Southern India is home to the Asian barbet species known as the white-cheeked barbet or little green barbet. This species is found in the forest regions of the Western Ghats, parts of the Eastern Ghats, and adjacent hills. It is very similar to the more common brown-headed barbet (also known as the large green barbet, Psilopogon zeylanicus), but it has a unique supercilium and a broad white cheek stripe beneath the eye. Although the brown-headed barbet has an orange eye-ring, the two species coexist in some of the drier woods east of the Western Ghats because of their strikingly similar cries. Because they are arboreal, these barbets hardly ever go to the ground.
Perched Look : The white-cheeked barbet stares upward, alert.
Their diet of fruit provides them with the majority of the water they require. In December, white-cheeked barbets start their nesting season, which lasts until May. It is thought that they develop a pair relationship that endures beyond a single mating season. There is a lot of calling throughout the wooing phase. Before copulation, the male typically feeds the female during courtship. After the eggs hatch, the calling strength decreases. Usually, dead branches are used to make the nest hole. The nest can take up to 20 days to construct, and both sexes dig it. Three to five days after the nest is excavated, eggs are laid. Three eggs or so are deposited. It takes 14 to 15 days to incubate.
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