Orange-fronted Barbet
Capito squamatus
Chunky black and white bird with a stout bill. Ranges in lowland and foothill rainforest west of the Andes in Ecuador and far southwestern Colombia. Note orange forehead and large white spots on the lower back. Male has white underparts with streaked flanks; female has black throat and breast, and white scaling on the back. Male can be distinguished from Five-colored Barbet by white underparts, crown, and nape. Typically stays high in the canopy, where it joins mixed-species flocks of tanagers and other small birds.
Identification
The orange-fronted barbet is 16 to 18 cm (6.3 to 7.1 in) long and weighs 56 to 64 g (2.0 to 2.3 oz). The male has a white crown and an orange to red forecrown (the "front"). Its head except for the chin and its upperparts are black; white on some wing feathers remain visible when they are folded. Its underside from chin to the belly are yellowish white, sometimes with an orange tinge. Its flanks usually have light black spotting and the vent area is black. The female's front is yellow-orange; the rest of its head, its throat, and chest are black. Its black back has fine white markings on the wing-coverts.
Taxonomy
The orange-fronted barbet is monotypic. It and the spot-crowned barbet (Capito maculicoronatus) are sister species and may form a superspecies.
- Scientific name
- Capito squamatus
- Authority
- Salvin, 1876
- Order
- Piciformes
- Family
- Capitonidae
- Genus
- Capito
Range and habitat
The orange-fronted barbet is found from El Oro Province in southwestern Ecuador north into Nariño Department in extreme southwestern Colombia. There it inhabits wet lowlands and hill country, using primary and secondary forest and their edges as well as more open areas such as farms, orchards, and pastures with trees. In elevation it usually ranges from sea level to 800 m (2,600 ft) but can be found up to 1,500 m (4,900 ft) in some areas.
- Migration
- Resident species
Behavior
The orange-fronted barbet usually forages in pairs, hunting all levels of the vegetation, and will join mixed-species foraging flocks. Its diet is primarily fruits and berries but also includes insects and spiders.<p>The orange-fronted barbet nests between July and September and possibly earlier. Like all New World barbets, it excavates a nest hole in a tree; this species apparently sites the cavity several meters above ground. Almost no other information on its breeding phenology has been published.<p>The orange-fronted barbet's song is a "low-pitched, very fast, soft, purring trill" [1]. Its call is a noisy "tyik" or "trrik" [2].
Conservation
- Population trend
- declining
Photos
Distribution
Bird Calls
Other Birds
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Scytalopus latrans
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Böhm's Flycatcher
Myopornis boehmi
Distinctive, chunky flycatcher of miombo woodland. The upperparts are rich brown and the underparts are white with bold triangular spots. Generally uncommon and local in the mid-story of miombo broadleaf woodland. Often joins mixed-species feeding flocks. The quiet song consists of a series of scratchy notes.
Henderson Petrel
Pterodroma atrata
A typical uniformly grayish-brown petrel with pale mottling at the base of the bill that gives it a somewhat “frosted” facial appearance. Pale bar along the leading edge of the underwing between the body and elbow is evident in flight. Highly pelagic, visiting land only to nest. Similar to Kermadec Petrel, but lacks the white primary shafts in the upperwing of that species and is overall more uniformly colored. Providence Petrel is similar but appears much heavier-chested and paler-faced, with more extensively mottled gray-brown tones across the body. Herald Petrel is very similar, but has much more contrasting dark-and-light underwing pattern. Henderson Petrel is silent at sea.
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