In the camp at Okaukuejo in Etosha NP in Namibia, I was going in to the office to check out and noticed a beautiful bird hanging on a fixture from the ceiling. It had a distinctive yellow underside near the anal area, which caught my attention, a whitish lower breast, a blackish head with orangish-red and black eyes and a brown upper back.
This was the African red-eyed bulbul or black-fronted bulbul.
There are two subspecies. I saw the north subspecies, Pycnonotus nigricans nigricans, found in southwestern Angola, Namibia, Botswana and western South Africa. The southern subspecies is found in central South Africa.
Very interesting eyes. Is there a biological reason they are that way? Does the red ring, for example, reflect light?
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