Sigiria Forest #17: Bristly Zygodactyl
The cache, a small black-taped tube, is hidden in the 4-trunked fork of huge tree a few metres down off the trail. As I was hiding the cache, I could hear the distinctive call of this bird coming from the top of one of the larger trees further down towards the river.
See GC4PD3V Karura Forest #1: Intro, info & entry for background info on the forest, opening times, entry fees, etc. and here for a detailed map of Karura & Sigiria Forests and/or download a Google Earth file of the trails here.
To reach the cache: after paying the forest entrance fee, from the Parking at the Karura Forest entrance (Gate A) to the east off Limuru road @ S 01 14.826 E 36 49.021 head back out of the gate and down to the main road. Cross this busy road (carefully!) and pick up the access track to the Sigiria Forest a short distance north. Follow this down a short distance and across the stream to the Sigiria Forest Gate @ S 01 14.804 E 36 48.901 close to the trailhead at Junction 54. From here head right (NNW) up the trail some 170m to the cache location.
Permission to place the cache was kindly granted by the Director of the Kenya Forest Service.
The spot-flanked barbet (Tricholaema lacrymosa) is a bird species of the Lybiidae (African barbets) family. It is found <2,000m in damp woodland, forest edges, wooded and bushed areas, often near water, in the highlands and surrounding plateaux in Burundi, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Kenya, Rwanda, 
South Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda, and Zambia. Key features are its generally black and white colour, head stripes, yellow eyes, and black spotted white flanks.
The race found around Nairobi is T.l.radcliffei. The diet includes figs and berries and also insects such as termites or beetles.
Barbets are stocky large headed birds with stout pointed bills, often brightly coloured and strongly patterned. Most barbets are associated with trees, nesting and roosting in cavities excavated in soft wood. Sexes are alike or similar and they all have well developed rictal (corner of the mouth or the fleshy area where the upper and lower mandibles of a bird meet) and chin bristles. The wings are short and rounded enabling direct, strong but rather laboured (and often audible) flight. The tail is usually short, the tarsi short and strong and the toes zygodactyl - two pointing forwards and two backwards (see Gallery for an illustration of bird anatomy).
This is the most common arrangement in arboreal species, particularly those that climb tree trunks or clamber through foliage and occurs in the parrots, woodpeckers, cuckoos and some owls. Zygodactyl tracks have been found dating to 120–110 Ma (early Cretaceous period), 50 million years before the first identified zygodactyl fossils. See gallery illustrations and see here for more information on bird toe arrangements!
The call is a loud hook . . . hook . . . hook, also a croaking grrrrk . . grrrrk, a low yek,yek,yek and a harsh nasal nyaa! - listen here.