The Pied Barbets or Acacia Pied Barbet (Tricholaema leucomelas) is an African endemic that is found in Angola, Botswana, Lesotho, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Swaziland, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
Description
They are usually about 20 – 25 cm long, plump-looking, with large heads. Their heavy bill is fringed with bristles.
Diet / Feeding
These mostly solitary birds eat a variety of fruits. They will also visit plantations and take cultivated fruit and vegetables. Fruit is eaten whole and indigestible material such as seed pits is regurgitated later.
They will also feed on insects, such as ants, cicadas, dragonflies, crickets, locusts, beetles, moths, mantids – sometimes even scorpions and centipedes. They may also eat lizards, frogs, and geckos.
Nesting / Breeding
They usually nest in holes bored into dead trees, branches, or stumps – occasionally in riverbanks or termite nests. The hen usually lays between 2 to 4 eggs that are incubated for 13–15 days. Nesting duties are shared by both parents.
Species Research by Sibylle Johnson
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