As George and I were having lunch, we saw several birds enjoying our birdbath, and flitting around the patio area. On second look, we realized these were not a familiar bird. They were brown backed and white breasted, with red bums, black and white heads, and a distinctive pointed black crest. We both started working our Merlin bird ID app, but kept coming up empty. Finally resorting to Google, George found it. They were
red-whiskered bulbuls. Merlin failed us because they are native to South Asia, although a small population of them has apparently been established in Huntington Gardens and spread around Alhambra, the 626 area, and now it seems they're venturing to Echo Park. (We didn't see the red spot near the eye, although the description indicates that juveniles don't show that red spot.)
