Black-girdled Barbet Gallery

Capito dayi

The Birds of the World website offers these introductory words about the Black-girdled Barbet:  Black-girdled Barbet is a striking, but poorly-known, barbet of south central Amazonia. Both sexes have the black “girdle” – the black band across the belly – but only the male has the striking red crown; the crown of the female is black. This species is poorly-known, but is fairly common within its range. The song of the Black-girdled Barbet is similar to that of Striated Antthrush (Chamaeza nobilis), but lacks the distinctive slow “woop” notes at the end of the song of the antthrush. Black-girdled Barbet forages in pairs or in small (family?) groups in the canopy of humid lowland forest and in adjacent second growth, usually as part of large mixed species flocks that also include tanagers, foliage-gleaners, and other species. Black-girdled Barbets eat fruit, and also frequently search for invertebrates concealed in curled, dead leaves.

I saw and photographed my first Black-girdled Barbet on the morning of August 18, 2023 in the Amazon Basin Region of Brazil.  Our small group with Jeff Parker Tours was in an observation tower at a private fazenda in the Amazon Basin watching a Harpy Eagle nest when I spotted a Black-girdled Barbet in the nearby canopy.  For a more detailed description of this day, look here at my blog post on my Brazil trip.  Here is the only photo I got of this colorful little bird.