JungleDragon is a nature and wildlife community for photographers, travellers and anyone who loves nature. We're genuine, free, ad-free and beautiful.

Join

Golden-faced Barbet looking hungry A bird which is always heard but seldom seen due to its less active behaviour and good camouflage. This barbet is a fig-lover as you can find eat feeding on many species of wild fig fruits. This time it is on a Spiky Fig tree (Ficus cucurbitina). This species is still a taxonomic confusion where some people regard it as a Golden-faced Barbet <br /> (Psilopogon chrysopsis), different species from the main golden-whiskered barbet (Psilopogon chrysopogon). We really lack of an international taxonomic body to make a universal agreement on the species status.<br /> <br /> <br /> This was part of a few days observation made by 1StopBorneo Wildlife team to document the ecological importance of this fig tree as a suitable candidate for reforestation projects. Geotagged,Golden-whiskered barbet,Malaysia,Psilopogon chrysopogon,Summer Click/tap to enlarge Species introCountry intro

Golden-faced Barbet looking hungry

A bird which is always heard but seldom seen due to its less active behaviour and good camouflage. This barbet is a fig-lover as you can find eat feeding on many species of wild fig fruits. This time it is on a Spiky Fig tree (Ficus cucurbitina). This species is still a taxonomic confusion where some people regard it as a Golden-faced Barbet
(Psilopogon chrysopsis), different species from the main golden-whiskered barbet (Psilopogon chrysopogon). We really lack of an international taxonomic body to make a universal agreement on the species status.


This was part of a few days observation made by 1StopBorneo Wildlife team to document the ecological importance of this fig tree as a suitable candidate for reforestation projects.

    comments (2)

  1. View _ChunXingWong_'s profile
    _ChunXingWong_
    Lion
    View Lion class
    Birds are better at eating the spiky fig due to their beaks which helps them get into the fruit without being hurt:
    very ripe Spiky Fig Ficus Cucurbitina, the Spiky Fig, is definitely the world's spikiest fig. Many fig fruits are hairy but none has evolved to have really rigid and sharp hairs like this fig. These sharp hairs are strong and sharp enough to pierce a human skin. Probably evolved this way to prevent most mammals from eating it but ideal for canopy birds as they can feed unharmed with their beaks. Fruits ripen light yellow - orange - dark red - maroonish black. These fruits high up in the canopy where the fig tree grows on another host tree. These fruits were growing about 20m high. We were lucky to find it at its fruiting apex, and after several days, the fruit numbers have reduced greatly. <br /> <br /> Watching this fig tree is one of the best experience for my team (1StopBorneo Wildlife). We are trying to find out which is the most beneficial fig species for wildlife and this fig is definitely one of the best. Lots of animals visited it in both day and night. There are always animals every time we visited the tree.<br /> Ficus Cucurbitina,Geotagged,Malaysia,Summer
     Posted 4 years ago
  2. View Ferdy Christant's profile
    Ferdy Christant
    Lion
    View Lion class
    Very nice find, love how your figs are a proxy into many other species. Posted 4 years ago

Sign in or Join in order to comment.

The Golden-whiskered barbet

The golden-whiskered barbet is an Asian barbet species native to the western Malay Archipelago, where it inhabits foremost forests up to 1,500 m elevation. It has been listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List since 2004 because of its wide distribution.

Info 1 0
Similar species: Woodpeckers, Barbets, Toucans
Species identified by _ChunXingWong_
View _ChunXingWong_'s profile

By _ChunXingWong_

Attribution Non-Commercial Share Alike
Uploaded Nov 24, 2020. Captured Jul 6, 2020 06:45 in Unnamed Road, Sabah, Malaysia.
country flag of Malaysia Explore Malaysia 6,517 3,884 0
  • Canon PowerShot SX70 HS
  • f/6.5
  • 1/99s
  • ISO250
  • 247mm
Captured in the summer. More summer photos.

This photo also appears in

Discover more photo collections