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Project Noah Nature School
Buphagus erythrorhynchus
Red-Billed oxpecker cleaning up a Male Impala!
Male Impala ;-)
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.
Spotted on May 27, 2013
Submitted on Sep 29, 2013
11 Comments
Thx very much Karen!!
Fun fact! The red-billed oxpecker is endemic to the savanna of Sub-Saharan Africa, and gets its name from its habit of perching on large mammals and eating ticks, botfly larvae, and other parasites. The birds are also known to help clean-up open wounds and to remove earwax! https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=...
Great capture Jared!
Thx guys!! Wouldn't want that guy to be working on my face!
Beautiful shot!
What an action shot man!!!
Wow it looks very deadly!
Thanks Ava, Missions adjusted!
Please add this lovely spotting to the symbiotic relationships mission at http://www.projectnoah.org/missions/7987... and remove it please from the Nests, hives, bowers.... mission.
Haha...true, he does look quite content!!
I have read that they could be more harmful than just helping deparasite the animals but in my opinion this impala seems to be quite happy with the job they are doing on him :-)