Scarlet-hooded Barbet

The scarlet-hooded barbet (Eubucco tucinkae) is a species of bird in the family Capitonidae, the New World barbets. It is found in Bolivia, Brazil, and Peru.

Taxonomy and systematics: The scarlet-hooded barbet is monotypic.

At times it was thought to be closely related to the red-headed barbet (Eubucco bourceirii) and possibly conspecific, but it is treated now as a full species with no close relatives even within its genus.

 The scarlet-hooded barbet is approximately 17 cm long and weighs 40 to. The male´s entire head, throat, and upper mantle are red but for a bit of black around the eye and bill. The rest of the upperparts are green. Its lower breast is orange and yellow; it has a gray patch on the side and the flanks are streaked with olive. Most of the female´s head is also red, but the throat is yellow. It has an orange band on the upper breast and the rest of the underparts are like the male´s.

Distribution and habitat: The scarlet-hooded barbet is found in the upper Amazon Basin where eastern Peru, western Brazil, and a bit of western Bolivia meet. More than half of its range is in Peru. It inhabits bamboo and Heleconia in dense understory, always within approximately 150 m of rivers and oxbow lakes. It can also be found in overgrown gardens near rivers and on river islands. In elevation it ranges from approximately 150 to.

Feeding: The scarlet-hooded barbet´s diet is approximately 60% fruits such as figs and Cecropia seeds and 40% insects and other arthropods of many kinds. It also eats flowers and nectar. It forages from near the ground up to approximately 11 m by gleaning fruits and probing dead leaf clusters for insects. It joins mixed-species foraging flocks.

Breeding: The scarlet-hooded barbet nests in Peru in July and possibly. Like all New World barbets, it excavates a nest hole, usually in a tree, but virtually nothing else is known about its breeding phenology.

Vocalization: The scarlet-hooded barbet´s song is "a fast ´oop-oop-oop-´" .

Status: The IUCN has assessed the scarlet-hooded barbet as being of Least Concern. However, "[further] data [are] required on its breeding habits and requirements."