![]() ^ Mikula P, Hadrava J, Albrecht T, Tryjanowski P.^ "Red-billed Oxpeckers – Beauty of Birds".^ "Buphagus erythrorhynchus (Red-billed oxpecker)".However, their preferred food is blood, and while they may take ticks bloated with blood, they also feed on it directly, pecking at the mammal's wounds to keep them open.įield observations in rhinos have shown oxpeckers warning the nearsighted rhino of danger. Īn adult will take nearly 100 blood-engorged female Rhipicephalus (Boophilus) decoloratus ticks, or more than 12,000 larvae in a day. This species's relationship with rhinos gives the Swahili name Askari wa kifaru meaning "the rhino's guard". Both the English and scientific names arise from this species' habit of perching on large wild and domesticated mammals such as cattle and eating ticks. The preferred habitat is open country, and the red-billed oxpecker eats insects. Outside the breeding season it forms large, chattering flocks. It lays 2–5 eggs, with three being the average. The red-billed oxpecker nests in tree holes lined with hair plucked from livestock. Behaviour Clutch in a nest lined with impala hair, Kenya Its flight is strong and direct, and their call is a hissy crackling trik-quisss. Its bill is dark olive at first, but gradually takes on adult colouration after four months. Description Ī juvenile oxpecker is darker brown than its parents. It ranges across Ethiopia and Somalia through Kenya, Tanzania, Malawi, and Zambia to southern Africa, Botswana, Zimbabwe, southern Mozambique, and north-eastern South Africa. The red-billed oxpecker is a native of the savanna of sub-Saharan Africa. Its range overlaps that of the less widespread yellow-billed oxpecker. It is native to the savannah of sub- Saharan Africa, from the Central African Republic east to South Sudan and south to northern and eastern South Africa. ![]() The red-billed oxpecker ( Buphagus erythrorynchus) is a Mutualistic passerine bird in the oxpecker family, Buphagidae.
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