Birdland: Little Ventriloquist

Small and exquisitely-colored, male Red-headed Barbets have red heads, white collars, olive green backs and stout yellow bills. The barbet’s song has been described as a resonant, ventriloquial trilling that sounds somewhat toad-like. Sometimes their calls sound like grunts and snarls.

Red-headed Barbets are found in the forest canopies of Costa Rica, Colombia, Panama and Ecuador, where this little guy was photographed by Park Hill photographer Mark Silverstein.