Le Barbican à tête rouge est assez commun dans l’Est de l’Afrique. Il mange un peu de tout et vient jusque dans les villes se nourrir des déchets que l’on peut laisser dans les rues. Découvrons un peu cet oiseau original que son plumage ne laisse pas indifférent.

The Red-and-yellow Barbet – Trachyphonus erythrocephalus – is a colorful bird found in East Africa—spanning Ethiopia, Uganda, Tanzania, Sudan, South Sudan, Kenya, and Somalia—across an area of ​​approximately 2.7 million square kilometers.

This species belongs to the order Piciformes (which includes woodpeckers, barbets, and toucans), a group of arboreal birds characterized by having two toes pointing forward and two pointing backward. This arrangement facilitates their movement along tree trunks.

The Red-and-yellow Barbet is particularly colorful. Its plumage displays four colors: red (naturally), yellow, white, and black. All four of these colors appear in the feathers of the head.

Male and female are very similar. The female rarely has black on her head, and the red is slightly more orange-toned, though she may have a small black patch on the throat. The male has a black cap—sometimes forming a small crest—and a black throat.

Three subspecies are recognized. They differ in size (ranging from 20 to 23 cm), the intensity of their coloration, and their distribution, particularly regarding the extent of the red plumage.

The Red-and-yellow Barbet favors uneven terrain and stream beds lined with lush vegetation. It also frequents termite mounds in open woodlands and can be found in scrubland and wooded savanna.

Its diet can be quite varied. While it feeds on fruits and their seeds (such as figs), it also eats a wide range of insects, including termites, grasshoppers, locusts, and ants. Spiders, lizards, bird eggs—and even small birds—as well as millipedes, also feature on its diet.

Red-and-yellow Barbet shows little fear of humans. It often comes to feed on scraps left outdoors, consuming fruits like bananas as well as items such as bread and meal leftovers. It is also seen plucking insects that have been killed and crushed against car grilles.

Although the Red-and-yellow Barbet is fairly common, it is nonetheless targeted by certain African tribes that prize the color of its feathers for making ornaments. This species is also sought after as a cage bird.

Being beautiful has its downsides…

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