American Barbets
American barbets, family Capitonidae, are near passerine birds of the order Piciformes which inhabit South America. They are closely related to the toucans.
The American barbets are plump birds, with short necks and large heads. They get their name from the bristles which fringe their heavy bills. Most species are brightly coloured and live in tropical forest.
American barbets are mostly arboreal birds which nest in tree holes dug by breeding pairs, laying 2-4 eggs. They eat fruit and insects. These birds do not migrate.
Ecology
While most South American barbet species inhabit lowland forest, some range into montane and temperate forests as well. Most are restricted to habitats containing trees with dead wood, which are used for nesting.
The diet of barbets is mixed, with fruit being the dominant part of the diet. Small prey items are also taken, especially when nesting. Barbets are capable of shifting their diet quickly in the face of changes in food availability: Numerous species of fruiting tree and bush are visited; an individual barbet may feed on as many as 60 different species in its range. They will also visit plantations and take cultivated fruit and vegetables. Fruit is eaten whole and indigestible material such as seed pits regurgitated later (often before singing). Regurgitation does not usually happen in the nest (as happens with toucans). Like their relatives, American barbets are thought to be important agents in seed dispersal in tropical forests.
As well as taking fruit, they also take arthropod prey, gleaned from the branches and trunks of trees. A wide range on insects are taken, including ants, beetles and moths. Scorpions and centipedes are also taken, and a few species will take small vertebrates such as frogs.
Relationship with humans
American barbets have little impact on humans. The loss of forest can have a deleterious effect on barbet species dependent on old growth, to the benefit of species that favour more disturbed or open habitat.
Two species of American barbet are listed as threatened by the IUCN: The White-mantled Barbet of Colombia is listed as endangered, its limited range is threatened by deforestation for agriculture (including coca nad marijuana), livestock rearing and mining. The quite recently discovered Scarlet-banded Barbet of Peru is considered vulnerable due to its small population size (estimated at under a thousand birds) although its habitat is not immediately threatened.
Systematics, taxonomy and evolution
Fossil American barbets have been found dating from the Miocene in Florida. It is widely agreed that the closest relatives of the barbets are the toucans, and that these two families are also closely related to the honeyguides and woodpeckers (with which they form the order Piciformes).
Formerly the barbets have been treated as one family (Short & Horne 2002). But as this has turned out to be paraphyletic with regrads to toucans, only the South American true barbets are retained in the Capitonidae. The African barbets (Lybiidae) and the Asian barbets (Megalaimidae) as well as the two toucan-barbets from South America (Semnornithidae) are nowadays split from this family. Alternatively, the toucans, which evolved from a common ancestor shared with the South American barbets, might be included in the traditional all-encompassing barbet family. As they have evolved a suite of characteristics that are unique to themselves they are usually treated separately, and thus the barbets are split up according to the 4 lineages.
- Genus Capito
- Scarlet-crowned Barbet, Capito aurovirens : The Scarlet-crowned Barbet is found in Amazonian Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests, subtropical or tropical swamps, and heavily degraded former forest. The range of the Scarlet-crowned Barbet is the western-central Amazon Basin centered on the Amazon River-Marañón Rivers; the range spreads in the west from Andean foothills of southern Colombia, eastern Ecuador, to the lower half of the northern-flowing Ucayali River in northern Peru. The range in the east at the Madeira River confluence with the Amazon River, is limited by and slightly overlaps the western range of the Brown-chested Barbet south of the Amazon River. The species is found in all of eastern Amazonian Ecuador.
- Scarlet-banded Barbet, Capito wallacei : Endemic to Peru. Its natural habitat is subtropical or tropical moist montanes. It is threatened by habitat loss.
- Spot-crowned Barbet, Capito maculicoronatus : Found in Colombia and Panama. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests and heavily degraded former forest.
- Orange-fronted Barbet, Capito squamatus : Found in Colombia and Ecuador. Its natural habitat is subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests. It is threatened by habitat loss.
- White-mantled Barbet, Capito hypoleucus : It is endemic to Colombia. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical moist montanes, pastureland, and plantations . It is threatened by habitat loss.
- Black-girdled Barbet, Capito dayi : It is found in Bolivia and Brazil. Its natural habitat is subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests.
