Malaysian Birds - Gold-throated Barbet

Size & diagnostic markings:- 22 Cm. The Golden-throated Barbet is a medium size Barbet. The most striking feature would be the bright red crown, in the front and rear separated by a yellow patch. The upper throat is also yellow followed with a pale grey lower down. A faint black band across the eye dispersing into streaks.

Distribution :-  The bird is resident to Nepal, North-eastern Indian Sub-continent and south-western China. The bird is commonly spotted in the montane region in Malaysia. Here mainly Gunong Ulu Kali and Gunong Brinchang.

Habitats & preferences:- For us in Malaysia, this is the most obvious bird in a montane climate

I would say that this is not a common bird to spot, each trip to Gunong Brinchang I never fail to hear their calls and were coming from spots closely nearby. So this is another bird that is easy to ID. Reason - the one and only montane Barbet.

At times, I did get to see this bird, on most when I was there but only momentarily when it left its hiding perch and landing some where I cannot see. There were also during those brief exchanges in glances, the bird would be hoping from branches to branches. Other Barbets would stay in one position for a while, if there was a need to assess it's safety. In total, I had much less chances of a good look at the Golden-throated when compared with other Barbets, hence information about the bird is sketchy. A large bird, after the Javan Cuckooshrike,  in comparison with other birds in the area, but it is in fact a medium size Barbet at 25 cm.

Gold-throated Barbet's picture No. 1

Gold-throated Barbet's picture No. 2

Gold-throated Barbet's picture No. 3

Gold-throated Barbet's picture No. 4

Gold-throated Barbet's picture No. 5

Gold-throated Barbet's picture No. 6

Gold-throated Barbet's picture No. 7

Gold-throated Barbet's picture No. 8

Gold-throated Barbet's picture No. 9

Gold-throated Barbet's picture No. 10

Gold-throated Barbet's picture No. 11

Gold-throated Barbet's picture No. 12

Gold-throated Barbet's picture No. 13

Gold-throated Barbet's picture No. 14

I feel that the bird prefers area of the mountain ridges. Here it chooses low trees or scrubs [most montane trees are not that tall too] staying just below the canopy. Then, at times it exposed itself at the bare branches, also the preferred spot where it does its calling. Does not comes into contact with human that frequent. So far all my encounter with the bird were accidental but the bird showed no fright and were not disturbed by my presence. A few months back, the bird was reported seen in Awana, an elevation just at the 1,200 m elevation. Got my pictures to fill the page, but, the pictures taken came from a pair of birds in very misty conditions. Could see that the bird was only arm length away from me during this brief encounter. For the pictures taken in misty conditions, details were sacrificed.