coppersmith barbet

Coppersmith Barbet is a plump bird. It has large head, and short neck and tail. Adult has green upperparts. Underparts are mainly whitish, heavily streaked with green. Tail is short and triangular in flight. Large head is very colourful. Forehead is red. Crown and nape are green. It has yellow patches above and below the eye. Chin and throat are yellow. We can see a red half-collar between throat and chest, and other yellowish-green below the first. Blend black colour separates the green colour from the others on the head. Heavy bill is black, bordered at base with conspicuous bristles. Eyes are brown, with red eye-ring. Legs and feet are pinkish-red. Both sexes are similar, but female has duller red colours on head and breast. Juvenile has duller plumage and lacks red patches.

Coppersmith Barbet is common in deciduous forests and open woodlands, countries with thickets, urban parks and gardens with fruiting trees. It is also found in mangroves’ edges.

Coppersmith Barbet feeds mainly on wide variety of fruits such as figs, berries and mangoes, but it also consumes insects such as beetles, mantis and crickets.

Call is a loud, metallic, monotonous, repetitive tuk, tuk, tuketc.

The coppersmith barbet crimson-breasted barbet or coppersmith (Psilopogon haemacephalus) is a bird with crimson forehead and throat known for its metronomic call that sounds similar to a coppersmith striking metal with a hammer. It is a resident found in the Indian subcontinent and parts of Southeast Asia. Similar to other barbets they carve out a hole inside a tree to build their nest. They are predominantly frugivorous but they have been observed to eat insects specially winged termites. This species of barbet is found to overlap in range with several larger barbets in most of South Asia. In the Western Ghats it partly overlaps with the Malabar barbet which is of a very similar size but having a more rapid call. It is 15-17 cm (5.9-6.7 inches) long making it a smallish barbet. The red forehead yellow eye-ring and throat patch with streaked underside and green upperparts it is fairly distinctive. Juveniles are duller and lack the red patches. The sexes are alike. The Sri Lankan form has more black on the face more red on the breast and darker streaks on the underside. During the nesting season the wear and tear on the feathers can cause the plumage of the upper back to appear bluish. Within the Old World barbets in their genus they are found to be basal in phylogenetic analyses. Most of the remaining Asian species are more recent in their divergence and speciation. BEHAVIOUR Coppersmith Barbet forages alone or in pair in tree canopy and on fruiting trees. It also taps and removes bark chips to reach invertebrates concealed between trunk and bark. It also forages on the underpart of leaves at tip of small branches. It can catch insects on the wing snatching them during heavy flight. Coppersmith Barbet is seen singly or in small groups in trees. It is an arboreal species. It doesn’t migrate but it can perform some dispersion within its range. During courtship displays pair may utter duets and perform courtship feeding. We can hear more songs. The bird puffs the throat feathers moves the head by turning and bobbing and flicks the tail.