Crested Barbet ( Trachyphonus vaillantii, family: Lybiidae)

african green pigeon kruger national park birds The Crested Barbet (Latin name Trachyphonus vaillantii) is described in Roberts Birds of Southern Africa, 7th Edition. This bird has a unique Roberts number of 473 and you will find a full description of this bird on page 147 also a picture of the Crested Barbet on page 144. The Crested Barbet belongs to the family of birds classified as Lybiidae. According to the Percy FitzPatrick Institute of African Ornithology the Crested Barbet is also known by these other names: Levaillant's Barbet, Levaillant's Ground Barbet, Black-backed Barbet.

The map of the Kruger you see on this page shows the areas (coloured orange) where this bird has been identified. The basic information was provided by the Avian Demographic Unit based at UCT and I created the maps from that information ... the green dots show the locations of the various Kruger National Park Rest Camps

The Crested Barbet is neither Endemic or near Endemic to the Kruger National Park. It is however a common resident

In terms of distribution of the Crested Barbet in the Kruger National Park you may not see it in all areas. Crested Barbet : see above distribution map.

The Crested Barbet.

Kruger Park Crested BarbetIdentification assistance for this avian species ...

The Crested Barbet is a smallish bird but somewhat larger than a house sparrow. The height of the Crested Barbet is about 23 cms and its weight is about 80 gms

You will find that the male Crested Barbet plumage and colours are different to that of the female Crested Barbet

  • Head is yellow.
  • Eye is brown.
  • Bill is yellow.
  • Throat is yellow.
  • Back is yellow.
  • Legs are grey.

This bird has normally proportioned leg length.

Main diet items for this bird ...

The Crested Barbet feeds on the ground mainly

Invertebrates

Fruits

Breeding and nesting habits for this bird ...

The Crested Barbet is monogamous unless its mate dies. In the event of a partner dying Trachyphonus vaillantii will seek out a new mate

The nesting habit of Crested Barbet is to create the nest in a hole in a tree trunk. The bird lays eggs which are white in colour and number between 2 to 5

Habitat and flocking behaviour for this bird ...

The preferred habitats for Crested Barbet are: woodlands and arid areas

You will not see Crested Barbet in flocks. The bird prefers to act singly or in pairs.

Names of this avian species in other languages ...

Xhosa ... Unknown

Zulu ... iMvunduna

Afrikaans ...Kuifkophoutkapper

German ... Haubenbartvogel

Portuguese ... Barbaas-de-poupa

French ... Barbican prompic

Dutch ... Kuifbaardvogel

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For in-depth birding information please refer to these authoritative avian references ...

Robert's 7th edition number ... 473

The main reference source for this data was "Roberts - Birds of Southern Africa, 7th Edition" . Other references were "Newmans Birds of the Kruger Park" by Keith Newman published circa 1980 . Names in foreign languages were obtained from the Percy Fitzpatrick Institute of African Ornithology, University of Cape Town website , www.fitzpatrick.uct.ac.za