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Topic: Oxpecker


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In the News (Thu 17 Dec 09)

  
  oxpecker. The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. 2001-05
Oxpeckers use their broad, thick, laterally flattened beaks to pick at and feed on skin parasites such as ticks and embedded larvae.
Oxpeckers are so highly adapted to life on their hosts that even courtship behavior and copulation occur upon the host animal’s back.
The hair of the animal is used to line the bird’s nest, built usually in a tree by the yellow-billed oxpecker or a rock-hole by the red-billed.
www.bartleby.com /65/ox/oxpecker.html   (324 words)

  
  oxpecker - HighBeam Encyclopedia   (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-09-05)
Oxpeckers use their broad, thick, laterally flattened beaks to pick at and feed on skin parasites such as ticks and embedded larvae.
Oxpeckers are so highly adapted to life on their hosts that even courtship behavior and copulation occur upon the host animal's back.
The hair of the animal is used to line the bird's nest, built usually in a tree by the yellow-billed oxpecker or a rock-hole by the red-billed.
www.encyclopedia.com /doc/1E1-oxpecker.html   (494 words)

  
 Oxpecker family
Oxpeckers use their bills to make quick scissoring movements through the hair but they also spend lots of time working deep in the ears (sometimes only the tail shows) or around the muzzle, eyes or nose.
Oxpeckers spend most of their lives on their hosts, using them for protection for predators (such as moving to the back side of the animal when approached) and sitting on them to roost and preen.
Oxpeckers are gregarious and breed semi-colonially and cooperatively.
montereybay.com /creagrus/oxpeckers.html   (975 words)

  
 The Red billed & Yellow billed Oxpecker
The Yellow billed Oxpecker was considered extinct as a breeding species in South Africa by 1920.
Both the Red billed and Yellow billed oxpeckers are endemic to the continent and are co-operative breeders.
The Red billed Oxpecker is distributed in a discontinuous belt across the eastern half of the continent.
www.encounter.co.za /article/133.html   (485 words)

  
 Oxpecker - Search Results - ninemsn Encarta
Oxpecker, medium-sized birds associated with game and cattle in African savannahs south of the Sahara.
If the oxpecker bird charged for the service it provides to buffalo, giraffe, impala, rhino and...
The oxpeckers are two species of bird which comprise the subfamily Buphaginae within the starling family Sturnidae (some ornithologists regard them as a separate family Buphagidae).
au.encarta.msn.com /Oxpecker.html   (152 words)

  
 Oxpecker family
Oxpeckers use their bills to make quick scissoring movements through the hair but they also spend lots of time working deep in the ears (sometimes only the tail shows) or around the muzzle, eyes or nose.
Oxpeckers spend most of their lives on their hosts, using them for protection for predators (such as moving to the back side of the animal when approached) and sitting on them to roost and preen.
Oxpeckers are gregarious and breed semi-colonially and cooperatively.
www.montereybay.com /creagrus/oxpeckers.html   (975 words)

  
 Endangered Wildlife Trust
Oxpeckers make no distinction between the cattle species and flocked to cattle herds to feed on ticks and their larvae.
Yellow-billed Oxpeckers recolonised the northeastern parts of South Africa late in the 20th century and Red-billed Oxpeckers are more widely distributed.
Oxpeckers can be one of the farmer’s greatest natural allies on game and cattle farms.
www.ewt.org.za /species_oxpeckers.aspx   (421 words)

  
 Yellow-billed Oxpecker, Buphagus africanus
This is one of 2 species of Oxpecker found in Kenya.
It is similar to the Red-billed Oxpecker but fairly easy to distinguish.
There's a number of differences but the most noticeable are the yellow base to the bill and lack of yellow ring around the eye in the Yellow-billed.
www.kenyabirds.org.uk /oxpecker.htm   (133 words)

  
 Yellow-billed Oxpeckers
The Yellow-billed Oxpecker, Buphagus africanus, is a passerine bird in the starling and myna family Sturndidae.
It is least common in the extreme east of its range where it overlaps with Red-billed Oxpecker, despite always dominating that species when feeding.
The Yellow-billed Oxpecker is 20 cm long and has plain brown upperparts and head, buff underparts and a pale rump.
www.avianweb.com /yellowbilledoxpeckers.html   (259 words)

