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Project Noah Nature School
Buphagus erythrorhynchus
Both the English and scientific names arise from their habit of perching on large mammals (both wild and domesticated) such as cattle or rhinoceroses, and eating ticks, botfly larvae, and other parasites. 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. So, what good the bird does for the mammal is negated by it keeping the wounds open to parasites and disease.
Spotted on Jan 12, 2012
Submitted on Jun 17, 2012
2 Comments
An excellent series, though I am not sure I like them keeping the wounds open. All other pictures I have seen, you could not really see the bird.
nice spotting ..