About Tricholaema leucomelas (Boddaert, 1783)
The acacia pied barbet, Tricholaema leucomelas, has dark brown eyes and blackish legs and feet. Its head is striped black and white, with red on the front and forecrown, and a pale yellow superciliary stripe. It has a black bib under the chin. Drier land subspecies T. l. centralis have a white breast and white underparts. The southerly nominate subspecies has more dusky, streaky breast and underparts, while the easterly subspecies T. l. affinis has more yellowish underparts. Males and females look identical. Juvenile acacia pied barbets do not have the red forehead mark, and their underpart plumage is more streaky. This species primarily lives in semi-arid savanna, and can also be found in grassland, fynbos, agricultural areas, and urban gardens, habitats it did not occupy historically. The introduction of alien vegetation, especially Australian Racosperma species, to regions adjacent to its original range has allowed this barbet to expand its range into areas it could not reach before. It occurs in Angola, Botswana, eastern Eswatini, western Lesotho, southern Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, southern Zambia, and Zimbabwe. The acacia pied barbet is a sedentary, fairly restless species that is usually found alone or in pairs. Its flight is fast and direct. Like most other barbets and woodpeckers, it drills holes into dead wood to create cavity nests. It lays between two and four eggs between August and April, and both sexes take turns incubating the eggs. It has been observed feeding on fruit from a range of trees and shrubs including Ficus, Searsia, and Phoenix reclinata, as well as on Aloe nectar and insects.
