The magical blue-throated barbet is
an Asian barbet having bright green, blue & red plumage, seen across the
India, Northeast Pakistan, Bhutan, Nepal, Bangladesh, Southwest China,
Thailand, central Laos, north Annam and Vietnam. Blue-throated barbet is a small
green bird with a blue head and throat. It has a red crown and lores, bordered
in black, in between the black and red lores, there is a thin tan line. Its
tail is green while its beak his ivory (horn-coloured) and the upper mandible are
tipped in blackish grey. Its under-tail coverts are a bluish-grey. Its eyes are
brown. The blue-throated barbet “Psilopogon asiaticus” and toucans are a group
of near passerine birds with a worldwide tropical distribution.
The species get their name from
the bristles which fringe their heavy bills. The bird size is 22–23 cm; 61–103
g like to eats figs, flowers, berries and insects such as grubs, crickets,
mantises, ants, cicadas, dragonflies, locusts, beetles and moths.. They are
widespread residents in the hills of Himalayas. These blue-throated barbet
species are non-migratory resident birds. The birds in higher altitudes may
descent to lower levels during winter. They frequent evergreen forests,
deciduous forests, gardens, orchards, teak forests and cities with fruiting
trees. The turquoise-throated barbet was formerly considered a subspecies. Males
and females look alike. Young birds have an overall duller plumage. The species breeding season normally starts
in March and goes on until July.
The bird’s courtship behavior
consists of mutual feeding, and paired birds will ‘duet’ and display. Both
parents habitually excavate a nest hole about 1.5 m to more than 8 m above the
ground, every so often on the underside of a dead branch. They line their nest
with grasses, wool or plant materials. It
is alike to other members of Psilopogon, closely related to Moustached Barbet and
also related to Golden-throated Barbet, P. franklinii and Black-browed Barbet,
P. oorti. The average clutch consists of 2 to 5 white, oval, slightly glossed
and thin-shelled eggs, which are incubated by both parents for about 14 days.
Both parents also share in raising the chicks once they have hatched. The young
are believed to fledge when they are about 30 to 40 days old. The population
size has not been quantified, but it is not believed to approach the thresholds
for Vulnerable under the population size criterion.
