“There were five Gold-whiskered Barbets (Megalaima chrysopogon laeta) feeding on two different fruiting ficus (one was a Ficus benjamina) and on the fruit of the MacArthur palm (Ptychosperma macarthurii) at the same loaction.
“The image above (left) shows one of them feeding on the fruit of the MacArthur palm. After harvesting the fruit, it throws it backwards and catches in the mouth (above right).
“One of the barbets had a damaged hind claw. Looks like an old fracture that has healed badly and the claw cannot be brought down. See the picture with a MacArthur palm fruit in the beak (top left) – the claw almost look like a branch of a tree. The left foot (above left) has the damaged claw while the right foot (above right) the normal claw.”
The call of the Gold-whiskered Barbet can be heard HERE.
Dato’ Dr Amar-Singh HSS
Kledang-Sayong Forest Reserve, Ipoh, Perak, Malaysia
9th September 2010
Bird Ecology Study Group Trees for Birds: 1. Ficus benjamina (Waringin, Weeping Fig)
[…] Ipoh, Malaysia LINK. Amar-Singh, H. S. S., 2010y. Gold-whiskered barbet feeding on fruits and call LINK. Amar-Singh, H. S. S., 2011w. Juvenile greater green leafbird feeding on Ficus benjamina LINK. […]