Bird log one-Barbets
Coppersmith Barbet, Jahapana Forest, New Delhi. October 2014
Birds go about their business all around us, as we continue to live our lives. Some are right there, like the pigeons and crows, so much so, that I might find myself going out of my way to steer clear of them. While some birds made their presence known to me, through their sounds and subtle movements, often concealed among the foliage. It's these birds that truly captured my fascination. One such bird family present throughout our surroundings is the Barbet, yet we seldom notice them. Their presence has consistently captivated my attention. I consider myself fortunate because many a times they have graced me with their presence without me going looking for them—especially the common ones that I began to appreciate when I first got into birdwatching. In contrast to some other birds, where I had to invest countless hours just to catch a fleeting glimpse, spotting barbets has been relatively easier. Barbets are ubiquitous throughout India, yet they often remain overshadowed by the some more obvious ones. I kind of feel for them. That's why I felt compelled to jot down a few words about these wonderful creatures.
Barbets are multicoloured, fascinating birds that are intriguing to observe. Their closest relatives are the woodpeckers. They get the name because of the bristles at the base of their bold, broad bills. Because of their unique monotonous auditory presence, they are often heard before they are seen. Barbets are mostly known for their closed mouth vocalisation, hence low-frequency sounds. I was always conscious of these sounds, often recalling them from my visits to parks and gardens, but I could never quite connect the dots. Their auditory expressions manifest in recurring patterns such as the rhythmic 'karrrr, karrr,' the resonant 'kut-roo kut-roo’, and the brisk 'tuk tuk tuk'.
They have large heads and short tails. The bill are stout and robust, appearing quite stubby yet remarkably sturdy in the smaller species, while in the larger counterparts, it takes on a more elongated and pointed form. For me often an introduction to a new larger Barbet has been in the form of a colourful blurry patch making a sudden entrance and then swooping into a tree. Finding the smaller ones requires patience as one needs to follow the traces of their distinct calls.
Barbets being non-migratory are not know for their travelling escapades. Initially the 83 species of barbets in the world were considered as one big family. However, a re-evaluation has led to their categorisation into distinct groups, with Asian Barbets (34 species) and African barbets (43 species) forming the larger two groups. India has 9 of Asian Barbets species.
Before I delve further into a few barbet encounter stories, just a little about birding and I.
Birding & I: I got into birding later in life, and once I did, there was no looking back. People around me found it difficult to comprehend my newfound passion. They couldn’t understand why someone would just take off from the middle of a conversation and start staring at the nearby tree branches. Even now, a few friends and family members continue to grapple with this transformed version of myself. Admittedly, there are moments when my enthusiasm might come across as discourteous, even though I recognise my own occasional lapses in social norms. Fellow humans, I apologise.
My partner has always been a great support on many of my birding experiences. With birding I have found patience. When I get off a car, because of something I think I have spotted, often what I assumed to be a mere 10 minute halt somehow becomes an hour. And if my partner sitting in the car, waiting all this while is still in my life after 11 years, I guess the new found patience there, is off a much greater level. While we've had our fair share of spirited disagreements during our trips, she has always been very encouraging. Although I haven't quite managed to fully convert her into a fellow birder, I'm slowly getting there, I think. She has a funny take on everything, so she bought this artwork.
Illustration by Bablu Jogi
The first encounter - Coppersmith Barbet: I was teaching at a film school in 2005 when for the first time I got my hands on a digital SLR. Shifting to digital from film for some of us was really a difficult transition. It took us years. But I had to give it a shot. As I walked around in the front lawn with the first digital SLR in my hand, I saw a small colourful bird on a tree bark. That was my first happy happenstance with a barbet. I found myself suddenly attuned to details that had eluded me previously. The vibrant colours, intricate beak and the nuances of its behaviour all came into sharp focus. Coppersmith barbet, despite its diminutive size (16-17 cm), facilitated this transition with its accessible charm. But I still wasn’t there yet.
Coppersmith Barbet, Badarpur Border, 2005
This barbet’s call sounds similar to a coppersmith striking metal with a hammer, hence the name. Crimson forehead, a distinct yellow eye-ring, and a vibrant throat patch, the coppersmith barbet is quite a looker. Its underside is characterised by elegant streaks, while its upper parts showcase a lush green hue. Both the male and female look alike. Not many birds climb up the trunk, but this one does, just like a woodpecker. And just like woodpeckers, barbets in India make their nest in a hole in the tree trunk. They are quite common in wooded urban spaces. It’s a resident bird in India and is wide spread.
Coppersmith distribution in India
Coppersmith, while primarily favouring a frugivorous (fruits eating) diet, display an openness to consuming insects. This dietary flexibility becomes particularly pronounced during the rearing of their young, with the chicks being nurtured predominantly through an intake of high-protein insects. It exhibits a fondness for perching atop the unadorned upper branches of tall trees, sometimes seen soaking in the warming rays of the early morning sun.
