A common resident confined in South Africa to the extreme east of KZN, Eswatini and Lowveld of Mpumalanga, where they favour coastal forests and lowland evergreen forests.
Usually solitary or in pairs, tending to perch in middle or upper strata of forest and often becoming tame. They forage actively, often darting after insects. The flight is straight with whirling wings. Fruit is also part of their food intake.
Calling from treetops throughout daylight hours, especially in breeding season. Four to six short clinking notes in bursts tonk-tonk-tonk-tonk with each burst lasting one and a half to two seconds with short pauses in between. They also have a musical high pitched trill prrrroo and an aggressive kssh, kssh, kssh.
These tinkerbirds breed between September and March. The nest is an excavated hole in a dead trunk or underside of a sloping branch.
Excavation takes as little as 10 days and they lay three to five white eggs. Incubation is 12 days and nestlings for 20 days, when they are fed on insects and fruit by both parents.
The Zulu name is iPhengempe and in Afrikaans die swartblestinker.
