image credit: buzzyuk.com
image credit: digitaljournal.com
image credit: telegraph.co.ukStatus: Least Concern
Only recently described in 2009, the Bare-faced Bulbul (Pycnonotus hualon) is the only bald songbird in mainland Asia, and one of only a handful in the world. This doesn’t give you the right to make fun of him. It’s the first new species of bulbul to be described in Asia in more than a century!
The mainly olive-green Bare-faced Bulbul is distinctive in having a bare pink face with blueish skin around the eyes and “no one knows why the bird is bald,” says a spokesman for the Wildlife Conservation Society. “It is so new to science, little is known of its biology or natural history.”
Though the species is listed as least concern due to its wide habitat range, it is probably more appropriate that it be labeled as “data deficient” since proper surveys have not been carried out to determine a concrete status.
