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Gilded Barbet | Capito auratus
Gouden baardvogel | Cabezón dorado | Capitão-de-fronte-dourada
The Gilded Barbet is the barbet of the Amazonian lowlands and the eastern Andean foothills, from Colombia to Bolivia. Its low, hollow call is one of the constant background sounds of the rainforest, although the bird itself usually sits high in the canopy. The throat colour varies by subspecies from yellow and orange to red.
Voice
A long series of low, hollow hoop notes at an even pace, often from a tree crown and also in the middle of the day. Also rasping and grating calls.
Recording: Patricio Mena Valenzuela — CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 · xeno-canto
Identification
18–19 cm, stocky, with a heavy, conical black bill and a short tail. The male is black above with a yellow supercilium, yellow to golden streaks on the back and a yellow wing bar. The throat is orange, golden yellow or red depending on subspecies; the breast and belly are yellow, with black spots on the flanks. The female is more heavily streaked yellow above and densely spotted black on a yellow ground below.
Confusion species
Black-spotted Barbet Capito niger of the Guianas is very similar but does not occur in the guide area. Scarlet-banded Barbet Capito wallacei and Sira Barbet Capito fitzpatricki, higher up on a few isolated ridges in Peru, have a red crown, a white throat and a red breast band. Lemon-throated Barbet Eubucco richardsoni and other Eubucco species are smaller, with a green back.
Habitat
Humid terra firme lowland forest, várzea, forest edges, tall secondary forest and foothill forest on the eastern slope, from the lowlands to about 1200 m, locally higher. It usually sits in the canopy, but sometimes comes lower for berries. It eats fruit, berries and insects and often joins mixed flocks. It nests in a self-excavated cavity in a dead tree or branch.
Where the bird is most at home, classified by the vegetation units of the Andes and the west coast.
Range and movements
In Colombia in the lowlands east of the Andes, mainly in the Amazonian south-east. In Ecuador in the eastern lowlands and foothills. In Peru throughout the Amazonian lowlands and the lower eastern slope. In Bolivia in the north and centre, in the lowlands and the lower Yungas. Absent west of the Andes and from the Galápagos. Outside the guide area in southern Venezuela and western Brazil.
- Resident
- dark = core range, pale = thinly spread
How and when to look
In any Amazonian forest, listen for the low, hollow series of hoop notes and then search the crowns of tall trees. Canopy towers and forest edges along rivers give the best view of the canopy.
Conservation status
Least Concern. The species has a large range and tolerates forest edges and secondary forest, but depends on forest with tall trees.
Scientific name
Capito auratus | (Dumont, 1805)
Dumont described the species in 1805 as Bucco auratus; because it was later moved to another genus, the author and year stand in brackets. The genus Capito was introduced in 1816 by Vieillot. The genus name comes from Latin capito, 'big-headed'. The species name comes from Latin auratus, 'gilded' or 'golden'. The specimen the first description was based on came from Sarayacu, Ucayali, Peru.