- Five-colored Barbet, Capito quinticolor : It is found in Colombia and Ecuador. Its natural habitat is subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests. It is threatened by habitat loss.
- Black-spotted Barbet, Capito niger : It is found in E Colombia, E Peru, Brazil, the Guianas, French Guiana, Guyana, Suriname, and Venezuela. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests, subtropical or tropical swamps, and heavily degraded former forest. The western range limit of the Black-spotted Barbet is eastern Venezuela, mostly border areas, and to the south in Brazil's Roraima state, the bird is only found on the eastern banks of the south-flowing Branco River. The species only ranges north of the Amazon River, and is found in the northeast Amazon Basin in Brazil's states of Roraima, Pará, and Amapá, on the Atlantic coast bordering French Guiana. The Black-spotted Barbet's range is one contiguous region, centered on the Guiana Highlands, and the northeast Amazon Basin.
- Gilded Barbet, Capito auratus : (Featured in the photo on top): The Gilded Barbet (Capito auratus) is a species of bird in the Capitonidae family, the barbets, and are close relatives of the toucans. It is found in Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and Venezuela, in the Orinoco River Basin and western Amazon Basin. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests, subtropical or tropical swamps, and heavily degraded former forest. The Gilded Barbet is a black-winged bird, with a streaked black and bright-yellow body. It has a bright-yellow cap, and a short, stout bill. The bird also has an orangish throat below a deep black eye mask extending from the bill to the back, and a yellow upper breast, with the side of the breast black and yellow streaked. [edit] Western Amazon Basin and Orinoco range The Gilded Barbet ranges in the eastern Andes drainages to the rivers of the western Amazon Basin from eastern Colombia-Venezuela, eastern Ecuador, from north to southeastern Peru, and northern Bolivia; in Bolivia the Barbet only ranges on the headwater tributaries to the northeasterly flowing Madeira River. The eastern limit in the southwest Amazon Basin is the Purus River west of the Madeira. In the northwest Amazon Basin, the eastern range limit is central Roraima state Brazil, the south flowing Branco River. The contiguous range to the northwest into Venezuela is all of eastern Venezuela approaching the Guyana border. The Gilded Barbet's range is on the eastern side of the Caribbean north-flowing Orinoco River drainage, but avoids the lower-half riverine strip by 150 km; the range occurs on the upper-half of the Orinoco River extending south into the eastern border area of Colombia. A small range extension goes southeastwards into central Bolivia, also tributaries to the Madeira River.
- Brown-chested Barbet, Capito brunneipectus : It is endemic to Brazil's central-southern Amazon Basin. The bird is sexually dimorphic, slightly medium sized, brownish, with a wide-black face mask centered on the eyes; it has a goldish crown, stout bill, and the cinnamon-colored upper breast patch. The Brown-chested Barbet's range in the central Amazon Basin, eastern Amazonas–western Pará states, North Region, Brazil, lies between two river systems in the east and west, with the Amazon River on the north. The contiguous range goes from the lower 600 km of the Tapajós River and its Amazon River confluence in the east, to the west at a 300 km stretch of the lower Madeira River just south of the Amazon confluence. The range is an approximately rectangular swath 400 km wide and 950 km long, and is restricted on the three sides by the river systems.
- Genus Eubucco
- Lemon-throated Barbet, Eubucco richardsoni : It is found in Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests and subtropical or tropical swamps.
- Red-headed Barbet, Eubucco bourcierii : It is found in Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Panama, Peru, and Venezuela. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical moist montane forests and heavily degraded former forest.
- Scarlet-hooded Barbet, Eubucco tucinkae : It is found in Bolivia, Brazil, and Peru. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests and heavily degraded former forest.
- Versicolored Barbet, Eubucco versicolor : It is found in Bolivia and Peru. Its natural habitat is subtropical or tropical moist montanes.
References
- LL Short, JFM Horne (2002) Family Capitonidae (barbets). in del Hoyo J., Elliott A. & Christie D.A. (2004) Handbook of the Birds of the World. Volume 7. Jamacars to Woodpeckers Lynx Edicions, Barcelona ISBN 84-87334-37-7
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