Scarlet-banded Barbet
Capito wallacei
Spectacular cloud forest bird found only in remote mountains east of the main cordillera of the Andes in northern Peru. Distinctive in its small range with red crown and breast band, white throat, and yellow flanks. Usually encountered in pairs or small groups that feed on fruit in the forest canopy. Song is a soft, low-pitched gurgle; it also gives weird rattling calls.
Identification
The scarlet-banded barbet is 19.5 cm (7.7 in) long and weighs 65 to 78 g (2.3 to 2.8 oz). A strikingly colored species, its cap and nape are scarlet, while a broad white supercilium separates the crown from the black ear coverts. Most of the upperparts are black except for a yellow mid-back and large white rump patch. Below, the throat and upper breast are white, bordered below by a broad scarlet band, while the rest of the underparts are shades of yellow.
Taxonomy
The scarlet-belted barbet was discovered in 1996 and formally described in 2000. According to the International Ornithological Committee (IOC), the species is monotypic. However, the South American Classification Committee of the American Ornithological Society (AOS) and the Clements taxonomy include the "Sira barbet" (Capito fitzpatricki) as a subspecies of it. The Cornell Lab of Ornithology's Birds of the World acknowledges that the "Sira" form is significantly different from the nominate and suggests that it be accorded species rank.
- Scientific name
- Capito wallacei
- Authority
- O'Neill, Lane, Kratter, Capparella & Fox Joo, 2000
- Order
- Piciformes
- Family
- Capitonidae
- Genus
- Capito
Range and habitat
The scarlet-banded barbet has been found only on a ridgetop known as Peak 1538 in the remote Cordillera Azul National Park in south-western Loreto, Peru. (It was mistakenly listed as being in Ucayali, Peru, in its formal description.) There it inhabits humid, mossy, sub-montane and montane forest at elevations between 1,350 and 1,500 m (4,430 and 4,920 ft).
- Migration
- Resident species
Behavior
The scarlet-banded barbet forages in the forest canopy. It was observed in small groups of the same species and in mixed-species foraging flocks. It feeds on fruits and seeds and probably takes insects as well.<p>The scarlet-banded barbet specimens collected during the 1996 expedition indicate that the nesting season is probably March through May. No other information about its breeding habits has been published.<p>The scarlet-banded barbet's song is " a fast, low-pitched trill...'tdddddd-'" [1] that sounds like a woodpecker's drumming. Its call is a "guttural 'ggrrrakk'" [2].
Conservation
- Population trend
- declining
Photos
Distribution
Bird Calls
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