By 1910 the range of the Red-billed Oxpecker had shrunk to the north-eastern corner of South Africa. The
dips used to control ticks on cattle were a death sentence for oxpeckers. With the
introduction of “oxpecker-friendly” dips, a series of translocations and natural
recolonisation, the range of the Red-billed
Oxpecker has expanded in South
Africa. Birds have been translocated to
reserves in the Eastern Cape, Western Cape and Northern
Cape. This has been co-ordinated by EWT – Wildlife Conflict
Prevention Group.
Red-billed Oxpecker
The Red-billed Oxpecker - Buphagus
erythrorhynchus – is endemic to Sub-Saharan Africa. They occur in patches
from Ethiopia and Somalia through Kenya,
Tanzania, Malawi and Zambia
to southern Africa.
Description
The Red-billed
Oxpecker has plain brown upperparts and head, buff underparts and a pale rump.
The bill is red, and adults have a yellow eye-ring.
Call
The call is a
hissy crackling trik-quisss. The loud hissing calls uttered whilst
feeding on an animal or while in flight.
Food
The Red-billed
Oxpecker eats insects. Their favorite food is blood, and while they may take on
ticks bloated with blood, they also feed on it directly, pecking at the
mammal's wounds to keep them open to more parasites. An adult will take nearly
100 engorged female Boophilus decoloratus ticks, or more than 12,000
larvae in a day. It sometimes hawks termite aerially and gleans prey from
vegetation, but the bulk of its diet are ticks.
Breeding
They nest in tree
holes lined with hair plucked from mammals. The Egg-laying season is from
October to March and 2 to 5 eggs are laid, which are incubated by both sexes
for between 12 to 13 days. The chicks are fed by all members of the group,
leaving the nest after about 30 days and becoming fully independent roughly two
months later.
Conservation Status – Least concern
This species has
an extremely large range, and hence does not approach the thresholds for
Vulnerable under the range size criterion. The status of Red-billed Oxpeckers
in South Africa
is improving with encouraging expansions from protected areas to farm lands.
This species breeds successfully in captivity so re-introduction programs have
also been conducted into previously considered marginal areas such as the Eastern Cape, Western Cape
and Northern Cape.
Birdwatching
Ask Aves Birding Tours/Safaris/Adventures
to create an Aves custom tour for you or book on one of the following Aves Birding Tours/Safaris/Adventures:
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Aves Arid
Birding Tour/Safari/Adventure.
Aves Eastern Cape Birding
Tour / Safari /Adventure.
Aves Highlands / Tembe Birding Tour / Safari /
Adventure.
Aves KZN Birding
Tour / Safari / Adventure.
Aves North East
Birding Tour / Safari / Adventure.