Fire-tufted Barbet
Psilopogon pyrolophus
Beautiful emerald-green barbet. Note silvery cheeks, white forehead, and black chinstrap; namesake reddish tuft above the base of the bill is small and often difficult to see from a distance. Bulbous horn-colored bill has a large dark smudge down the center. Strange song is a loud accelerating creaking that is reminiscent of rusty machinery revving up.
Identification
The fire-tufted barbet is green with a brownish-maroon nape, grey lores, and a white band on the forehead. Its throat is green, followed by a bright yellow band before a black band, appearing like a necklace. The bill is fawn coloured with a black vertical band. It has tufts of feathers at the base of beak. The upper tufts of males are fiery orange. The adult fire-tufted barbet is 28 cm (11 in) long.
Taxonomy
- Scientific name
- Psilopogon pyrolophus
- Authority
- Müller, S, 1836
- Order
- Piciformes
- Family
- Megalaimidae
- Genus
- Psilopogon
Range and habitat
The fire-tufted barbet inhabits broad-leaved evergreen montane forests between 1,070 and 2,010 m (3,510 and 6,590 ft) on the Malay Peninsula and Sumatra.Three fire-tufted barbets observed on Mount Gede in West Java between 2003 and 2005 are thought to have escaped from aviaries in this area.
- Migration
- Resident species
Behavior
The fire-tufted barbet is a resident bird and feeds on figs, other fruits, arthropods and insects. Its call is very similar to that of cicadas.
Conservation
- Population trend
- declining
Photos
Distribution
Bird Calls
Other Birds
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Very small active bird of the dense understory in humid forests. Short-tailed with a cinnamon head, back, and vent, and a gray face and belly. Males have black throats stippled with white and black wing coverts. Females have larger white spots on the throat and brown wing coverts. Occasionally joins mixed-species flocks. The song is a loud and rather nasal series of 6–7 repetitions of “tzeet-tzeet-tzeet.”
Tachira Antpitta
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Enigmatic large antpitta found only in southern Táchira, Venezuela. A “lost species” for many years until recently rediscovered there. Visually very similar to Scaled Antpitta, which apparently replaces this species at lower elevations, but with less ochraceous underparts that have fine black barring. Voice apparently also differs slightly from Scaled Antpitta, but no published descriptions.
Rufous-tailed Fantail
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A unique Javan endemic, this species’ namesake rufous tail sets it apart from the other two fantails on the island. Also note white throat and “angry” eyebrows. An active inhabitant of foothill and montane forests, often moving with mixed flocks in tangled vegetation in the lower nad middle levels of forest. Song is a comical squeaky series of up-and-down notes. Call is a dry “chrit.”
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