Great Barbet

The great barbet is the largest barbet, 32–35 cm long and weighing 192–295 g. It has a blue head, a large yellow bill, a brown body and belly streaked with green, a green plumage and a red vent. It is an Asian barbet of the Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia, a resident breeder in the lower to middle altitudes of the Himalaya from northern Pakistan through India, Nepal and Bhutan to Bangladesh and as far as Laos, in forests up to about 3,000 m (Wikipedia, general species account).

Its nesting season is April to July, typically in tree holes, and both sexes care for the young. The diet is mainly fruit and insects. The male's territorial call is a very loud kay-oh, the alarm a harsh keeab, and another call a repetitive piou-piou-piou-piou. SoIB 2023 rates it a Low conservation priority, a resident and altitudinal migrant of forest with a Moderate range and a rapid long-term increase of about 83% (Wikipedia, general species account; SoIB 2023).