- Psilopogon duvaucelii
Identification
26.3-37 g, 0.93-1.3 oz.
- forehead black
- crown with blue which extends beyond mid-crown; nape green
- throat light or pale blue
- band between the throat and breast black; thickness varies with subspecies, and red might be present behind the black
- ear-coverts black
- spot below eye large, red
- stripe behind and above eye red
- stripe from near base of bill back extending rearwards red (separated from bill base by black) (with above, forms a red cheek patch)
- body green
- beak dark, stout
See also Subspecies.
Similar Species
Bornean Barbet has red on the crown and yellow on side of face.
Distribution
South-east Asia: Malay Peninsula, Borneo, and Sumatra
Taxonomy
Black-eared Barbet, Blue-eared Barbet and Yellow-eared Barbet were treated as a single species, Blue-eared Barbet, in the past. Whether the split is warranted depends among other things on whether one finds the hybrid zone between the black-eared and blue-eared forms is wide or narrow -- different sources differ on this. The main, world-wide authorities at the moment split all three, and Opus follows.
Subspecies
Clements recognizes these subspecies[1]:
- P. d. duvaucelii: Malay Peninsula, Sumatra, Bangka Island and Borneo. [Black ear-coverts; thick black band between throat and breast, some have red below; pale loral spot]
- P. d. gigantorhinus: Nias Island (off north-western Sumatra). [Black ear-coverts; slightly longer bill than P. d. duvaucelii; often has blue spotted crown]
- P. d. tanamassae: Batu Islands (off western Sumatra) [Black ear-coverts; brighter blue hind crown and throat; red wash behind black breast line; more blue in tail]
Habitat
Mainly primary coniferous forest, forest edge in lowlands and foothills. May frequent new growth and patchy forest. Also visits rubber and silk tree plantations, gardens, mangroves, bamboo, peatswamp and deciduous forest. Mainly below 1000 m asl, but only to 975 m in peninsular Malaysia, 1065 m on Borneo and up to about 1500 m on Sumatra
Behaviour
Diet
Fruit of figs and other trees. Also some insects. Takes fruit averaging 11.6 mm.
Breeding
Breeding season:
- January to July in Peninsular Malaysia
- February to October on Sumatra and it's islands
- December to January and May to June on Borneo
Vocalisation
Male inflates black skinned gular sacs when singing. Each component of the song consists of two notes, and these are bound together into a very fast, high pitch song which has both soft and more creaky tones. Other calls are also known, such as a high-pitch strident whistle "pleow" which is repeated about once per second.
References
- Clements, J. F., P. C. Rasmussen, T. S. Schulenberg, M. J. Iliff, T. A. Fredericks, J. A. Gerbracht, D. Lepage, A. Spencer, S. M. Billerman, B. L. Sullivan, and C. L. Wood. 2023. The eBird/Clements checklist of Birds of the World: v2023. Downloaded from https://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist/download/
- Gill, F, D Donsker, and P Rasmussen (Eds). 2023. IOC World Bird List (v 13.2). Doi 10.14344/IOC.ML.13.2. http://www.worldbirdnames.org/
- Eaton, JA, B van Balen, NW Brickle, FE Rheindt 2021. Birds of the Indonesian Archipelago (Greater Sundas and Wallacea), Second Edition. Lynx Editions. ISBN978-84-16728-44-2
- Krishnan, A. (2023). Black-eared Barbet (Psilopogon duvaucelii), version 1.0. In Birds of the World (N. D. Sly and S. M. Billerman, Editors). Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, NY, USA. https://doi.org/10.2173/bow.buebar2.01
Recommended Citation
- BirdForum Opus contributors. (2025) Black-eared Barbet. In: BirdForum, the forum for wild birds and birding. Retrieved 4 May 2025 from https://www.birdforum.net/opus/Black-eared_Barbet
External Links
GSearch checked for 2020 platform.1
