The Red-and-Yellow Barbet (Trachyphonus erythroacephalus) is a bird.

The Red-and-Yellow Barbet has distinctive black, red, and yellow plumage, where the black feathers are spotted with white. It has a black forehead and crown, with a slight crest. The back of its neck is orange and red with black spots. The side of its neck is red and yellowish. Its back is mostly black with white spots. Its tail is a blackish-brown with up to eight cream spots forming bars. The under side of its tail is yellow with black bars. It has a yellow chin and throat, and there is a black patch at the centre of its throat, which is bordered by areas with more orange. Its chest is orange, and its belly is yellow. It has black wings with white spots, giving a spotted appearance.

Its beak is red. Its eyes are yellow-brown with a dark-grey or black eye-ring. Its legs and feet are blue-grey. The female is similar to the male, but duller, with less red and orange, and more yellow and white.

Red-and-Yellow Barbet

It measures about 16 centimetres (6 inches) tall.

The Red-and-Yellow Barbet is native the east African countries of south-east Sudan, Ethiopia, Somalia, Uganda, Kenya, and north-east Tanzania.  It prefers dry bush, woodlands, and scrublands.

It is omnivorous, eating fruit, seeds, grains, small birds, and insects, especially termites. It forages on the ground and in termite mounds.

The Red-and-Yellow Barbet makes a nest in burrows. It nests in a vertical tunnel, about one metre (3 feet) into the ground, with a sideways and upward turn that leads to the nest chamber. Females lay 2-4 eggs.

Red-and-Yellow Barbet

Red-and-Yellow Barbet

Red-and-Yellow Barbet

Photographer: Martina Nicolls

Martina Nicolls: SIMILAR BUT DIFFERENT IN THE ANIMAL KINGDOM