The White-Cheeked Barbet (Megalaima viridis) appears grass green and distinguishes itself from the other barbets in it's family by it's distinctive white cheek stripe. Both sexes alike, it's common in evergreen and moist deciduous forests while also popularly known to frequent gardens and groves near human inhabitations. They are usually found in pairs. Their diet includes fruits, berries and flying termites. But the one thing that immediately comes to mind when you are reminded of this beauty, is it's loud, high pitched, guttural call. A sort of song like tune that starts with a lower pitched Kuttr-kuttr and the crescendo slowly rises in a steady rhapsody. It continues calling tirelessly, occassionally complimented by another barbet calling in a distance or closeby. It stops in intervals and before you know it starts off again with a continuous Kuuuuuutttrrrrr-kuttr-kuttr-kuutrr-kuuutttrr! Sometimes just listening to its incessant need to call every morning and evening might give you a feeling of having a sore throat. Yet, again you do feel thankful for that call, without which your chance of spotting it in a tree amidst heavy green foliage with its pefect grass green camouflage, is next to impossible! Mostly towards the afternoon or late evening, just after sunset, you may hear its occasional Tok-tok-tok if you strain your ears for a bit. Barbet nests find their way into perfectly carved round holes in tree barks that the pair keep busy flying in and out of during the breeding season, which falls between December to June and usually lay 2-4 eggs.
Its a marvellous bird to sit and observe from your very own terrace as I have been doing for the past 1 year. They jump from one branch to another of a couple of African Tulip Trees (Spathodea Campanulata) that stand tall at a stone's throw from my terrace, sometimes flying to nearby trees but you can be sure they'll be back in a few minutes. At least one of them always remains close to the nest hole keeping a sharp lookout for intruders. In this case, a pair Jungle Mynas did put up a good fight trying to get very close to the hole, being continuously chased away by the Barbet, after which they decided to give up.
So here are a few cropped captures that I could afford owing to the excellent zoom on my trusty good ol' Sony DSC H5...! More captures to hopefully follow into my Barbet Diaries as they are sure to hang around for some more months..:)
Its a marvellous bird to sit and observe from your very own terrace as I have been doing for the past 1 year. They jump from one branch to another of a couple of African Tulip Trees (Spathodea Campanulata) that stand tall at a stone's throw from my terrace, sometimes flying to nearby trees but you can be sure they'll be back in a few minutes. At least one of them always remains close to the nest hole keeping a sharp lookout for intruders. In this case, a pair Jungle Mynas did put up a good fight trying to get very close to the hole, being continuously chased away by the Barbet, after which they decided to give up.
So here are a few cropped captures that I could afford owing to the excellent zoom on my trusty good ol' Sony DSC H5...! More captures to hopefully follow into my Barbet Diaries as they are sure to hang around for some more months..:)
