Red-billed Oxpecker
A species of Oxpeckers. Formerly Usually Included In Sturnidae. Scientific name : Buphagus erythrorynchus Genus : Oxpeckers. Formerly Usually Included In Sturnidae.
Red-billed Oxpecker, A species of Oxpeckers. Formerly Usually Included In Sturnidae.
Botanical name: Buphagus erythrorynchus
Genus: Oxpeckers. Formerly Usually Included In Sturnidae.
Content
Description People often ask General Info
Photo By Don Roberson 
Description
A juvenile oxpecker is darker brown than its parents. Its bill is dark olive at first, but gradually takes on adult coloration after four months. Its flight is strong and direct, and their call is a hissy crackling trik-quisss. 
Size
20 cm
Colors
Brown
Black
Yellow
Red
Silver
Gray
Life Expectancy
15 years
Feeding Habits
Red-billed Oxpecker primarily feed on insects, consuming sizable numbers of ticks and larvae. They exhibit a unique preference for blood, often consuming blood-engorged ticks or feeding directly from wounds on mammals, which they peck at to maintain access to the blood.
Habitat
The red-billed oxpecker is a native of the savanna of sub-Saharan Africa. The red-billed oxpecker nests in tree holes lined with hair plucked from livestock. The preferred habitat is open country.
Dite type
Scavenger
People often ask
General Info
Behavior
The red-billed oxpecker nests in tree holes lined with hair plucked from livestock. It lays 2–5 eggs, with three being the average. Outside the breeding season it forms large, chattering flocks. The preferred habitat is open country, and the red-billed oxpecker eats insects. 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. An adult will take nearly 100 blood-engorged female Rhipicephalus (Boophilus) decoloratus ticks, or more than 12,000 larvae in a day. 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. Field observations in rhinos have shown oxpeckers warning the nearsighted rhino from danger.
Distribution Area
The red-billed oxpecker is a native of the savanna of sub-Saharan Africa. It ranges across Ethiopia and Somalia through Kenya, Tanzania, Malawi, and Zambia to southern Africa, Botswana, Zimbabwe, southern Mozambique, and north-eastern South Africa.
Photo By Don Roberson 
Scientific Classification
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