Malaysian Birds
Black-browed Barbet
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Size & diagnostic markings:- 22 cm The Black-browed measuring 22 cm is a medium size Barbet. The most striking feature would be the blue sides on the head, yellow throat bordered by a broad light blue border punctuated with a red dot on the side. Lastly the thick black eye brow. Distribution :- This is a bird of southern China, Taiwan and Sumatra Habitats & preferences:- For us in Malaysia, this is a bird of the dense forest and the most obvious bird in forest with sub-montane climate This Barbet of average size is 21-23 cm big. For me, when it comes to making an ID, first go for the brow and then reconfirm with the blue faces and yellow throat. This is a sub-montane bird and this point itself, is a big clue. Normally found in middle attitude of 600m to 1,250 m. Often heard but never seen. Pay particular care to bare branches and the canopy edge, led by its call. During fruiting season, the bird would descend on low and medium height scrubs. That would be the time to get the bird real close and not disturbed by human presence. Also note that bird is a solitary feeder though many a times in fruiting season, I have seen a group of them 3-4 birds in the same small scrubs but feeding individually. In normal times, they prefer the upper storey which makes them frequently heard but hardly seen. In another extreme, they do visit domesticated garden of private homes, those in the hill resort area. It is during these times when they descend onto low level branches that we bumped into them, hence allowing me a good ID. So very often their presence in the area of birding was denoted by the unmistakable repetitive calls. This is a very common bird in the hill stations, Genting, Awana, Cameron and Maxwell. I cannot stress more about this welcoming fact about hearing their calls - their calls are so assuring to birders that the place has active bird life.
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