Habitat

This species occurs mostly in montane or hill evergreen and deciduous forest, but is also found at forest edges and in secondary forest. It also commonly occurs in teak forests, gardens, orchards, and even in cities where suitable fruiting trees are present (29 Yahya, H. S. A. (2000) Food and feeding habits of Indian barbets. Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society 97:103-116. Close , 1 Short, L. L., and J. F. M. Horne (2001) Toucans, Barbets and Honeyguides. Oxford University Press, Oxford, UK. Close ). In Buxa, West Bengal, India, this species occurs at highest densities in riparian forest, followed by mixed plantation/forest, semi-evergreen forest, and village edge forest, respectively (30 Sivakumar, S., J. Varghese, and V. Prakash (2006). Abundance of birds of different habitats in Buxa Tiger Reserve, West Bengal, India. Forktail 22:128–133. Close ). It tends to occur only infrequently in oil palm plantations (31 Mandal, J., and T. R. Shankar Raman (2016). Shifting agriculture supports more tropical forest birds than oil palm or teak plantations in Mizoram, northeast India. The Condor 118:345-359. Close ), tending to be most common in mature or late successional forests (32 Raman, T. R., G. S. Rawat, and A. J. Johnsingh (1998). Recovery of tropical rainforest avifauna in relation to vegetation succession following shifting cultivation in Mizoram, north‐east India. Journal of Applied Ecology 35:214-231. Close ). By and large, however, it is adaptable to logged forest and human habitations, particularly where fruiting trees remain (1 Short, L. L., and J. F. M. Horne (2001) Toucans, Barbets and Honeyguides. Oxford University Press, Oxford, UK. Close , 33 Velho, N, J. Ratnam, U. Srinivasan, and M. Sankaran (2012). Shifts in community structure of tropical trees and avian frugivores in forests recovering from past logging. Biological Conservation 153:32–40. Close ).