Xanthochromism - a yellow Black-collared Barbet

The rare xanthochroic Black-collared Barbet

I must admit social media does have its merits despite the time consuming, if not wholly nauseating exercise of sifting through Auntie Mona's exploits at 'U2R a belly-dancer'. 

Word filtered through the social-press late Friday morning that a xanthochroic Black-collared Barbet had been seen in Helderkruin, a woes-rand suburb of Johannesburg. This rare yellow-coloured form is as the label prescribes ... GTHOH*. Very few self-respecting twitchers would, short of Armageddon, pass up on the chance to see one.

(*Get the hell over here)

The unusual pair - yellow form on the right

Rather amusingly we found ourselves a touch further afield than might have been the case had a xanthochroic barbet NOT been reported.. We returned, in haste & more than a little emotive!

Our angst, as it turned out, was misplaced. Speaking to a number of interested residents the 'rare' yellow-form bird we had noted in Debonair ave. is one of more.. A xanthochroic bird has seemingly, for a season at least, successfully bred in a nearby artificial nest. 

The odd-ball pair follow a circuitous route from the fruit bowls kindly deployed by the homeowners of No.5 & No.7; across the street to the leafless tree in No. 20; back across & down the street to the poplar tree in the nearby park and back to the fruit-bowl. Wait at the barbet-bar long enough & the birds oblige.