Habit and Diet
This bird spends most of the day singing and foraging for food in the forest canopy. Otherwise well camouflaged, their rapid and extraordinary loud "tehoop-tehoop-tehoop-tehoop" call often betrays their presence.
Golden-whiskered Barbets are frugivores that gorge themselves on berries, figs, and any edible fruits they can find. A bird watcher colorfully described the Golden-whiskered Barbet eating papayas in a private fruit orchard by writing:
What a glutton he was to possessively grab a chunk of the succulent fruit with his left claw; clung on the tree trunk with his right footed zygodactylous toes and demolishing another chunk of fleshy papaya breakfast in his honky beak...too engrossed in protecting his treasure trove of ripe and succulent papayas –spoilt for choice to take much notice of me...Having had his fill, the barbet did not fly away but stayed around the tree to engage in sentry duties under shade of a spoke like foliage...Occasionally, he would return for a symbolic peck and indulgence of the fruits. At other times, would fly to his shady, staging area for a quick snooze as expressed by his nictitating membrane, at the same time trying hard to possessively stay awake to watch his fruits...(he was also) seen to hastily chase off his mate. No other fruit eating species of smaller birds present around dared or were allowed to perch on the same tree...
According to the same report, the Golden-whiskered Barbet is selective in its choice of fruits upon which to feed and did not bother to peck on intact ripening fruits when there were better fresh choices to be had. Also partially insectivorous, the Golden-whiskered Barbet eats flying termites and has been observed digging into dead wood searching for food. It also feeds on seeds and even lizards and small birds like the Eurasian Tree Sparrow.
Read more about this topic: Golden-whiskered Barbet
Famous quotes containing the words habit and/or diet:
“The habit of arguing in support of atheism, whether it be done from conviction or in pretense, is a wicked and impious practice.”
—Marcus Tullius Cicero (106–43 B.C.)
“Newsmen believe that news is a tacitly acknowledged fourth branch of the federal system. This is why most news about government sounds as if it were federally mandated—serious, bulky and blandly worthwhile, like a high-fiber diet set in type.”
—P.J. (Patrick Jake)