The Sira barbet (''Capito fitzpatricki'') is a bird in the family

Capitonidae New World barbets are near passerine birds from the family Capitonidae of the order Piciformes, which inhabit humid forests in Central and South America. They are closely related to the toucans. The New World barbets are plump birds, with short ...

, the New World barbets. It is

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsew ...

to the Cerros del Sira of east-central

Peru , image_flag = Flag of Peru.svg , image_coat = Escudo nacional del Perú.svg , other_symbol = Great Seal of the State , other_symbol_type = Seal (emblem), National seal , national_motto = "Fi ...

Taxonomy and systematics

The Sira barbet was discovered in 2008 and formally described in 2012.Science Daily, (Aug. 6, 2012) ''New Bird Species Discovered in 'Cloud Forest' of Peru''

/ref> The

International Ornithological Committee The International Ornithologists' Union, formerly known as the International Ornithological Committee, is a group of about 200 international ornithologists, and is responsible for the International Ornithological Congress and other international ...

(IOC) has accepted it as a valid species. However, the South American Classification Committee of the

American Ornithological Society The American Ornithological Society (AOS) is an ornithological organization based in the United States. The society was formed in October 2016 by the merger of the American Ornithologists' Union (AOU) and the Cooper Ornithological Society. Its m ...

(AOS) and the

Clements taxonomy ''The Clements Checklist of Birds of the World'' is a book by Jim Clements which presents a list of the bird species of the world. The most recent printed version is the sixth edition (2007), but has been updated yearly, the last version in 2022 ...

list it as a subspecies of

scarlet-banded barbet The scarlet-banded barbet (''Capito wallacei'') is a species of bird in the New World barbet family, Capitonidae. It is endemic to Peru. Taxonomy and systematics The scarlet-belted barbet was discovered in 1996 and formally described in 2000 ...

(''Capito wallacei'').Remsen, J. V., Jr., J. I. Areta, E. Bonaccorso, S. Claramunt, A. Jaramillo, D. F. Lane, J. F. Pacheco, M. B. Robbins, F. G. Stiles, and K. J. Zimmer. Version 23 May 2021. A classification of the bird species of South America. American Ornithological Society. https://www.museum.lsu.edu/~Remsen/SACCBaseline.htm retrieved May 24, 2021Clements, J. F., T. S. Schulenberg, M. J. Iliff, S. M. Billerman, T. A. Fredericks, B. L. Sullivan, and C. L. Wood. 2019. The eBird/Clements Checklist of Birds of the World: v2019. Downloaded from https://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist/download/ Retrieved August 15, 2019 The

Cornell Lab of Ornithology The Cornell Lab of Ornithology is a member-supported unit of Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, which studies birds and other wildlife. It is housed in the Imogene Powers Johnson Center for Birds and Biodiversity in Sapsucker Woods Sanctuar ...

's ''Birds of the World'' acknowledges that the "Sira" form is significantly different from the nominate and suggests that it be accorded species rank.Short, L.L., J. Fjeldså, J. F. M. Horne, C. J. Sharpe, and E. de Juana (2020). Scarlet-banded Barbet (''Capito wallacei''), version 1.0. In Birds of the World (S. M. Billerman, B. K. Keeney, P. G. Rodewald, and T. S. Schulenberg, Editors). Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, NY, USA. https://doi.org/10.2173/bow.scbbar2.01 retrieved May 25, 2021 The bird's epithet commemorates

John W. Fitzpatrick John Weaver Fitzpatrick (born September 17, 1951 in Saint Paul, Minnesota) is an American ornithologist primarily known for his research work on the South American avifauna and for the conservation of the Florida scrub jay. He is currently the ...

