Coppersmith Barbet (Magalaima haemacephala)
Order: PICIFORMES
Family: MEGALAIMIDAE Barbets
Scientific name: Magalaima haemacephala
English name: Coppersmith Barbet
Characteristic: Size 16 cm. Our smallest barbet with a dark green upperpart and yellowish green underpart; the latter is lightly streaked with green. Its most conspicuous coloration include bright crimson patches on its forehead and upper throat, a black frontal spot, and a black-bordered yellow eyebrow and a lower eye spot, and a yellow lower breast.
Distribution: Pakistan, Southwestern China, SE Asia, Sumatra, Java and the Philippines.
Habitat: Dry evergreen forest, dipterocarp forest and secondary growth.
Habit: Found mainly as a single bird or in pairs sitting for a long time in tall trees. Diet comprises fruits, insects and their larvae. After being satiated, they will select suitable perches and utter their characteristic tonk, tonk, tonk call for quite a time, or until the hunger will drive them to forage again. Its breeding season falls between February-May; during this time a pair will excavate a hole in rotting branch for egg-laying. Normal clutch is 2-4 eggs, which requiring the incubation period of 13-14 days.
Status: A comparatively scarce resident.
