Howdy, friends.  As promised, I come to you with a bird.  Our subject this week is the golden-whiskered barbet, a medium-sized member of the Asian barbet family, at 30 cm (12 in) long and 110–215 g (3.9–7.6 oz) in weight.  It lives on the Malay peninsula, which is the southern-most point in mainland Asia and includes parts of Myanmar, Thailand and Peninsular Malaysia.  I didn’t know Malaysia extended onto the Asian mainland, but learning new things is what these headers are all about.  Our new barbet friend is also found on Sumatra and Borneo.  It may be found on some of the many, many smaller islands in the area, but I wasn’t able to find any info about that.  They live in so-called “tropical and sub-tropical moist broadleaf forests,” or TSMF, a category used by the World Wide Fund for Nature which as best as I can tell is an umbrella term for all tropical rainforests.  It is divided into several subcategories, some of which we have discussed.  In this case, the bird can be found in montane rainforests as well as those at lower elevation.  It is found in old growth and secondary forests as well as cacao plantations.  

Males and females look more or less the same, although the species displays some dichromatism.  The females have a dusky, blue-ish beak.  The plumage on immature birds is the same as that of adults, just more muted.  

The golden-whiskered barbet spends its day in the forest canopy, where it eats berries and figs.  As it has been observed digging at dead wood, it is assumed to eat insects as well.  That would certainly track with the other members of the family we have covered.  Like those other barbets, it is well suited to hiding in trees, and is more easily located by its call. 

This barbet is rated as “of least concern” by the IUCN on account of its fairly large and diffuse range, as it covers several islands.  The population appears to be decreasing, but not enough for its status to be reassessed just yet.  The fact that it is found in cacao plantations hopefully points to adaptability which will allow it to continue to thrive as humans increasingly encroach.  

Have a good weekend, everyone.  Be good to yourselves and each other.

Links: Wiki: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golden-whiskered_barbet, https://tinyurl.com/yckye79m, https://tinyurl.com/2abbm4bm, https://tinyurl.com/4eterfdy