Tuesday, February 11, 2025

Blue-Throated Barbet

The blue-throated barbet has two subspecies: (a) one is red-crowned, the ones we saw, which are from the northeast Pakistan to the west to Northern Myanmar and southwestern Yunnan; and (b) the other is blue-crowned, found from southeastern Myanmar to southeastern Yunnan and northern Indochina. We saw a number of them in and near Kaziranga NP in Assam, (northeastern) India. 
Wikipedia notes that they frequent fruiting trees and the ones I saw were neck deep after berries with berry residue on their faces. "Sexes are similar though the female...is slightly heavier than the male... It is a stocky, green bird with a short tail. The undersides are a lighter yellow-green. The underside of the tail may have a bluish cast. 
Note underside with lighter yellow-green and blue underneath the tail. 
The head and neck are distinctive, with a bright red forehead, black stripe across the crown and red rear crown. 
Red forehead, black strip and red rear crown.
The sides of the face, chin and upper neck are pale blue. Red patches are seen on the sides of the neck at the base of the blue. The iris is reddish-brown and the eye-ring is brown, greenish-brown, orange-brown or yellow. 
Pale blue chin, neck and side of head with red patch on side of neck next to the blue and reddish-brown iris and orange-brown eye-ring. 
The feet are slate-gray to gray-green. The stout, conical bill is pale at the base with a dark upper mandible and tip. 
Gray-green feet and pale bill at base with dark tip and upper mandible. 
Juveniles are similar to the adults, with muted and dull colors. The red may be tinged with orange, the black may be blue-black or dusky."
 

1 comment:

  1. Another bird with so many colors that it looks like it came out of a children’s coloring book.

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