BREEDING BIOLOGY OF THE RED-VENTED BULBUL PYCNONOTUS CAFER (LINNAEUS, 1766) IN TARANGA HILL FORESTS OF NORTH GUJARAT, INDIAManish Gor and I.R. GadhviAbstract Red-vented bulbul is a widespread resident species in India and Gujarat. Though several aspects of its behavior and ecology have been well studied, little is known about its breeding biology in western part of India. We studied breeding biology of Red-vented Bulbul (Pycnonotus cafer) in forests of Taranga hills (230 58âN & 720 45âE) in the North-eastern part of Gujarat and marks the beginning of Aravalli hill ranges. Taranga hills are Tropical Dry Deciduous Forests and Tropical Thorn Forests. We observed that the breeding activities commenced in February and the egg laying started in mid-April in 2014 to late march in 2015 and 2016. The species used nine plant/shrub/tree species for nesting. Preferred vegetation for nest building was P. cineraria (22.6%) followed Z. mauritiana (17.0%).The mean nest height from ground was 161.9 cm and the mean outer diameter of nest was 11.57 cm. The mean clutch size was 2.65 eggs/nest. Breeding success recorded in the present study is slightly lower than studies carried by other authors.
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