Birds of the World – Asian and African Barbets | Lee's Birdwatching Adventures Plus

Fire-tufted Barbet (Psilopogon pyrolophus) by Dan at WA

Fire-tufted Barbet (Psilopogon pyrolophus) by Dan at Wings of Asia

Its leaves were beautiful, its fruit was abundant, and on it was food for all. Wild animals found shelter under it, the birds of the air lived in its branches, and every creature was fed from it. (Daniel 4:12 HCSB)

The Barbets used to be mainly in one big family, but they are being divided up in several families. The Internet Bird Collection and some other still have them in one family, but IOC, whose list is used here, breaks them into Asian Barbets (Megalaimidae Family) with 30 species and the African Barbets (Lybiidae Family) with 42 species. There is another family of Barbets here in the New World called New World Barbets (Capitonidae Family) that has 15 members. There are two Barbets, the Prong-billed and Toucan Barbet, that are by themselves in the Semnornithidae Family. Barbets are in the Piciformes Order which also has the Toucan, Jacamar, Puffbird, Honeyguide and Woodpecker families.

I finished working on the Asian Barbet and African Barbet Family pages and decided to share some of them with you. They are a colorful bunch. The Lord put designs and color in their creation and yet in their natural habitats, they blend in well (camouflage). Some are beautiful and some are almost “gaudy” and have…started to put personality, but they are not humans, so maybe “birdality” might be a better term. Like this Brown-headed Barbet (Megalaima zeylanica) by Nikhil Devasar. My caption would be “hanging on by a nail.”