It was my last visit to the Bharatpur Birds Sanctuary in Rajasthan, before Covid-19 started surging again. There was an unusual calm inside the park because of the small numbers of visitors. 

“Beda gark ho Chinese virus ka.. we have not been able to earn our wages. Don’t know how long will it last,” said our guide, Raju. “The park is empty…” and added, “there are less number of migratory birds too. But you may get lucky. There are barbet chicks in tree holes and there is no crowd, if you are lucky, you may see them being fed by their parents.”

That was enough to get us excited. I have seen this species many times, it is a common bird in the Indian subcontinent.

A brown-headed barbet chick peeps out to see if it is safe (Photo: Mrityunjoy Kumar Jha)

The brown-headed barbet bird is a relatively large barbet measuring, on average, 27 cm in length and well camouflaged. It has a large head and a short neck and short tail. The adult has a streaked brown head, neck and breast, with a yellow eye patch. The rest of the plumage is green. The bill is thick and red. Males and females look alike. The brown colour extends up to its neck. It has barbs like whiskers around the base of the peony peach beak and, perhaps, that is where the family gets its name from – ‘Barbet’.

It is also known as the Large Green Barbet (Megalaima zeylanica). Since it’s heard in the Basant (spring) season, these birds are locally known as Basanta. The crimson-headed barbet is known as Chota Basanta and the brown-headed barbet is known as Bada Basanta or Hara Basanta. Usually, they occupy the top canopy of the tree and the sound that they emit comes from their throats, without the opening of their beaks. The sound is more prominent during the breeding season, which starts from February.

It is hard to spot them. The green of their body merges well with the leaves, while their brown claws are a perfect match with the brown branches on which they perch. Mother Nature has provided them with all characteristics to evade attacks by bigger species and by humans. During March-April, the Barbet couples lay eggs, 3-4 in super hidden, hard-to-find nests. Both parents take turns incubating the eggs and feed the chicks when they hatch.

The mother issues a warning call to her chicks on spotting us (Photo: Mrityunjoy Kumar Jha)

At a distance on the branch of the tree, I spotted one. A brown-headed barbet on a branch making loud sounds of “kutroo kutroo”. The bird call is an incessant, almost omnipresent sound during the spring months. The bird call was not melodious. Our guide whispered, “it’s the mother, keep an eye on trees. She is alerting her chick.”  He pointed toward a tree trunk. Meanwhile, repetitive calls "kutroo…kutroo…kutroo" filled the air. Suddenly there was a movement. It was the chick. Only its head was visible outside the tiny hole. The bird was trying to follow the sound of the mother. Suddenly, the call became louder and the chick was lost. I guess, the mother had felt our presence and asked it to go inside.

Suddenly there were many such bird calls. There was more than one bird. It was difficult to locate from which tree the bird is calling as barbets perch on top of the tree canopy and their calls go in all directions. This makes the spotting of the bird a big task.

For building a breeding nest, the barbets selected a tree which had canopy cover around the nest hole, probably for the protection of the nest from predators and for the safety of the chicks when they take the first flight. The nest was made by excavating a hole in a tree trunk. Both the partners worked together in buildig the nest. 

The vigilant father is all attentive to visitors in the neighbourhood (Photo: Mrityunjoy Kumar Jha)

Our guide was well informed. The adults were extremely cautious while feeding the chick. When they brought food, they never went straight to the nest. Instead, they went opposite the nest tree and watched the surroundings. Once they were sure of the safety, did they head to the nest. If they see any birds of prey near the nest, they won't feed the chick until the predator moves away. Similarly, before the parent birds leave the nest, they make sure that there are no predators around; otherwise, they remain inside till the surroundings are free of danger. 

The brown-headed barbet forms a group of near passerine birds with a worldwide tropical distribution. The barbets get their name from the bristles which fringe their heavy bills. Brown-Headed Barbet is a resident breeder in the Indian states and it is widespread in India and also seen in Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. It is an arboreal species of gardens and wooded country which eats fruit and insects. Nonetheless, it is fairly tolerant of humans and is often seen in cities, amid the greenery. On occasion, especially when termite swarms emerge pre-monsoon, the bird is fine with eating insects. Its thick beak isn’t quite suited for hunting, so it makes clumsy sorties to catch the insects.