The Yellow-breasted Barbets (Trachyphonus margaritatus) belongs to the African Barbet family known as Lybiidae.
Distribution
They are found in the following African countries: Burkina Faso, Chad, Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, Somalia and Sudan.
Description
Yellow-breasted Barbets are usually about 20–25 cm long, plump-looking, with large heads. Their heavy bill is fringed with bristles.
Diet / Feeding
They are mainly solitary birds, eating insects and fruit, including figs. They will also visit plantations and take cultivated fruit and vegetables. Fruit is eaten whole and indigestible material such as seed pits regurgitated later. They are thought to be important agents in seed dispersal in tropical forests.
They may also feed on a wide range of insects are taken, including ants, cicadas, dragonflies, crickets, locusts, beetles, moths and mantids – even scorpions and centipedes.
Nesting / Breeding
They usually nest in holes bored into dead trees, branches or stumps. They usually lay between 2 up 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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