Nature Study

Bulbuls eating flowers
Newsletter for Birdwatchers, Volume 3, June, 1963, p.12
Gift Siromoney
The White-browed, the Red-vented and the Red-whiskered Bulbuls have the habit of eating the white petals of the 'single' Ervatamia coronaria flowers in the garden. The White-browed Bulbul finishes off about six or more flowers at one stretch and sometimes flies away with the petal in its beak. This bulbul visits also the Argyreia campanulata plants in the garden and eats the thin portions of the pale mauve corolla of the flowers. Unlike E.coronaria, A. campanulata is an introduced plant.

I was able to observe the birds for about three weeks from April 12, 1963 at different localities of the College Campus. Their favourite time is around 2.30 in the afternoon when it is quite hot.