See text The bulbuls are members of a family, Pycnonotidae, of medium-sized passerine songbirds, which also includes greenbuls, brownbuls, leafloves, and bristlebills.

The family is distributed across most of Africa and into the Middle East, tropical Asia to Indonesia, and north as far as Japan.

[6][7] A study published in 2007 by Ulf Johansson and colleagues using three nuclear markers found that the genus Andropadus was non-monophyletic.

In the subsequent revision, species were moved to three resurrected genera: Arizelocichla, Stelgidillas and Eurillas.

[8][9] A study by Subir Shakya and Frederick Shelden published in 2017 found that species in the large genus  Pycnonotus formed several deeply divergent clades.

One unusual exception is the yellow-whiskered greenbul which at least over part of its range appears to be polygamous and engage in a lekking system.

The majority of species are frugivorous and supplement their diet with some insects, although there is a significant minority of specialists, particularly in Africa.

[citation needed] In general, bulbuls and greenbuls are resistant to human pressures on the environment and are tolerant of disturbed habitat.