Yellow-billed Oxpecker (Buphagus africanus africanus) - 8 July 2013. Ngorongoro Crater, Arusha Region, Tanzania.



This individual was riding a Plains Zebra (Equus quagga boehmi). These birds were usually skittish but this individual allowed close approach. Oxpeckers are usually classified as belonging to their own family, the Buphagidae, or are merged with the starlings in Sturnidae. Currently both Clements and IOC put them in their own family.

They are famous for clambering on large mammals feeding on ticks and blood-sucking flies. They are also accused of keeping wounds open, perhaps to feed on the blood. It appears that they are declining in Tanzania, but are still considered to be of "least concern" because of the large existing population elsewhere in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Nikon P510 Coolpix Point-and-shoot.
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