Golden-whiskered barbet

Golden-whiskered barbet
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Piciformes
Family: Megalaimidae
Genus: Psilopogon
Species: P. chrysopogon
Binomial name
Psilopogon chrysopogon
(Temminck, 1824)
Synonyms

Megalaima chrysopogon

The golden-whiskered barbet (Psilopogon chrysopogon), a near passerine bird from Southeast Asia, is a species of Asian barbet.[2][3][4]

Description

At 24 to 30 centimeters in length and weighing from 110 to 181 grams, the golden-whiskered barbet is one of the largest of the sixteen species of barbets in Southeast Asia.[3][4] Their green overall plumage and yellow "whiskered" cheeks camouflages them amid the foliage they favor.[4] Genders are similar in appearance but do display a small degree of sexual dichromatism in that the beaks of female specimens appear paler and have a dusky bluish color. Before reaching maturity birds of both sexes have duller overall plumage.[3]

Habit and diet

This bird spends most of the day singing and foraging for food in the forest canopy.[3] Otherwise well camouflaged, their rapid and extraordinary loud "tehoop-tehoop-tehoop-tehoop" call often betrays their presence.[4]

Golden-whiskered barbets are frugivores that gorge themselves on berries, figs, and any edible fruits they can find.[3][4]

Reproduction

Breeding season for the golden-whiskered barbet is from February to August. Their rounded, white eggs are laid two per clutch.[3]

Range

The golden-whiskered barbet is found in Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Borneo and Sumatra.[2][3]

Habitat

Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests and subtropical or tropical moist montane forests.[2] They are found in lowland foothills and tall second growth forests but are rare in evergreen forests and swamp forests. The golden-whiskered barbet can also found be found on cocoa plantations.[3]

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Golden-whiskered barbet / Megalaima chrysopogon in Malaysia.

Subspecies

The following three subspecies of golden-whiskered barbet have been identified:[5]

Other names

In Mandarin Chinese it is known as 金须拟䴕 (jīnxū nǐliè) "golden-whiskered false woodpecker" or 金颊拟啄木鸟 (jīn jiá nǐ-zhuómù-niǎo) or as "gold-cheeked false woodpecker". Its Japanese name is キホオゴシキドリ or 黄頬五色鳥 (kihō goshikidori), "yellow-cheeked five-coloured bird."[6] Bucco chrysopogon is a pseudonym.[5]

References

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Friday, April 08, 2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.