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Bearded bird
The crimson breasted Barbet, belongs
to the family of barbets who get their name from the French
word 'barbu' or bearded because of the distinctive tufts
of feathers around the nostrils and the bristles around
the base of the beak. It is also called Coppersmith- a
name that it gets from the ringing metallic call, which
sounds like the tap of a small hammer on metal. The coppersmith
is plump and sturdy with a short neck, a big head, and
a large, heavy and sharp-tipped black beak.
It is gorgeously coloured in grass-green and crimson.
It is 15 to 17 cm long, with rounded wings and a short
tail. Both sexes look alike. |
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Noise-makers
A noisy and aggressive bird, the coppersmith is more often heard than
seen. It likes to sit for hours at one spot, calling monotonously
in a loud strident voice, jerking its head or flicking its tail each
time it calls. The coppersmith is commonly found around fruiting trees
in a forest, or even in a noisy city. It feeds exclusively on soft
fruits and berries and is partial to wild figs. It feeds gluttonously,
picking at the fruit on the trees. Occasionally, the coppersmith may
feed on moths and flying termites. |
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Drilling a Nest
Barbets are related to woodpeckers. Their
original home is thought to have been Asia but barbets are
now more abundant in Africa. The coppersmith is at home in
the lush tropical forests of India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Burma
and Bangladesh. Like the woodpecker, the coppersmith also
makes a hole in a tree branch for its nest. The male often
selects the best-site. But both sexes drill at the soft or
dead wood, biting at it rather than chiseling like woodpeckers.
Nests are made at a moderate height on trees with the round
entrance on the underside of a branch.
The pair begins to roost in the nest-hole as soon as it
has been made, using it throughout the breeding season. The
male is pugnacious in his nesting territory and fights to
chase away the rivals.
Both parents share domestic duties and take care of the young.
Like all other birds, they feed the growing chicks on a diet
of insects to supply the protein that is lacking in fruits.
The young start chattering soon and remain close to the entrance
while waiting for food. When they can fly, the chicks go out
to feed themselves but at nightfall the parents bring them
back to the nest-hole. The family does not split until the
babies have been flying for a considerable time.
"Took...took..took" the coppersmith continues to call merrily
in the heat of the summer, begins to lose its vigour as the
weather gets cooler. But how long will we continue to hear
the sometimes irritating and sometimes cheery call? Not too
long--if old trees and decaying branches continue to be cut,
the coppersmith's habitat is also destroyed.
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