The spoils were shared in South Yorkshire this afternoon in a scrappy affair to round off the opening month of the season.
A first half Callum Styles special was cancelled out by Lukas Jutkiewicz before half-time in a game of few clear opportunities.
The Reds had lined up with the same starting XI for a third game in succession, and began brightly in the late August sunshine at Oakwell.
With just two minutes played, a poor headed clearance from Blues dropped kindly for Reds' captain Cauley Woodrow but his attempted volley from all of 50 yards out whistled a foot wide of Matija Šarkić's near post.
But just five minutes further on, the Reds did go ahead and in stunning fashion. It was another fine ball over the top by Romal Palmer that Dominik Frieser scampered after, and he worked the ball to Clarke Oduor inside the box who teed up the arriving Styles who thumped the ball into the top left-hand corner from just outside the box.
The game petered out quickly in terms of it being a spectacle, with the away side's incessant long balls and Barnsley's inability to make things stick in forward areas. But the backline were dealing with Blues aerial threat for the most part, and only a mistake allowed the visitors back into the game.
Birmingham were trying to work the ball into the box when it spooned into the air off a leg and Toby Sibbick was unaware of Jutkiewicz right beside him, with the experienced frontman taking the ball presented to him and firing low and hard beyond Brad Collins from six yards out.
HALF-TIME: Reds 1-1 Birmingham
The away side's aerial dominance only increased after the interval, with former Reds defender Marc Roberts launching long throws from all angles, but nothing would drop for Blues.
But chances for Barnsley weren't coming either, and only a long-range Woodrow strike bothered away 'keeper Šarkić who gathered at the second attempt.
The visitors carved open the better chances as the contest opened up towards the end, and Scott Hogan should definitely have done better with a header at the near post following Jéremié Bela's perfect left-wing cross.
As time ran out, Blues sub Chuks Aneke and winger Bela should maybe have made more of a loose ball inside the box, but with Collins trying his best to block the efforts, the ball somehow ended up poked well over the bar.
It was a game marred by numerous niggly fouls and bizarre decisions from the referee and the icing on that particular cake came in the last minute as the lively Oduor was poleaxed on the edge of the box as he ran through one-on-one with the last man.
Another point on the board for Barnsley heading into the international break.
FULL-TIME: Reds 1-1 Birmingham
Collins, Brittain, Sibbick (Moon), Helik, Kitching, Styles, Benson, Palmer, Frieser (Adeboyejo), Oduor, Woodrow.
Unused: Walton, B.Williams, Halme, Miller, Thompson.
