Colour in the garden. The Crested Barbet.

This time of year sees the return of the crested barbet to our gardens. The colour and beauty of these birds captivates my attention.

Trachyphonus vaillantii (Crested barbet) 

Kuifkophoutkapper [Afrikaans]; iMvunduna [Zulu]; Mbangura (also generic term for woodpecker) [Kwangali]; Malioache [South Sotho]; Chizuvaguru [Shona]; Ludvonca [Swazi]; Ngoko [Tsonga]; Kôpaôpê [Tswana]; Kuifbaardvogel [Dutch]; Barbican promépic [French]; Haubenbartvogel [German]; Barbaças-de-poupa [Portuguese]

The Crested barbet occurs from Angola and Zambia south to southern Africa, where it is common in a wide range of woodland habitats. It is omnivorous, eating largely insects when fruit is scarce, although the chicks are fed exclusively insects.

Behavior

They are found singly or in pairs. They like to bounce around on the ground looking for food, they usually call from a branch out in the open. They do not fly easily and then only for short distances. Crested Barbets roost in holes in trees. They are very vocal, the call being a trill that can continue for long periods. Crested Barbets are aggressive towards other birds in their territory and chase off both nest competitors such as other Barbets and other birds such as doves and thrushes. They have also been recorded to have attacked a rat and killed a snake.

Breeding

They nest in a hole in a tree or a Sisal log in a garden. They are monogamous and territorial during breeding.

Both sexes excavate the nest, which consists of a chamber dug into the underside of a dead branch, defended vigorously against other hole-nesting birds. It lays 2-5, usually 3-4 eggs which are incubated by both sexes for about 17 days. The chicks stay in the nest for about 31 days, all the while the breeding pair enlarge the entrance hole as they grow.

Distribution and habitat

It prefers moist or dry open woodland, with trees such as miombo (Brachystegia) and Mopane (Colospermum mopane). It also occurs in suburban gardens (where it is welcome, as it feeds on snails) and grassland with patches of alien trees.

Crested barbets are  found in forests, savannah and sub-urban gardens, woodland thickets and watercourses in Angola, Botswana, Burundi, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Rwanda, South Africa, Swaziland, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.

Diet

The Crested Barbet feeds on Insects, other bird’s eggs and fruits. It is omnivorous, eating largely insects when fruit is scarce. It forages for insects mostly on the ground, sometimes flying into foliage to eat fruit. The following food items have been recorded in its diet:

• Animals
• invertebrates
• termites
• Coleoptera (beetles)
• Orthoptera (crickets and grasshoppers)
• moths
• snails
• Occasionally, it eats eggs and chicks of other birds.
• Plants
• fruit
• Rhus (karees)
• Euclea (guarris)
• Ficus (wild figs)
• Diospyros (jackal-berries)
• nectar
• Aloe
• Schotia brachypetala (Weeping boer-bean)

http://www.biodiversityexplorer.org/birds/lybiidae/trachyphonus_vaillantii.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crested_Barbet