The Coppersmith

Coppersmith Barbet (Megalaima haemacephala) is another common bird that can be found easily even within the city area. You might wonder why it is called like that, just listen to its call in the YouTube video here. The call resembles the sound of coppersmith hitting copper. Although being common, the bird always fascinates me with its super colourful appearance. Last week, I noticed a bird coming to the Dita Bark (Alstonia scholaris) tree in front of my house. Two days later, I noticed a small hole on one broken branch. I waited and finally, the same Coppersmith Barbet showed up and flew right to that hole and started to dig. Barbets are like woodpeckers; they dig holes for their nests. I was so happy to see the first Coppersmith Barbet building a nest in my house.

Sept 2: the nest hole was still not very deep

I observed the bird daily since September 2nd. However, the bird only visits the nest during 10am to 1pm and after that it just disappeared. There's always only 1 bird as well, so I came to think that this might not be a successful nest. I talked to several birders about the habit of this bird, and one of them shared a similar story from her house. She said that there was a lone Coppersmith Barbet coming to dig a hole in front of her house as well. Several days after it finished digging the hole, it just disappeared. Why is that? Nobody knows...

The hole was dug deeper day by day and finally finished around yesterday (Sept 9) when it's deep enough for the bird to fit itself into it. Today, I didn't see the bird coming to the hole. Not sure if it's still around or not. Hope it'll find the right female very soon, so it won't have to abandon this nest hole. Below is a very nice video of a Coppersmith Barbet at its nest in the Philippines. The video is very neatly edited. Thanks to jvnoriega for sharing us this great clip of a very cute bird.