Discover Top Posts Tagged with #red-billed oxpecker

Lowland bongo Tragelaphus eurycerus eurycerus

With yellow-billed oxpecker Buphagus africanus and red-billed oxpecker Buphagus erthrorhynchus

Observed by smithrngr, CC BY-NC

#Tragelaphus eurycerus eurycerus #lowland bongo #Bovidae #antelope #Buphagus africanus #yellow-billed oxpecker #Buphagus erythrorhynchus #red-billed oxpecker #bird #passerine #non-ungulate #Africa #Republic of the Congo

Mayozoic day 6, red-billed oxpecker. Touch of dithering to get those patterns looking right.

#drawdinosdaily #2026drawdinosdaily #mayozoic #dark art #pixel art #pixel sprite #sprite art #birds #red-billed oxpecker #actually went out for a walk yesterday and added five new birds to my list for this year. fun times.#sadly no osprey but what are the odds that I would've seen it on my first try

“Impala and Red-billed Oxpecker”

by Luisa Pericoli, USA

2024 Nature’s Best Photography Awards

#luisa pericoli #photographer #united states #nature's best photography awards #impala #animal #mammal #wildlife #red-billed oxpecker #bird #nature

Day 126 of DDD! The Red-billed Oxpecker! The famous bird found all over mammals in africa. Known famously for eating parasites of everything.

#2026drawdinosdaily #drawdinosdaily #my art #dinosaur #bird #Red-billed Oxpecker

The birds i offer you today are brown

#this last batch is being drawn on the back of flashcards #mayozoic #drawdinosdaily #russet throated puff bird #Hypnelus ruficollis #buphagus erythrorynchus #red-billed oxpecker #birds #with id

Day 105#: Red-Billed Oxpecker

Today's animal of the day is the Red-Billed Oxpecker (Buphagus erythrorynchus)!

Photo credit: Gerrie van Vuuren

Found commonly throughout the savannahs of eastern Africa, this species of passerine bird is famous for its rather complicated relationship with the various large herbivorous mammals that it shares its habitat with. These birds will often eat ticks and other blood-sucking parasites off the bodies of giraffes, buffalo, impalas, rhinos, domestic cattle, and many other species. This not only helps remove irritating pests from the animals’ backs and other hard-to-reach places, but also helps slow the spread of numerous diseases.

Photo credit: Charles J. Sharp

A single oxpecker can eat nearly 100 fully grown ticks or around 12,000 blood-sucking fly larvae in just a single day! They will even help warn animals with bad vision, such as rhinos, when danger is nearby by emitting a loud warning call. Because of this, these birds are known as Askari wa kifaru in the Swahili language, which means "the rhino's guard". They have even started to recognize that poachers are a threat to rhinos and have begun warning them when humans are approaching!

Photo credit: Callie de Wet

However, oxpeckers aren't exactly saints. While they do eat a lot of ticks and other parasites, those aren't their preferred source of food. They actually prefer the taste of blood! Normally, they get their blood fix by eating ticks that have already gorged themselves on blood, which, while a bit weird, still helps the other animals out. However, if they find an animal with an open and actively bleeding wound, they will peck at it and purposefully try to keep it open and prevent it from healing so they can continue to drink the blood! This is not only very painful for the poor animals, but it can also cause the wound to become infected if it goes on for long enough. However, most animals will not only tolerate these birds but also willingly allow them to ride on their backs. This is because ticks are a major problem in the savannah, so most animals are willing to risk having their blood stolen by some birds if it means having their ticks removed first.

Photo credit: Timothy A. Gonsalves

Red-billed oxpeckers prefer to build their nests inside holes in the trunks of trees, and will often pluck fur from various animals to line their nests with. Their clutches typically range from two to five eggs, and juvenile oxpeckers lack the red beaks that their parents have. Instead, their beaks are a dark olive green color at first, but slowly turn red over the course of four months. They form large flocks that, as I stated before, will follow herds of large herbivorous mammals and will even ride on their backs when they need to rest.