Square-tailed Bulbul Hypsipetes ganeesa Scientific name definitions

The Square-tailed Bulbul is a dark sooty-gray bird with a black crest, square-ended tail, brown or reddish-brown iris, bright red bill, and yellowish-orange legs and feet. It is endemic to high montane wet zones of the Western Ghats and Sri Lanka; it descends to lower elevations during heavy monsoon showers. It prefers evergreen forests and is also found on lofty shade trees in tea, coffee, and cardamom plantations. Locally abundant, it is often encountered in large flocks of 6–10, sometimes larger, and also participates in mixed-species foraging flocks. It is arboreal, seldom descending to bushes; it forages mostly on fruits and berries, as well as flowers, nectar, and insects. It is resident, but prone to local movements in the non-breeding season. It breeds during spring, from March–June; the nest is a flimsy cup of grass, dead leaves, moss, and lichen, bound together with cobweb and lined with rootlets and fine grass; the clutch size is 2 eggs. The Square-tailed Bulbul produces loud screechy whistles and a loud nasal meow, like a "cat with a cold," very unlike any other sympatric bulbul. It is very similar in appearance to the Black Bulbul (Hypsipetes leucocephalus) of the Himalayas and southeast Asia, but the two are allopatric and would never be encountered together in the field. Despite its similar appearance, it is genetically more closely related to the Hypsipetes bulbuls of the Mascarene Islands. Based on the differences in morphology and vocalization, two subspecies are typically recognized, ganeesa of India and humii of Sri Lanka; genetic divergence between the two subspecies is unknown. No estimate for the global population is available, however in India, the long-term trend (frequency of reporting pre-2000 to 2018) shows a strong decline. The current trend (frequency of reporting from 2014 to 2022) is "uncertain," and it is classified globally as Least Concern.