Return of Bird of the Week: Red-headed Barbet

There is another family of big-billed New World birds that are related to the Toucans and Toucanets you’ve seen in recent weeks. The New World has about 15 species of Barbets. Unlike Toucans and Toucanets, Barbets are found in the Old World as well, although they are not close relatives.. You can see the family resemblance, which extends to diet as well. Red-headed Barbets eat fruit and nuts, much like their bigger-billed cousins. This photo also illustrates the challenges of photographing this canopy species: they are often, maybe usually, high in the canopy, and photos have to deal with the…