Psilopogon asiaticus
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
In 3 days ~30% in a week ~50%
The blue-throated barbet (Psilopogon asiaticus) is a green Asian barbet native to the foothills of the Himalayas and Southeast Asia. It inhabits lowland and montane forests at elevations of 200–2,000 m (660–6,560 ft), frequenting fruiting trees. Due to its green colour, it is difficult to spot but is easily located by its continual loud calls. Sexes are similar in most respects and share domestic duties.
The Blue-throated Barbet was originally placed in the genus Cyanops by Latham in 1790. This was subsequently synonymized with Megalaima. In 2013, phylogenetic studies indicated that Psilopogon is embedded within Megalaima. Psilopogon has priority, hence the genus Megalaima was subsumed into Psilopogon. The Blue-throated Barbet has previously been considered conspecific with the Turquoise-throated Barbet (Psilopogon chersonesus) and the Mountain Barbet (Psilopogon monticola) (11), but molecular data confirm that these are distinct species.
Psilopogon asiaticus has two sub-species: Red-crowned blue-throated barbet P.a. asiaticus (Latham, 1790) is resident from NE Pakistan to W, N Myanmar and SW Yunnan Blue-crowned blue-throated barbet P.a. davisoni (Hume, 1877... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Royal Manas National Park | 🇧🇹 Bhutan | |
| 2 | Namdapha National Park | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 3 | Manas National Park | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 4 | Kaziranga National Park | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 5 | Jim Corbett National Park | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 6 | Doi Inthanon National Park | 🇹🇭 Thailand | |
| 7 | Kaeng Krachan National Park | 🇹🇭 Thailand | |
| 8 | Chitwan National Park | 🇳🇵 Nepal | |
| 9 | Sundarbans National Park | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 10 | Royal Bardia National Park | 🇳🇵 Nepal |
With luck
About 10% of wildlife watchers report a Blue-throated Barbet sighting in Sundarbans National Park on a given day, based on 99 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 80th most-seen of the 177 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 30%, and over a week to about 50%, if each day is a fresh chance.
March
In that month about 30% of wildlife watchers report a Blue-throated Barbet in Sundarbans National Park on a given day, against under 5% in August, October and December–January, the lowest months. That is one of Sundarbans National Park's driest months, with about 45 mm of rain against 480 mm in July. May and June have too few records to rate.
Between 7 and 10 am
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Blue-throated Barbet sightings with a recorded time, and about 9 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
9th of 10
Of the 10 parks where we can rate Blue-throated Barbet sightings, Sundarbans National Park ranks 9th at about 10%. The best odds are in Royal Manas National Park (Bhutan, about 70%), Namdapha National Park (India, about 60%) and Manas National Park (India, about 50%). All parks ranked.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Blue-throated Barbet is recorded against all the birds logged in Sundarbans National Park (99 verified sightings from 2019 to 2026), calibrated against known sighting rates. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10% because citizen-science data supports honest approximations, not decimals, and months with records from fewer than five people show "—". How it works.
