Coppersmith Barbet

When I least expect to see one, I find a different bird right outside my balcony. I just went to get some fresh air out there when I saw this tiny little bird going in and out of the hollow wooden poles being used for construction in the next building. I dashed to my room for my binoculars, praying that the bird stays there (my previous experience told me that it was a wrong move and I shouldn't let the bird out of my sight - after all seeing it from a distance was surely better than not seeing it at all, right?) But as I dashed back to the balcony, cursing myself for not always keeping the bines with me, I saw that the little bird was still playing ghar ghar with the poles.

On looking closely, I saw that it was green, a little dull, dark green with grey coloured underbelly.The things that were most prominent for me were the red coloured throat and the colour yellow around its eyes (I confused it for yellow eyes but as I was very politely corrected later, it isn't called yellow eyes, it's called a yellow patch around the eyes!).

Anyway, it wasn't a very restful bird, kept on moving around a lot, so I didn't get a very good look at it. All I knew was that it wasn't a very plump bird, kind of slender, a longish beak and dull colours. No offense to it or any other barbet lover out there, but it didn't look very pretty to me. And yeah, a lot of people (even those who are managing this blog) tend to disagree with me and find these birds beautiful, but I happen to think otherwise.

So on research, which proved to be a little difficult for my go-to-guy [Well i don't blame him exactly - I describe birds like this: "It was a dull green, tiny, tinier than a sparrow (which turned out to be wrong by the way) and not very pretty. And oooh, yellow eyes" - for not being able to search for it in the first go], but we did it. It turned out to be...

A BARBET!!

Image courtesy: Wikipedia

A COPPERSMITH or CRIMSON-BREASTED BARBET! Talk about fancy names and stuff haan?!

So apparently it makes sounds like metal (well not the metal music we like), but like a metal being hit! Tuk-tuk-tuk, yeah something like that. And for the same reason, it is also called Tuktukiya. :P

Other common Hindi names include Basanta and Thathera (which apparently means a coppersmith). Yikes!

Found in plains, it is an arboreal bird (one that lives in trees) and is found in urban areas and gardens. But according to some websites, Coppersmith Barbet is a bird that is rather heard than seen. Guess who's the lucky one, eh?! :D

So go out and stand in the balcony folks. It might be your lucky day as well!