These birds belong to the larger family of the Pycnonotidae like lush vegetation. They're about 7" long (almost 18cm) with a wingspan of 11" (or almost 28cm) and a weight od 1 oz or 29gr.

These birds are not native to the US. It is native to India, Nepal, Bangladesh, Burma, and also as far as China. They have been introduced as escaped cage birds. Here is a link to Wikipedia's fact sheet on them http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red-whiskered_Bulbul and here's a link to The Birds of North America Online's information on them http://bna.birds.cornell.edu/bna/species/520b/articles/introduction