Coppersmith Barbet, Pench National Park, November, 2013
I have had many more encounters with this wonderful creature since then and hopefully will continue to do so.
My actual immersion into the world of birding truly took flight in 2012, marking the time when I wholeheartedly embraced birdwatching as a passion and started dedicated birding trips. Significant facilitators of this journey were the filmmakers Doel Trivedi and Gautam Pandey of the Riverbank Studio, as I joined their team in search of the elusive Western Tragopan. A 10 days trip including a challenging ascent to an altitude of 4000 meters, setting up hides (concealed observation points), daily hours-long watch with the camera and guess what, I did not even see the bird. Gautam managed to capture the Western Tragopan on video, a pioneering documentation achieved through a strategically positioned camera setup by him. But for me nothing! I would try and compose different frames and would be like, ‘please just once, come and sit there’, but that didn’t happen. Although, the experience was something else. Being in the forest seeing all these other birds, waiting patiently, hearing all the sounds- the chirp, the screech, the croak and the twitter, I came back a different person. That trip changed me. After coming back, I started noticing and observing our little feathered friends anywhere and everywhere. I started cataloguing each bird I encountered, along with details such as breeding status, seasonal variations, and the specific time and place of the sighting. But I still deem myself a novice. I have a long way to go!
Clean freak - Brown-headed Barbet : Like many others, I once held the notion that Delhi's avian inhabitants were limited to crows, pigeons, and what I mistakenly perceived as eagles – the black kites found in great numbers flying over the landfills. And then I spotted 29 birds just standing on our house balcony between the years 2013-2014. One such bird that made a nest on a tree right in front of balcony was the brown headed Barbet. These Barbets have adapted to urban environments. If you look carefully, you might find a nest in a hole of a tree right in front of your house.
Even with colours and designs on them they tend to camouflage well in the natural habitats. You can hear the sound of the monotonous kutru kutru kutru around parks, wooded areas, trees near habitations.
Brown-headed Barbet, Nagrota Surian, May 2015
The couple in the photograph above is from a tree close to the guest house where we were staying, in Nagrota Surian, Himachal Pradesh. The one inside (you can see a bit of the tail coming out) cleans up the nest, while the other is on a lookout. It went on for quite some time. Going in and then throwing stuff out.
Brown-Headed Barbet, Morni Hills, March 2015
The Pretender - White-cheeked Barbet : In the world of birding, there are those common moments we all experience. You spot something rustling in the foliage, you adjust your position for a better view, and then it dawns on you that it's a bird you've encountered before. Total disappointment!. But then there are those extraordinary moments when you're taken by surprise – it appears familiar, but is it really? One such barbet, the White-cheeked Barbet, during my initial encounter, nearly fooled me into thinking it was the Brown-headed Barbet. I am so glad that it wasn’t.
White-cheeked resembles both in appearance and its calls to the Brown-headed Barbet. White-cheeked gets its name from the distinctive broad whitish cheek strip situated just beneath the eye. In contrast to the Brown-headed Barbet, the White-cheeked Barbet lacks the vivid orange eye ring. However, the combination of a brown head and a green body remains the same.
White-cheeked is endemic to the western ghats and the surrounding hills, in southern India. Interestingly, there exists a narrow region on the map where both the Brown-headed and White-cheeked species coexist, creating a captivating intersection of their habitats. Incidentally, like the first photograph of the brown-headed, the photograph of the white-cheeked too is of a tree in close proximity to where I was residing in Nilambur, Kerala.
I will revisit some other Indian barbet species later on; however, I would like to talk about some intriguing ones that I was quite fascinated by, in east Africa. Perhaps it's a personal interpretation or a result of encountering them amidst arid, thorny vegetation that I found these barbets from Kenya to have a bit of a ‘cactusie’ feel to them. The first one I saw was at Lake Baringo, the Red-and-yellow Barbet (20-23cm). As it was pretty early in the morning, the sun hadn’t come out yet, it had a funny hair-do. Like it had just woken up, grumpy. I could see it for just under a minute as it flew away. But I saw another one later on the trail.
Red-and-Yellow Barbet, Lake Baringo, Kenya, July 2015
Mr Grumpy - Red-and-yellow Barbet : This natural beauty has some really vibrant colours. Besides the conspicuous reds and yellows, it has white spots on its black wings. One can notice these white half-moons on both sides, adjacent to the ear openings. These creatures are known to construct their nests within the shelter of termite mounds, a process that involves the deliberate drilling of a hole through the mound's side. This remodelling of their condo is accomplished by the couple along with around 8 assisting barbets. Apparently doing things in groups is quite big with the Red-and-Yellow. Even singing is in a chorus. The entire group greets each individual with a song on its arrival. They have a healthy number in the region and I was told that they are not globally threatened.
