Yellow-billed Oxpecker
Buphagus africanus
A bulbul-sized olive-brown bird that sports a diagnostic red-tipped yellow bill, a red eye without an eye-wattle, and a pale buff rump. The juvenile lacks the bright bill and eye coloration but shows the pale rump. Small groups occur in savanna and farmland, where they require large wild ungulates and domestic stock to forage on; they clamber agilely over host mammals, gleaning ticks, mites and other ectoparasites, and occasionally drinking host blood. As they fly between large mammals, they give a distinctive sizzling-crackle call. The similar Red-billed Oxpecker differs from Yellow-billed Oxpecker by having a red bill, a yellow eye-wattle, and a dark rump the same color as the remainder of the upperparts.
Taxonomy
In 1760 the French zoologist Mathurin Jacques Brisson included a description of the yellow-billed oxpecker in his Ornithologie based on a specimen collected in Senegal. He used the French name Le pique-boeuf and the Latin Buphagus. Although Brisson coined Latin names, these do not conform to the binomial system and are not recognised by the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature. When in 1766 the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus updated his Systema Naturae for the twelfth edition, he added 240 species that had been previously described by Brisson. One of these was the yellow-billed oxpecker. Linnaeus included a brief description, coined the binomial name Buphaga africana and cited Brisson's work. This species is placed in the genus Buphagus that was introduced by Brisson.<p>Two subspecies are recognised:
- Scientific name
- Buphagus africanus
- Authority
- Linnaeus, 1766
- Order
- Passeriformes
- Family
- Buphagidae
- Genus
- Buphagus
Range and habitat
- Migration
- Resident species
Behavior
The yellow-billed oxpecker nests in tree holes lined with hair plucked from livestock. It lays 2–3 eggs. Outside the breeding season it is fairly gregarious, forming large, chattering flocks. Non-breeding birds will roost on their host animals at night.<p>The yellow-billed oxpecker eats insects and ticks. Both the English and scientific names arise from this species' habit of perching on large wild and domesticated mammals such as cattle and eating arthropod parasites. It will also perch on antelopes such as wildebeest. In a day an adult will take more than 100 engorged female Boophilus decoloratus ticks or 13,000 larvae.<p>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 until blood flows. Whatever the net result, mammals generally tolerate oxpeckers.<p>The yellow-billed oxpecker is 20 cm (7.9 in) long and has plain brown upperparts and head, buff underparts and a pale rump. The feet are strong. The adults' bills are yellow at the base and red at the tip, while juveniles have brown bills. Its flight is strong and direct. The call is a hissy, crackling krisss, krisss.
Conservation
- Population trend
- declining
Photos
Distribution
Bird Calls
Other Birds
Nihoa Finch
Telespiza ultima
A finch-billed Hawaiian honeycreeper endemic to the island of Nihoa; does not occur on the main Hawaiian Islands. Unlikely to be confused with any other species; the only other passerine bird on Nihoa is the Millerbird, which lacks the Nihoa Finch’s heavy bill. Males have a bright yellow head and breast. Females are paler yellow and heavily streaked on the back. Common throughout the island.
Spotted Redshank
Tringa erythropus
Elegant wader with a long fine bill and long reddish legs (dark on breeding adults). Striking breeding plumage dark overall. Nonbreeding plumage is paler and grayer than smaller and chunkier Common Redshank. In flight often appears dark overall with narrow white oval up middle of back. Breeds in arctic bogs and swamps; migrants occur in varied wetland habitats. Usually seen as singles or small groups, though will sometimes congregate in large flocks, especially on wintering grounds. Feeds mainly by wading in fairly deep water, probing and picking with its bill, at times swimming.
White-naped Pigeon
Columba albinucha
A dark maroon-gray pigeon with a hind-crown and nape that are white in the male and gray in the female. At close quarters the bill can be seen to have a black base with a red-yellow tip, and the legs are reddish-purple. In flight the tail has pale-tipped corners. A scarce and localized resident found in pairs in the canopy of lowland and sub-montane forest in isolated populations in the Albertine Rift and Cameroon. Vocalizations are poorly documented, but reputed to be similar to those of Rameron Pigeon, which is larger than White-naped with a yellow eye-ring, bill, and feet, white speckling on the wings, and no white on the head.
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