Brown-headed Barbet
Psilopogon zeylanicus
A green and brown barbet with prominent pale streaks on its brown head and breast. The brown throat and green wings with white speckling on the shoulders are characteristic of this species. Also note the large area of dull yellow facial skin and the brown-yellow bill that both turn orange-red when breeding. Immature is similar but duller. Heard more often than seen. Several calls exist, but the most common call is similar to the White-cheeked Barbet’s “kutrook-kutrook-kutrook,” but it is more mellow, sonorous, and less sharp sounding. Generally prefers drier woodlands compared to White-cheeked Barbet though they co-occur in many localities.
Identification
The adult has a streaked brown head, neck and breast, and a yellow eye patch. The rest of the plumage is green. It is 27 cm (11 in) long with a large head, short neck and short tail.<p>Its call is a repetitive kutroo…kutroo…kutroo, but silent in the winter. Others take up the call when one starts.
Taxonomy
The brown-headed barbet was formally described in 1788 by the German naturalist Johann Friedrich Gmelin in his revised and expanded edition of Carl Linnaeus's Systema Naturae. He placed it with the puffbirds in the genus Bucco and coined the binomial name Bucco zeylanicus. Gmelin based his description on the "yellow cheeked barbet" that had been described and illustrated in 1776 by the naturalist Peter Brown from a specimen collected in Sri Lanka. The brown-headed barbet is now one of 32 barbets placed in the genus Psilopogon that was introduced in 1836 by Salomon Müller.<p>Three subspecies are recognised:
- Scientific name
- Psilopogon zeylanicus
- Authority
- (Gmelin, JF, 1788)
- Order
- Piciformes
- Family
- Megalaimidae
- Genus
- Psilopogon
Range and habitat
It is widespread, with its range stretching from the Terai in southern Nepal in the north to Sri Lanka in the south, encompassing most of peninsular India, and listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List.
- Migration
- Resident species
Behavior
It is an arboreal species of gardens and wooded country which eats fruit and insects. It is fairly tolerant of humans and often seen in city parks. It nests in a tree hole, laying 2-4 eggs. It forages on mangoes, ripe jackfruit, papaya, banana, figs and similar cultivated fruit trees. Its habitat includes urban and country gardens; it tends to eschew heavy forest. It nests in a suitable hole in a tree that it will often excavate. Both sexes incubate the eggs and often communicate with each other using their Kura, kura calls.
Conservation
- Population trend
- stable
Photos
Distribution
Bird Calls
Other Birds
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Black-headed Lapwing
Vanellus tectus
An attractive lapwing with a black-and-white head, a brown back, and pale underparts. There is a thin black crest and a black line down the center of the breast. In flight, reveals broad white bands across the wings. Found in dry savanna habitats. Mostly active at night, early in the morning, and late in the day. Often in pairs or small groups. Not easily confused with other lapwings. The call is a strident, wooden, repeated “krep.”
Whistling Kite
Haliastur sphenurus
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