The Green-eared Barbet, Megalaima faiostricta, is an Asian barbet

Megalaimidae

A family of birds comprising the Asian barbets, the Megalaimidae were once united with all other barbets in the Capitonidae but they have turned out to be distinct...

. Barbets are a group of near passerine

Near passerine

Near passerine or higher land-bird assemblage are terms often given to arboreal birds or those most often believed to be related to the true passerines due to ecological similarities; the group corresponds to some extent with the Anomalogonatae of Garrod All near passerines are land birds...

 bird

Bird

Birds are feathered, winged, bipedal, endothermic , egg-laying, vertebrate animals. Around 10,000 living species and 188 families makes them the most speciose class of tetrapod vertebrates. They inhabit ecosystems across the globe, from the Arctic to the Antarctic. Extant birds range in size from...

s with a worldwide tropical distribution. They get their name from the bristles which fringe their heavy bills.

The Green-eared Barbet is a resident breeder in southern China

China

Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...

, Cambodia

Cambodia

Cambodia , officially known as the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country located in the southern portion of the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia...

, Laos

Laos

Laos Lao: ສາທາລະນະລັດ ປະຊາທິປະໄຕ ປະຊາຊົນລາວ Sathalanalat Paxathipatai Paxaxon Lao, officially the Lao People's Democratic Republic, is a landlocked country in Southeast Asia, bordered by Burma and China to the northwest, Vietnam to the east, Cambodia to the south and Thailand to the west...

, Thailand

Thailand

Thailand , officially the Kingdom of Thailand , formerly known as Siam , is a country located at the centre of the Indochina peninsula and Southeast Asia. It is bordered to the north by Burma and Laos, to the east by Laos and Cambodia, to the south by the Gulf of Thailand and Malaysia, and to the...

  and Vietnam

Vietnam

Vietnam – sometimes spelled Viet Nam , officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam – is the easternmost country on the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia. It is bordered by China to the north, Laos to the northwest, Cambodia to the southwest, and the South China Sea –...

. It is a species of broadleaf evergreen and mixed or open woodlands at up to 900 m altitude. It nests in a tree hole.

This barbet is 24.5–27 cm in length. It is a plump bird, with a short neck, large head and short tail. The adult has a white-streaked brown head and breast, green ear coverts, mainly dark bill, and green-streaked yellow belly. The rest of the plumage

Feather

Feathers are one of the epidermal growths that form the distinctive outer covering, or plumage, on birds and some non-avian theropod dinosaurs. They are considered the most complex integumentary structures found in vertebrates, and indeed a premier example of a complex evolutionary novelty. They...

 is green. Both sexes and immature birds are similar. This species resembles Lineated Barbet

Lineated Barbet

The Lineated Barbet Megalaima lineata is a large barbet found in the northern parts of the Indian Subcontinent,along the southern foothills of the Himalayas and also in parts of Bangladesh and West Bengal. Like other barbets it is a frugivore. In nests inside holes bored into tree trunks....

, but is smaller, has the distinctive green ear patch, a darker bill and a dark, rather than yellow, eye-ring.

The male’s territorial call is a loud took-a-prruk. Another call is a mellow pooouk.