Lemon-throated barbet

Content sourced from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.

The lemon-throated barbet (Eubucco richardsoni) is a small bird in the New World barbet family. It lives in the western Amazon Basin, in Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru.

Subspecies include four forms: Eubucco richardsoni richardsoni (the nominate), E. r. nigriceps, E. r. aurantiicollis, and E. r. purusianus. Some classifications group the lemon-throated and flame-throated birds together, while others treat aurantiicollis as a separate flame-throated barbet. The groups differ in color and size, but they share similar habits.

Size and appearance: The lemon-throated barbet is about 15.5 cm long and weighs roughly 24 to 34 g. Males of the nominate subspecies have a red crown, gray-blue nape, green upperparts, a yellow throat, an orange-red breast, and greenish belly and flanks with dark streaks. Females are duller, with a gray-green crown and upperparts, a bluish throat, orange-gold breast, and bluish-yellow underparts with streaks. The nigriceps form has a black crown in both sexes. Aurantiicollis shows a yellow nape and more orange-toned throat and breast. Purusianus males are paler with a pinkish breast, and females have a narrower orange-gold breast band.

Habitat: They live in lowland rainforest forests, including terra firme and dense secondary forests, as well as forest edges and clearings near rivers. They are more common in maturing forest than in very old, undisturbed forest, and can be found up to about 1,375 m in Colombia, 1,200 m in Ecuador, 1,100 m in Bolivia, and 1,000 m in Peru.

Diet and foraging: They eat fruits and arthropods in roughly equal measure. They forage alone or in pairs from the forest canopy down to about 5 meters above the floor, but more often between 12 and 24 meters high. They frequently join mixed-species foraging flocks and spend a significant portion of time feeding on insects in dead leaf clusters. The diet and foraging behavior of the lemon-throated group are believed to be very similar.

Breeding: The lemon-throated barbet’s breeding season appears to run from April to November, possibly starting in February. Nesting behavior and eggs are not well described. Breeding timing for the flame-throated group is not fully studied but is thought to begin earlier than the nominate form.

Sound: The song is a soft series of double or triple “hoo” notes, delivered in a fast, trill-like pattern. Calls include various grunts and snarls.

Conservation: The IUCN lists Eubucco richardsoni and the flame-throated group as Least Concern. Populations are not well known and are believed to be decreasing, but not enough to warrant a higher threat category. The birds occur in several protected areas.