Black-collared Barbet

Lybius torquatus

A chunky, medium-sized barbet with a yellowish belly; a red face is raggedly edged with a bold black cowl and breast band. In some forms the face is instead white or yellow. Pairs are resident in the canopy and mid-strata of a variety of open and closed woodlands, riverine forest, and cultivated areas, where they glean fruit and insects. Pairs sing a colorful and characteristic duet, “two-pudley, two-pudley, two-pudley”, that can go on for a minute or more. The similar Brown-breasted Barbet differs by having a broad brown breast band and a pale bill. Red-faced Barbet has black underparts.

Identification

The black-collared barbet usually is about 20–25 cm long, plump-looking and has a large head. It also has the heavy bill fringed with bristles that is characteristic of the genus Lybius. This barbet has a very obvious black collar and head which gives reference to its name. It also has a fire-engine red coloring around the eyes and beak. It has morphologically variable coloring because there is a replacement of a red head with a black head. It also has a more intense color and is larger than other barbets. This bird is also sexually monomorphic, which means that there is generally no phenotypic difference between the males and females of this species. The morphology, size and behavior are basically the same.

Taxonomy

Genus: Lybius; Family: Lybiidae; Order: Piciformes.

Scientific name
Lybius torquatus
Authority
(Dumont, 1805)
Order
Piciformes
Family
Lybiidae
Genus
Lybius

Range and habitat

It is found in Sub-Saharan Africa through Angola, Botswana, Burundi, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Eswatini, Kenya, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Rwanda, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.

Migration
Resident species

Behavior

Migration pattern: Resident species.

Conservation

Population trend: declining.

Population trend
declining

Photos

Distribution

Bird Calls

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