This fellow was one of several bulbuls that frequented the trees outside the balcony of our apartment in Hong Kong. I took this shot some years ago with my first digital slr on a misty day in the spring. The bird was at least 40 feet away and even using a doubler on the 300mm lens, he was quite small – the image is a little cropped. In order to get sufficient light, I used a projection device on the flash gun.
According to Craig Robson’s Birds of South East Asia (pub. New Holland) ‘the Red-Whiskered Bulbul in the adult has a tall erect black crest, black moustachial line, whitish ear-coverts and underparts and red ear-patch and undertail coverts. The juvenile is brown tinged overall, crest shorter, red ear-patch lacking, undertail parts pinker. Resident from India & Tibet eastwards and a common resident in SE Asia except Peninsula Malaysia and Singapore. Size of adult: 18-20.5 cm’
The Red-Whiskered Bulbul is also known as the Crested Bulbul (Pycnonotus jocosus)
Canon EOS D60 with Canon 300mm f2.8L IS lens and Canon x2 extender; ISO 200 f11 1/200, projection flash.
