Sunday, April 25, 2021

Bulletin 380 - Uganda #24 - Barbets and Tinkerbirds

 After the week in the Capetown area, the guide Casper Badenhorst, and I flew to Uganda and met a local guide. We started at Entebbe Airport on the southeast corner of Uganda and made a diagonal trip to Murchison Falls NP in the northwest corner. From there, we proceeded south through a chain of nature preserves and parks to the southwest corner at Bwindi Impenetrable Forest. We finished along the southern border back to the airport.

The African Barbet family consists of 42 species. 75% of them occur in the East Africa area and I photographed 11 in Uganda. They all have large bills.

The 7" Gray-throated Barbet (Gymnobucco bonapartei) is  brown-bodied bird with mostly gray head. He has a light colored eye.

Gray-throated Barbet

The 7" Hairy-breasted Barbet (Tricholaema hirsuta) has a striped face and pale yellow underparts - heavily spotted on the belly.


Hairy-breasted Barbet

The 5.5" Spot-flanked Barbet (Tricholaema lacrymosa) has a stiped head and black bib with heave black spotting on his flanks

Spot-flanked Barbet

The 7.5" White-headed Barbet (Lybius leucocephalus) has a black body, white head and chest and white spots in the wings.

White-headed Barbet

The 6.5" Red-faced Barbet (Lybius rubrifacies) is a brown barbet with red cheeks.

Red-faced Barbet


The 6.5" Black-billed Barbet (Lybius guifsobalito) is very similar to the previous bird except he has a red throat as well as the red face.

Black-billed Barbet

The 9" Double-toothed Barbet (Lybius bidentatus) is dark brown above and has a red face and breast. There are 2 'teeth' on his upper mandible and a yellow patch around the eye. The bill is pale.

Double-toothed Barbet

The 9" Crested Barbet (Tachyphonus vaillantii) is a peculiar red and black and yellow bird with a black crest.

Crested Barbet


Tinkerbirds are smaller barbets. The 4.5" Speckled Tinkerbird (Pogoniulus scolopaceus) is brown above and streaked underneath.

Speckled Tinkerbird

The 5" Red-rumped Tinkerbird (Pogoniulus atroflavus) has a yellow striped face, yellow underparts and a red rump not visible in this photo.

Red-rumped Tinkerbird


The 4" Yellow-rumped Tinkerbird (Pogoniulus bilineatus) has a white-striped face, white throat and yellow belly.

Yellow-rumped Tinkerbird


I put the different bird/mammal families in single folders for easy viewing

I have photos of 15 of the 42 species of African Barbets

Happy birding and photography,

David McDonald


dkmmdpa@gmail.com

photos copyright 2006 - 2021 David McDonald

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