The straw-headed bulbul (''Pycnonotus zeylanicus'') is a species of
songbird in the
bulbul family, Pycnonotidae. It is found from the
Malay Peninsula to
Borneo
Borneo (; id, Kalimantan) is the List of islands by area, third-largest island in the world and the largest in Asia. At the geographic centre of Maritime Southeast Asia, in relation to major Indonesian islands, it is located north of Java Isl ...
. Its natural
habitats are
subtropical or tropical moist lowland forest, subtropical or tropical
mangrove forest,
subtropical or tropical moist shrubland,
arable land
Arable land (from the la, arabilis, "able to be ploughed") is any land capable of being ploughed and used to grow crops.''Oxford English Dictionary'', "arable, ''adj''. and ''n.''" Oxford University Press (Oxford), 2013. Alternatively, for th ...
,
plantations, and rural gardens. It is threatened by
habitat loss and
poaching.
The straw-headed bulbul is prized for its singing ability and is a highly sought-after species by bird enthusiasts in Southeast Asia, especially Indonesia. This trade is causing population reductions across the species' range and is a major barrier to its conservation. Trapping has been facilitated in recent years by the spread of logging roads across its forest habitat. Due to this, the straw-headed bulbul was uplisted from
endangered to
critically endangered on the
IUCN Red List in 2018.
Taxonomy and systematics
The straw-headed bulbul was originally described in the genus ''
Sturnus''. Alternate names for the straw-headed bulbul include the star-crowned bulbul, straw-crowned bulbul and yellow-crowned bulbul.
References
External links
*
Pycnonotus
Birds of Brunei
Birds of Malesia
Birds described in 1789
Taxa named by Johann Friedrich Gmelin
Taxonomy articles created by Polbot
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