Alternative Name: Little Barbet
- Psilopogon australis
Identification
16-17 cm (6.3-6.7 inches)
Adult
- crown and forehead blue
- Ear-coverts and cheek yellow
- eye stripe and moustachial stripe black framing the yellow
- lores black
- throat blue
- band below throat black
- band at top of breast golden-yellow
- rest of body green
- beak black
Immature
- Generally duller
- Head mostly green without pattern and colouring of adults
- Beak and orbital skin is paler than adult
Distribution
Asia: Found on Java and Bali (Indonesia)
Taxonomy
Sometimes considered conspecific with Blue-eared Barbet and Black-eared Barbet.
May be placed in the genus Megalaima.
Subspecies
This is a monotypic species [1].
Habitat
Primary evergreen forest and forest edge in foothills and lowlands, but may occur in regrowth and patchy forest. Visits plantations, gardens, both bamboo and deciduous forest. Recorded up to 915 m on Bali, increasing to 2000 m on Java
Behaviour
Diet
Nothing noted yet, but likely to be similar to Blue-eared Barbet
Breeding
February to October on Java. No further information at present
Vocalisation
Several variable songs include a double "ta-trrrt" to "tu-tuuk" at a rate of between 96 and 132 per minute for seveal minutes at a time, occasionally ending in a pigeon-like oooooo or with solitary notes interspersed, as full single note at 180 notes a minute, a "police whistle" song, a trilling burred "ttirrr.ttirrr", grating noises, a series of "teeow" notes, chittering/chattering notes similar to begging calls, fast trills and piping notes.
Movement
Resident and sedentary. Generally territorial. Some post breeding movement occurs to find fruiting food sources, including into habitats not used for breeding.
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/
- Handbook of the Birds of the World Alive (retrieved October 2016)
Recommended Citation
- BirdForum Opus contributors. (2025) Yellow-eared Barbet. In: BirdForum, the forum for wild birds and birding. Retrieved 3 May 2025 from https://www.birdforum.net/opus/Yellow-eared_Barbet
