There’s long been a debate over whether Red-billed Oxpeckers earn their keep. As their name suggests, these common birds of Africa’s open lands like to hang around with domestic cattle and many large, wild mammal species. They eat ticks and other pesky parasites clinging to their hosts. Less helpfully, they also sometimes peck at wounds […]
Tag: Red-billed Oxpecker
Birds Sleep in Giraffe Armpits, New Photos Reveal
The best way to guarantee breakfast in bed for some small African birds is falling asleep on your dinner plate—even if it’s a giraffe’s armpit. Scientists have long known that yellow-billed oxpeckers hang out on massive African mammals like giraffe, water buffalo, and eland during the day—an often beneficial relationship that provides hosts with cleaner, […]
A gallery of Chobe’s feathers
In this post I have chosen to let the images talk for themselves rather than tell stories. This post is a gallery and hope fully the images are enough. This gallery shows you the wonderful variety of birdlife you can see along the Chobe river. As I have mentioned in earlier posts on this trip, […]