally "white head". The legs and bill are always rich orange-red.
The black bulbul was formally described in 1789 by the German naturalist Johann Friedrich Gmelin in his revised and expanded edition of Carl Linnaeus's Systema Naturae. He placed it with the thrushes in the genus Turdus and coined the binomial name Turdus leucocephalus. Gmelin based his account on "Le Merle Dominiquain de la Chine", a white-headed morph from China that had been described in 1782 by the French naturalist Pierre Sonnerat. The type locality was subsequently restricted to Guangzhou (formerly Canton... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Royal Manas National Park | 🇧🇹 Bhutan | |
| 2 | Taroko National Park | 🇹🇼 Taiwan | |
| 3 | Doi Inthanon National Park | 🇹🇭 Thailand | |
| 4 | Namdapha National Park | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 5 | Jim Corbett National Park | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 6 | Langtang National Park | 🇳🇵 Nepal | |
| 7 | Manas National Park | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 8 | Royal Bardia National Park | 🇳🇵 Nepal | |
| 9 | Cuc Phuong National Park | 🇻🇳 Vietnam | |
| 10 | Cat Tien National Park | 🇻🇳 Vietnam | |
| 11 | Chitwan National Park | 🇳🇵 Nepal | |
| 12 | Kaziranga National Park | 🇮🇳 India |
| # | Zoo / Centre | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | San Diego Zoo | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 2 | ZooParc de Beauval | 🇫🇷 France | |
| 3 | Leipzig Zoological Garden | 🇩🇪 Germany | |
| 4 | Zoo Miami | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 5 | Zoologischer Garten Leipzig | 🇩🇪 Germany | |
| 6 | Kunming Zoo | 🇨🇳 China | |
| 7 | San Antonio Zoo | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 8 | Attica Zoological Park | 🇬🇷 Greece | |
| 9 | Green World Ecological Farm | 🇹🇼 Taiwan | |
| 10 | Peacock Garden | 🇨🇳 China | |
| 11 | Wolfgang-Köhler-Primaten-Forschungszentrum | 🇩🇪 Germany |
Likely
About 50% of wildlife watchers report a Black Bulbul sighting in Royal Manas National Park on a given day, based on 806 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 11th most-seen of the 388 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 90%, and over a week to over 90%, if each day is a fresh chance.
April
In that month about 70% of wildlife watchers report a Black Bulbul in Royal Manas National Park on a given day, against about 10% in January, the lowest month. August and September have too few records to rate.
Between 3 and 6 pm
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Black Bulbul sightings with a recorded time, and about 9 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
Yes
Of the 12 parks where we can rate Black Bulbul sightings, Royal Manas National Park has the highest daily chance: about 50%. Next come Taroko National Park (Taiwan, about 30%) and Doi Inthanon National Park (Thailand, about 20%). All parks ranked.
Same family: Pycnonotidae
The closest relatives of the Black Bulbul that you can see in Royal Manas National Park (family Pycnonotidae, Bulbuls) are Ashy-fronted Bearded Bulbul (about 50%), Ashy Bulbul (about 40%) and Black-crested Bulbul (about 40%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Black Bulbul is recorded against all the birds logged in Royal Manas National Park (806 verified sightings from 2019 to 2026), 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.
