Vieillot's barbet (''Lybius vieilloti'') is a small

African barbet The African barbets are birds in the family Lybiidae. There are 43 species ranging from the type genus ''Lybius'' of forest interior to the tinkerbirds (''Pogoniulus'') of forest and scrubland. They are found throughout sub-Saharan Africa, wit ...

. Barbets and

toucan Toucans (, ) are members of the Neotropical near passerine bird family Ramphastidae. The Ramphastidae are most closely related to the American barbets. They are brightly marked and have large, often colorful bills. The family includes five ge ...

s are a group of

near passerine Near passerines and higher land-bird assemblage are terms of traditional, pre-cladistic taxonomy that have often been given to tree-dwelling birds or those most often believed to be related to the true passerines (order Passeriformes) owing to mor ...

bird Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the laying of hard-shelled eggs, a high metabolic rate, a four-chambered heart, and a strong yet lightweigh ...

s with a world-wide tropical distribution. The barbets get their name from the bristles which fringe their heavy bills. This bird is named after the French ornithologist

Louis Jean Pierre Vieillot Louis Pierre Vieillot (10 May 1748, Yvetot – 24 August 1830, Sotteville-lès-Rouen) was a French ornithologist. Vieillot is the author of the first scientific descriptions and Linnaean names of a number of birds, including species he collecte ...

Habitat

The Vieillot's barbet is a resident breeder in the

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...

n scrubland on the southern edge of the

Sahara Desert , photo = Sahara real color.jpg , photo_caption = The Sahara taken by Apollo 17 astronauts, 1972 , map = , map_image = , location = , country = , country1 = , ...

from

Senegal Senegal,; Wolof: ''Senegaal''; Pulaar: 𞤅𞤫𞤲𞤫𞤺𞤢𞥄𞤤𞤭 (Senegaali); Arabic: السنغال ''As-Sinighal'') officially the Republic of Senegal,; Wolof: ''Réewum Senegaal''; Pulaar : 𞤈𞤫𞤲𞤣𞤢𞥄𞤲𞤣𞤭 � ...

Ethiopia Ethiopia, , om, Itiyoophiyaa, so, Itoobiya, ti, ኢትዮጵያ, Ítiyop'iya, aa, Itiyoppiya officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country in the Horn of Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the ...

. It is often found along wooded creeks in Zaria, Nigeria and its breeding season takes place during the months of April to July.Payne, R. B., and N. J. Skinner. "Temporal Patterns of Duetting in African Barbets." Ibis 112.2 (1970): 173-183. Web. It is an arboreal species of savannah and farmland which eats

insect Insects (from Latin ') are pancrustacean hexapod invertebrates of the class Insecta. They are the largest group within the arthropod phylum. Insects have a chitinous exoskeleton, a three-part body ( head, thorax and abdomen), three pairs ...

s and

fruit In botany, a fruit is the seed-bearing structure in flowering plants that is formed from the ovary after flowering. Fruits are the means by which flowering plants (also known as angiosperms) disseminate their seeds. Edible fruits in particu ...

, especially

fig The fig is the edible fruit of ''Ficus carica'', a species of small tree in the flowering plant family Moraceae. Native to the Mediterranean and western Asia, it has been cultivated since ancient times and is now widely grown throughout the world ...

s. It nests in a tree hole, laying three

eggs Humans and human ancestors have scavenged and eaten animal eggs for millions of years. Humans in Southeast Asia had domesticated chickens and harvested their eggs for food by 1,500 BCE. The most widely consumed eggs are those of fowl, especial ...

Description

This is a sparrow-sized barbet at . It is a plump bird, with a short neck, large head and short tail. The adult has a red head, and the neck and breast are a mixture of red and white. The upperparts are dark brown apart from a yellow stripe down the back. The rest of the underparts are yellowish with dark flank spotting. The bill is thick and dark grey. Sexes are similar, but immature birds are duller.

Calls

This species of African barbet is known to duet year-round, unlike other species that only duet during breeding season. The ''L. vieilloti'' has been reported to "yodel", which is a succession of two flute-like notes which are uttered by two birds sitting on a bough as they bow ceremoniously to each other. This yodel is immediately answered by the other bird of the pair with the sound "poop-poop". The duet seems to be initiated by a snarl like the ''

Lybius torquatus The black-collared barbet (''Lybius torquatus'') is a species of bird in the family Lybiidae which is native to sub-Saharan Africa. Indigenous names include ''Rooikophoutkapper'' in Afrikaans, ''isiKhulukhulu'' and ''isiQonQotho'' in Zulu, and ' ...

''. The duets are considered quite unusual because the birds call with different rhythms. Other duetting pairs have occasionally accompanied or followed the original duetting pair. This species uses simultaneous polyphonic duets with a pre-duet greeting ceremony. Polyphonic duets have many sounds occurring simultaneously so the song sounds "many-voiced".Short, Lester L., and Jennifer F. Horne. "A Review of Duetting, Sociality and Speciation In Some African Barbets (Capitonidae)." Condor 85.3 (1983): 323-32. Web.

References

* ''Birds of The Gambia'' by Barlow, Wacher and Disley, {{Taxonbar, from=Q886506

Vieillot's barbet Vieillot's barbet (''Lybius vieilloti'') is a small African barbet. Barbets and toucans are a group of near passerine birds with a world-wide tropical distribution. The barbets get their name from the bristles which fringe their heavy bills. This ...

Birds of Sub-Saharan Africa