Brown Barbet feeding on Oil Palm fruit

“One of many that were feeding on oil palm fruit (Elaeis guineensis) was Brown Barbet (Caloramphus fuliginosus tertius).

“There has been a recent split for the Brown Barbet into two species, based on Den Tex and Leonard (2013): C. hayii and C. fuliginosus. References: HERE, HERE and HERE.

“The first Caloramphus hayii is confined to the Malay Peninsula, Sumatra, South Myanmar and adjacent peninsular Thailand. The name suggested for this is Sooty Barbet but a number of sites prefer the name ‘Malay Brown Barbet’; as do I. See: del Hoyo, J., Collar, N. & Kirwan, G.M. (2016). Malay Brown Barbet (Caloramphus hayii). In: del Hoyo, J., Elliott, A., Sargatal, J., Christie, D.A. & de Juana, E. (eds.). Handbook of the Birds of the World Alive. Lynx Edicions, Barcelona (retrieved from HERE on 7 May 2016).

“The one I am posting here is Caloramphus fuliginosus. The name suggested for this is Brown Barbet but a number of sites prefer the name ‘Bornean Brown Barbet’. See: Short, L.L., Horne, J.F.M. & Kirwan, G.M. (2016). Bornean Brown Barbet (Caloramphus fuliginosus). In: del Hoyo, J., Elliott, A., Sargatal, J., Christie, D.A. & de Juana, E. (eds.). Handbook of the Birds of the World Alive. Lynx Edicions, Barcelona (retrieved from HERE on 7 May 2016).

“There are two subspecies in Borneo: C. f. tertius in north Borneo and C. f. fuliginosus in the rest of Borneo. The birds I am posting here are C. f. tertius which have a paler brown head and the brown-rufous plumage does not extend very far on the breast. Phillipps 2014 suggests that the plumage varies considerably.”

Dato’ Dr Amar-Singh HSS
Ipoh, Perak, Malaysia
2nd May 2016

Location: Sepilok, Sandakan, Sabah, Borneo, Malaysia
Habitat: Secondary growth