, an expert for the Peruan avifauna and director of the

Description

The Sira barbet is approximately long and weighs . The adult male's crown and nape are crimson. It has a band of white, fairly wide at the shoulders tapering to the tail; the rest of the upperparts are black. It has a broad white

supercilium The supercilium is a plumage feature found on the heads of some bird species. It is a stripe which runs from the base of the bird's beak above its eye, finishing somewhere towards the rear of the bird's head.Dunn and Alderfer (2006), p. 10 Also ...

and a black "mask". The rest of its face, throat, neck, and upper chest are white. A broad crimson band crosses the chest and extends along the flanks where it meets a variable amount of black or gray. The rest of the underparts are white. The female's plumage has minor differences from the male's. The Sira barbet is distinguished from the scarlet-banded barbet by differences in morphology and plumage, particularly the color on the bird's flanks, lower back and thighs, and it has a wider, darker scarlet breast band.

DNA sequencing DNA sequencing is the process of determining the nucleic acid sequence – the order of nucleotides in DNA. It includes any method or technology that is used to determine the order of the four bases: adenine, guanine, cytosine, and thymine. Th ...

was also used to confirm the Sira barbet's status as a distinct species.

Distribution and habitat

The Sira barbet is found only on the eastern slope of the southern Cerros del Sira,

Ucayali Department Ucayali () is an inland department and region of Peru. Located in the Amazon rainforest, its name is derived from the Ucayali River. Its capital is the city of Pucallpa. It is the second largest department in Peru, after Loreto. Geography ...

, Peru. Eight specimens were collected from the upper Río Shinipo and Río Tzipani valleys , and a further two at Quebrada Quirapokiari in July 2011. Its range is

sympatric In biology, two related species or populations are considered sympatric when they exist in the same geographic area and thus frequently encounter one another. An initially interbreeding population that splits into two or more distinct species sh ...

and

syntopic In biology, two related species or populations are considered sympatric when they exist in the same geographic area and thus frequently encounter one another. An initially interbreeding population that splits into two or more distinct species sh ...

with that of the

gilded barbet The gilded barbet (''Capito auratus'') is a species of bird in the family Capitonidae, the New World barbets, and are close relatives of the toucans. Description It has a total length of c. 20 cm (8 in). As other New World barbets, t ...

, and coincides with the boundary and sections of the Sira Communal Reserve. It primarily inhabits the highest stratum of tall (up to )

montane forest Montane ecosystems are found on the slopes of mountains. The alpine climate in these regions strongly affects the ecosystem because temperatures fall as elevation increases, causing the ecosystem to stratify. This stratification is a crucial f ...

with arboreal epiphytes and moss above a sparsely vegetated understory. It is also found in shorter forest with a thicker understory. In elevation it ranges as high as but is mostly found between .

Behavior

Feeding

The Sira barbet forages in the forest canopy and subcanopy. It was observed in pairs, small groups of the same species, and in

mixed-species foraging flock A mixed-species feeding flock, also termed a mixed-species foraging flock, mixed hunting party or informally bird wave, is a flock of usually insectivorous birds of different species that join each other and move together while foraging. These ar ...

s. It feeds primarily on fruits and takes small numbers of insects as well.

Breeding

No information has been published.

Vocalization

The Sira barbet has a low-pitched purred song. More commonly it emits a ''

Tityra The tityras are passerine birds in the genus ''Tityra'' of the family Tityridae. They are found from southern Mexico, through Central America, to northern and central South America, including Trinidad. These are medium-sized birds, typically ar ...

''-like grunt. It also makes quiet low-pitched groans and clucks from roost cavities.

Status

The

IUCN The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN; officially International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natu ...

has assessed the Sira barbet as Near Threatened. "This species has a very small known range, within which the population is thought to be small... utis not thought to be under any immediate threat".

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q291694

Sira barbet The Sira barbet (''Capito fitzpatricki'') is a bird in the family Capitonidae, the New World barbets. It is endemic to the Cerros del Sira of east-central Peru. Taxonomy and systematics The Sira barbet was discovered in 2008 and formally ...

Birds of the Peruvian Andes Endemic birds of Peru