Black-collared barbet | |
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Scientific classification | |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Aves |
Order: | Piciformes |
Family: | Lybiidae |
Genus: | Lybius |
Species: | L. torquatus |
Binomial name | |
Lybius torquatus (Dumont, 1816) |
The black-collared barbet (Lybius torquatus) is a species of bird in the family Lybiidae. It is found in Sub-Saharan Africa through Angola, Botswana, Burundi, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Kenya, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Rwanda, South Africa, Swaziland, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.
The black-collared barbet usually is about 20–25 cm long, plump-looking and has a large head. It also has the heavy bill fringed with bristles that is characteristic of the Lybius genus. This barbet has a very obvious black collar and head which gives reference to its name. It also has a fire-engine red coloring around the eyes and beak. It has morphologically variable coloring because there is a replacement of a red head with a black head. It also has a more intense color and is larger than other barbets. This bird is also sexually monomorphic, which means that there is generally no phenotypic difference between the males and females of this species. The morphology, size and behavior are basically the same.
The black-collared barbet is one of the many duetting species in the Lybius genus and it regularly uses duetting in its day-to-day life. There are no solitary song instances heard by this species. Also, the repertoire of the duets do not vary greatly. This species is readily recognized by its loud duet, commonly rendered as "too-puddly too-puddly too-puddly" or "too-doodle too-doodle".... accompanied by wing-flicking. In addition to the wing-flicking, the birds in the pair face each other while calling and lean forward while bowing ceremoniously to each other. This bird produces a variety of calls including its snarling warning call and loud buzzing. The snarling could be the initiating sound of the duet.