Tinkerbird

Abstract: In 2007 we published the first country records for Congo-Brazzaville of three bird species (King & Chamberlan 2007), all from the Lesio-Louna Reserve in the Bateke Plateau, and all from the remarkable barbet family (Capitonidae; Fig. 1). One of them, Sladen’s barbet Gymnobucco sladenii, is a forest-dependant species virtually endemic to the forests of the Democratic Republic of Congo, whilst the other two are savannah species. One, the yellow-fronted tinkerbird Pogoniulus chrysoconus, probably has a continuous distribution from the nearest-known populations only 85 km to the east. However the presence of the third species, the miombo pied barbet Tricholaema frontata was particularly unexpected, as the species is almost exclusively restricted to mature miombo woodland in south-central Africa, with the nearest record 750 km south of the Lesio-Louna. The discovery of these three barbets reinforced the classification of the Bateke Plateau as part of the Guinea-Congolian/Zambezian transition zone (Fig. 2;