White-eared Bulbul (Pycnonotus leucotis) [XC405186]
by Patrik \u00c5berg from Tiab, Hormozgan Province, Iran (song)
White-eared Bulbul (Pycnonotus leucotis) [XC781604]
by Jelle Scharringa from Al Hubi, Ad Dakhiliyah \u200dGovernorate, Oman (call)
Subspecies
Forms superspecies with Garden Bulbul (Pycnonotus barbatus), Cape Bulbul (Pycnonotus capensis), White-spectacled Bulbul (Pycnonotus xanthopygos), Black-fronted Bulbul (Pycnonotus nigricans) and Himalayan Bulbul (Pycnonotus leucogenys), possibly including some other species. Hybridizes with Himalayan Bulbul (Pycnonotus leucogenys) in eastern Afghanistan and northern Pakistan (putative subspecies humii represents a hybrid swarm) and often treated as conspecific, but differs morphologically, and hybridization zone is relatively abrupt. Elsewhere, sometimes hybridizes with Red-vented Bulbul (Pycnonotus cafer), including in Oman (where latter introduced). Old record of mixed pair of present species and Garden Bulbul (Pycnonotus barbatus), but no hybrids known (and ranges apparently do not meet). Subspecies mesopotamia (erroneously emended to to "mesopotamiae") only marginally differentiated and its validity requires review.
Proposed subspecies farahensis (Afghanistan) and dactylus (Saudi Arabia) not reliably distinguishable.
The following 3 subspecies are recognised:
mesopotamia Ticehurst, 1918 - Eastern and south-eastern Iraq, southern Iran and Kuwait. Also eastern Saudi Arabia (and probably introduced inland, at Riyadh) south to United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Oman (probably introduced).
leucotis (Gould, 1836) - South-eastern Afghanistan, Pakistan (except far north) and north-western India (east to western Uttar Pradesh and northern Madhya Pradesh, also north-western Maharashtra).
dactylus Ripley, 1951 - Persian Gulf coast of eastern Arabia.