White-cheeked Barbet

The white-cheeked barbet, or small green barbet, is a barbet of southern India, 16.5–18.5 cm long. It is very like the more widespread brown-headed barbet but has a distinctive eyebrow and a broad white cheek stripe below the eye, and a pale pink bill. The two occur together in some of the drier forests east of the Western Ghats, and their calls are very similar (Wikipedia, general species account).

It is found in the forests of the Western Ghats, parts of the Eastern Ghats and adjoining hills. Like other Asian barbets it is mainly frugivorous, occasionally taking insects, and both sexes excavate the nest hole in a tree, which can take about 20 days; eggs are laid three to five days later, about three, and incubated for 14–15 days. The call, a monotonous kot-roo, starting with an explosive trrr, becomes loud and constant in the breeding season from early summer, especially in the mornings. SoIB 2023 treats it as endemic to mainland India and rates it a Low conservation priority, with an inconclusive long-term trend (Wikipedia, general species account; SoIB 2023).