Lybius torquatus (Black-collared barbet) 

Rooikophoutkapper [Afrikaans]; Isinagogo [Xhosa]; isiKhulukhulu, isiQonqotho [Zulu]; Kopaope [South Sotho]; Chikweguru [Shona]; Sibagobe [Swazi]; Nwagogosane [Tsonga]; Kôpaôpê, Mmanku [Tswana]; Zwarthalsbaardvogel [Dutch]; Barbican à collier [French]; Halsband-bartvogel [German]; Barbaças-de-colar-preto [Portuguese]

Life > Eukaryotes > Opisthokonta > Metazoa (animals) > Bilateria > Deuterostomia > Chordata > Craniata > Vertebrata (vertebrates)  > Gnathostomata (jawed vertebrates) > Teleostomi (teleost fish) > Osteichthyes (bony fish) > Class: Sarcopterygii (lobe-finned fish) > Stegocephalia (terrestrial vertebrates) > Tetrapoda (four-legged vertebrates) > Reptiliomorpha > Amniota > Reptilia (reptiles) > Romeriida > Diapsida > Archosauromorpha > Archosauria > Dinosauria (dinosaurs) > Saurischia > Theropoda (bipedal predatory dinosaurs) > Coelurosauria > Maniraptora > Aves (birds) > Order: Piciformes > Family: Lybiidae

Black-collared barbet. [photo Callie de Wet ©]	Black-collared barbet, Sericea farm, South Africa. [photo Trevor Hardaker ©]
Xanthochroic Black-collared barbet juvenile (meaning that the red is replaced with yellow), Wakkerstroom, South Africa. [photo Johan van Rensburg ©]	Red-collared barbet feeding on figs (Ficus), South Africa. [photo Tony Faria ©]

The Black-collared barbet is one of the most common barbets in Africa, being found from the DRC to Kenya, extending south to southern Africa, occurring in a variety of habitats. It eats mainly fruit, with the rest of its diet composed of insects and nectar. Both sexes excavate the nest, which is a hole usually on the underside of dead branches of trees, preferably softwood trees like Ficus (wild fig). It lays 2-5 eggs, which are incubated by both sexes, for roughly 18 days. The chicks stay in the nest for about 33-36 days, and are fed fruit and insects by both parents.

Distribution and habitat

One of the most common barbets in Africa, being found from the DRC to Kenya, extending south to southern Africa. Here it is common in Zimbabwe, Mozambique and the eastern half of South Africa. It occurs in a wide variety of woodlands, especially broad-leaved woodland, with trees such as Brachystegia (miombo), Colophospermum mopane (Mopane). It also occurs in grassland with patches, and has adapted very well to living in suburban gardens.

Food 

It mainly eats fruit, with the rest of its diet composed of insects and nectar. When available, Ficus (Wild figs) make up most of its diet, although it eats a number of other genera. The following food items have been recorded in its diet:

• Fruits
  • Ficus (wild figs)
  • Syzygium (waterberries)
  • Rhus (karees)
  • Euclea (guarris
  • Dovyalis (sourberries)
  • Scutia myrtina (Cat-thorn)
  • Sideroxylon inerme (White milkwood)
  • Diospyros (jackal-berries)
• Insects
  • Imbrasia belina (Mopane emperor moth) larvae
• Nectar
  • Aloe
  • Schotia brachypetala (Weeping boer-bean)
• Green pods
  • Senna singueana (Winter senna)
  • Senna petersiana (Eared senna)

Breeding

• Both sexes excavate the nest, which is a hole usually on the underside of dead branches of trees, preferably softwood trees like Ficus (wild fig). It often uses the same hole repeatedly, sometimes using the same nest site for ten years! Abandoned nest holes are often taken over by other birds, such as tits and sparrows.

Black-collared barbet peeping out of its nest, Modimolle, South Africa. [photo Warwick Tarboton ©]	Black collared barbet peering out of tree cavity. This photo was taken at Oudtshoorn, South Africa, and was the first record of this bird in the Western Cape. [photo Trevor Hardaker ©]

• Egg-laying season is from September-February in South Africa and from August-April in Zimbabwe.
• It lays 2-5 eggs, which are incubated by both sexes, for roughly 18 days.
• The chicks stay in the nest for roughly 33-36 days, and are fed fruit insects by both parents.

Threats

Not threatened, in fact its range has increased recently due to the abundance of fruiting trees introduced by humans.

References

• Hockey PAR, Dean WRJ and Ryan PG (eds) 2005. Roberts - Birds of southern Africa, VIIth ed. The Trustees of the John Voelcker Bird Book Fund, Cape Town.