17 Jul 2013

Red-vented bulbul bird song

From Afternoons, 3:30 pm on 17 July 2013

The hunt is on for the angry little bulbul bird on Auckland's North Shore. DOC staff have recorded it singing and are playing its own bird song back to it, in the hope that they may be able to trap it. Bulbuls are native to China and Pakistan, but they've spread to Australia and some Pacific islands. They're aggressive birds and fast breeders, and DOC says they pose a threat to our agriculture industries and native bird life. Bulbuls in different parts of the world have differing songs. Here is a sound track of the bulbul recorded in Devonport. Anyone hearing the song, or seeing the bird with a small patch of red feathers beneath the tail, should phone MPI Pest and Disease Freephone 0800 80 99 66.