Red-and-Yellow Barbet, Lake Baringo, Kenya, July 2015
The Dancer - D'Arnaud's Barbet : Another captivating barbet I had the privilege of encountering in Kenya was at the Masai Mara, the D'Arnaud's Barbet. Measuring around 20 centimeters in length, it surpasses the Coppersmith Barbet (17 centimeters) in size while still remaining smaller than the Brown-headed Barbet (27 centimeters). A distinctive trait of the D'Arnaud's Barbet is its presence both in trees and on the ground, a behaviour that was new to me, as I hadn't witnessed any other barbet species on the ground before encountering this one.
Intriguingly, all barbet pairs are renowned for their harmonious call duets, but the D'Arnaud's Barbet adds an extra layer of fascination with a sort of mating dance. The male and female face each other on opposite twigs, engaging in rapid movements and twitches that create an alluring display. Of course we can’t compare it to the mating dance of the Peacock, that we are so used to seeing in India, but none the less, it’s something.
Unlike their Indian counterparts, the D'Arnaud's Barbet builds its nest on the ground. This nesting chamber, accessed through a tunnel that extends 2 to 3 feet, adds an element of wonder to their reproductive strategy. This distinctive behaviour further exemplifies the remarkable diversity and adaptability of the barbet family across different regions and environments.
D’Arnaud’s Barbet, Masai Mara, Kenya, July, 2015
The Composer - Red-fronted Tinkerbird : The tinkerbirds are the smallest Barbets in the world. Near lake Baringo I encountered a red-fronted tinkerbird (9-11cm). It was probably one of the last birds that I saw during our trail and what an icing on the cake! With its red forehead, yellowish underside, and intricate pattern, it surely was a treat to watch. Despite their small size, Red-fronted Tinkerbirds are known for their disproportionately loud calls. They don’t need no microphones, if you ask me. The most frequently heard call is a monotonously repeated 'tuk' sound, often uttered 100 times in succession!
This Beethoven of the forest, often engages in trills emitted in series, a pattern that frequently initiates with a single note before progressing to double notes, eventually escalating to a sequence of more notes within each set.
The Introvert- Great Barbet : From the smallest to the largest, the Great Barbet (32-35cm) stands as the grandest of the barbet species. Despite its size, it possesses a shy demeanour, often preferring the seclusion of dense forest canopies that make spotting it a challenging endeavour. Its resonant hooting song, which echoes through the surroundings, serves as the primary clue to its presence.
When trekking through the Himalayas, the haunting wails and piercing screams of "karrrrr" frequently punctuate the air, offering an auditory encounter with this elusive species. My initial sighting of the Great Barbet was actually a disappointment as I only saw it as a black blotch from a distance. However, it was only upon closer inspection and in better light that all the different colours were revealed: a dark olive back, a prominent and yellowish bill, a belly adorned with streaks of green, and a vivid red vent.
The Stunner- Blue-throated Barbet : I would like to end with one of my favourites, the Blue-throated Barbet. The memory is still quite fresh from a sighting last month in Kumaon. Even though it made an appearance after a hard game of hide and seek. These stunning creatures inhabit a range extending from lush forests to both rural and urban settings in lowlands and foothills.
Adorned in brilliant hues, the Blue-throated Barbet boasts of an attractive green plumage complemented by a striking blue throat. Their regal appearance is further accentuated by red and yellow colours crowning their head. Their sturdy bill has two shades.
These barbets engage in a monogamous relationship and are quite territorial. During courtship, a mated couple might engage in a harmonious duet of song. The jugalbandi of alternating calls between the male and the female might go on for a while.
Amidst the vast diversity of avian life, a shared blueprint of endothermic warmth, two legs, and egg-laying unites all birds. Yet, within this common framework, lies a world of unique attributes that set each species apart in captivating ways.
Barbets, for instance, possess distinct traits that define their identity, yet there are the African Barbets and the Asian barbets that differ from each other. All Indian Barbets have green as the predominant colour, which is not true for the African Barbets. On the other hand, Barbet share certain characteristics with their counterparts, such as woodpeckers, toucans, and honeyguides, collectively belonging to the Paciform order. But then barbets primarily consume fruits with an occasional taste for insects, while woodpeckers are primarily insectivorous but may also indulge in fruits. This delicate balance of dietary inclinations within the same order highlights that how birds adopt to thrive in their environments. This knotty web of shared and distinctive traits exemplify the intricate, yet beautiful realm of the avian life.
As I continue to delve deeper into the world of birding, a sensation akin to swimming in boundless waters takes hold. The exhilaration of exploration and discovery becomes an endless voyage, a sensation known and cherished by fellow birders.
All photographs have been clicked by Harmeet Basur