Brown-headed Barbet

Brown-headed Barbet

Psilopogon zeylanicus

Silhouette: Vijay Cavale (photo), John E. McCormack, Michael G. Harvey, Brant C. Faircloth, Nicholas G. Crawford, Travis C. Glenn, Robb T. Brumfield & T. Michael Keesey · PhyloPic

Least ConcernNear ThreatenedVulnerableEndangeredCritically Endangered
Daily sighting probability <5% · Rare
at Ranthambore National Park
39 Verified sightings at Ranthambore National Park From 2019 to 2026
19,351 Verified sightings across all 15 parks From 2019 to 2026
March Best month highest sighting rate
🌅 Crepuscular When it's spotted at dawn and dusk

About the Brown-headed Barbet

The brown-headed barbet (Psilopogon zeylanicus) is an Asian barbet species native to the Indian subcontinent, where it inhabits tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests. The brown-headed barbet was formally described in 1788 by the German naturalist Johann Friedrich Gmelin in his revised and expanded edition of Carl Linnaeus's Systema Naturae. He placed it with the puffbirds in the genus Bucco and coined the binomial name Bucco zeylanicus. Gmelin based his description on the "yellow cheeked barbet" that had been described and illustrated in 1776 by the naturalist Peter Brown from a specimen collected in Sri Lanka. The brown-headed barbet is now one of 32 barbets placed in the genus Psilopogon that was introduced in 1836 by Salomon Müller.

Three subspecies are recognised: Psilopogon zeylanicus inornatus (Walden, 1870) – west India Psilopogon zeylanicus caniceps (Franklin, 1831) – Nepal to central India Psilopogon zeylanicus zeylanicus (Gmelin, JF, 1788) – south India and Sri Lanka The adult has a streaked brown head, neck and breast, and a yellow eye patch. The rest of the plumage is green. It is 27 cm (11 in) long with a large head, short neck... Wikipedia →

Global Distribution

Warmer areas are where this animal is recorded most often.

Parks Where Found

# Park Country Daily sighting probability
1 Kanha National Park 🇮🇳 India
~70%
2 Wilpattu National Park 🇱🇰 Sri Lanka
~60%
3 Bandhavgarh National Park 🇮🇳 India
~50%
4 Minneriya National Park 🇱🇰 Sri Lanka
~50%
5 Yala National Park 🇱🇰 Sri Lanka
~50%
6 Royal Bardia National Park 🇳🇵 Nepal
~40%
7 Satpura National Park 🇮🇳 India
~40%
8 Keoladeo National Park 🇮🇳 India
~30%
9 Sinharaja Forest Reserve 🇱🇰 Sri Lanka
~20%
10 Jim Corbett National Park 🇮🇳 India
~20%
11 Ranthambore National Park 🇮🇳 India
<5%
12 Chitwan National Park 🇳🇵 Nepal
<5%
13 Bandipur National Park 🇮🇳 India
Insufficient data
14 Eravikulam National Park 🇮🇳 India
Insufficient data
15 Horton Plains National Park 🇱🇰 Sri Lanka
Insufficient data

Quick answers

What are the chances of seeing a Brown-headed Barbet in Ranthambore National Park?

Under 5% of wildlife watchers report a Brown-headed Barbet sighting in Ranthambore National Park, based on 39 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data.

When is the best time to see Brown-headed Barbet in Ranthambore National Park?

March has the highest sighting rate for Brown-headed Barbet in Ranthambore National Park in our monthly data.

← Back to Ranthambore National Park