Species profile
About the red-and-yellow barbet
The red-and-yellow barbet is one of the most colourful and most entertaining birds of the dry north: scarlet, orange and yellow, heavily spotted with white and black, with a stout pale bill.
Pairs and family groups perform an extraordinary duet from the top of a termite mound, bobbing and swaying in time to a rapid, mechanical chant that field guides render as "red-n-yellow, red-n-yellow". It nests in tunnels excavated in termite mounds and earth banks, and Tarangire is among the best places to watch the display.
Life in the wild
Behavior & relationships
Behavior
Forages on the ground and in low bushes. Duets from a prominent mound with synchronised bobbing, and excavates nest tunnels in termitaria.
Social life
Cooperative breeder — a pair is assisted by helpers from earlier broods that feed the chicks and defend the nest.
What makes it remarkable
Special features
A precisely synchronised duet, and nest tunnels excavated into living termite mounds.
