Multicoloured Barbet

Multicoloured Barbet

We are delighted that David and Ketty Amblank have become sponsors of the multi-coloured bearded bird.

Barbets are relatives of woodpeckers. They are compactly built small to medium-sized birds with strong beaks. They are named after the long bristle feathers on their beaks. Many bearded birds have colourful plumage and distinctive voices; in some species, the sexes perform regular duet songs. Bearded birds feed mainly on fruit, but also on insects, especially when their young are feeding.

Bearded birds are cavity-nesting birds that use their powerful beaks to chop cavities in rotten wood; occasionally they also occupy old cavities of other woodpeckers. The cavities are often used as roosts outside the breeding season. Depending on the species, the females lay one to seven white eggs in the nest cavity, which is padded with mulch or wood shavings. The eggs are incubated alternately by both parents. The chicks, which are naked and blind when they hatch, have strong calluses on their heels and leave the brood cavity after four to five weeks.

The multi-coloured barbet(Psilopogon rafflesii) is found in the forests of the lowlands of the Malay Peninsula, Sumatra and Borneo. Very little is known about its way of life, which is also due to the fact that it mainly lives in the forest canopy, where it is difficult to observe.

Like other bearded bird species, it is particularly threatened by the deforestation of the rainforests.