Seeing Red and Yellow! π
Spotting the Uniquely Endemic Flame-throated Bulbul
#intothewildwithrufus #birding
Birding in and around the Western Ghats is real thrill especially when it comes to watching out for some of the rare, endemic birds that are unique to the Western Ghats!
Presenting the Flame-throated Bulbul, ladies and gentlemen!
Although it is quite common in the bird kingdom for females to be duller in colour than their male counterparts, Flame-throated Bulbuls beg to differ! They are - what ornithologists would call - sexually monomorphic!
That means the males and females look strikingly similar – with those fiery orange-red throats and the bright white eyes!
These photos that we captured today, are the adult and their juvenile of the exact same species!
And well, nature has a clever reason for this striking change in appearance between the adult and the juvenile!
Young Flame-throated Bulbuls lack the fire, oops the flame that’s part of their parents’ identity! π
This duller plumage helps camouflage the inexperienced young birds from predators while they are growing up!
Quite interestingly, you won’t find these birds anywhere else in the world. They are completely endemic to the lovely, evergreen forests of the Western Ghats in southern India.
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