  
 * Oxpecker - (Animals): Definition
Oxpeckers: two African bird species (red-billed and yellow-billed) within the starling family that specialize in removing and eating insects from the skin of large grazing ungulates
Oxpeckers, small African birds, are often seen removing ticks from the rhinos skin and also are important in warning them of approaching danger.
Oxpeckers are birds that often perch on the Cape Buffalo.
en.mimi.hu /animals/oxpecker.html   (187 words)

  
 Evolution   (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-09-05)
One example of a symbiotic relationship is that of the oxpecker (a kind of bird) and the rhinoceros or zebra.
Oxpeckers land on rhinos or zebras and eat ticks and other parasites that live on their skin.
Also, when there is danger, the oxpeckers fly upward and scream a warning, which helps the symbiont (a name for the other partner in a relationship).
necsi.org /projects/evolution/co-evolution/symbiosis/co-evolution_symbiosis.html   (359 words)

  
 ScienceLives! Online - Ecology - Attack of the Red-Billed Oxpeckers
And, when the oxpeckers did eat ticks, they preferred ticks that had already engorged themselves -- the damage to the livestock had already been done.
The oxen were an oxpecker buffet, as the birds feasted on dead skin, mucus, saliva, sweat, tears, and earwax.
Although the red-billed oxpeckers do not greatly harm their hosts, there is no evidence yet that they are helpful.
www.sciencelives.com /oxpecker.html   (322 words)

  
 Introduce Oxpeckers
The yellowbilled oxpecker (Buphagus africanus) became extinct as a breeding species in the Republic of South Africa during 1910.
The main increase of tick populations are due to the absence of veld fires and oxpeckers.
Stutterhiem, C J 1976 The biology of the red-billed oxpecker Bypha-gus e~ythrorhyncus (Stanley, 1814) in the Kruger Nationalpark.
bigfive.jl.co.za /oxpeckers.htm   (716 words)

  
 Dave Taylor's African Safari: Trophic Level III: Omnivores and Small Carnivores - Yellow-billed Oxpecker - Page 31
Habitat: Yellow-billed oxpeckers are found in grasslands, wooded savannas, riverine forests and forest edges.
Food: Oxpeckers are the only species to feed on the ticks and flies that pester larger animals.
Oxpeckers are very alert and will fly off if they spot danger, thus warning the antelope or rhino.
www.sensesofwildness.com /africa/2_4/04_31.HTM   (617 words)

  
 Sandgrouse - Red-billed Oxpecker in Yemen
As the bird flitted from cow-to-cow it was clear that most of the cattle did not appreciate its presence and were unaccustomed to such attention.
This is the first record of Red-billed Oxpecker in Yemen and the Middle East.
The species is widely distributed in open savannah in east and southern Africa from Angola north-west to Somalia and Djibouti, and south throughout the continent to north-east South Africa (Dowsett and Dowsett-Lemaire 1993, Sibley and Monroe 1990).
www.osme.org /sand212/rbox.html   (364 words)

  
 Red-billed Oxpeckers
The Red-billed Oxpecker, Buphagus erythrorhynchus, is a passerine bird in the starling and myna family Sturndidae.It is native to the savannah of sub-Saharan Africa, from the Central African Republic east to Sudan and south to northern and eastern South Africa.
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 eyering, both clear distinctions from the related Yellow-billed Oxpecker.
www.avianweb.com /redbilledoxpeckers.html   (262 words)

  
 The Mighty Oxpecker
Y: It says here that oxpeckers, which are also called tickbirds, have sharp claws that allow them to grab onto the backs of large mammals.
Oxpeckers use their broad, thick beaks to pick out ticks and other parasites from the rhino's skin.
Oxpeckers are so adapted to life on their host's back that they even mate there.
amos.indiana.edu /library/scripts/oxpecker.html   (204 words)

  
 Discover Africa
For example, small birds called oxpeckers feed on ticks and blood-sucking flies that live in the hair of the rhinoceros and other large mammals in Africa.
The oxpecker benefits by having a source of food and the mammal benefits because the bird eats the ticks and flies, which are a potential source of illness and disease.
In addition, the oxpecker also helps the rhinoceros by warning it of approaching danger by excitedly flying away.
www.calacademy.org /exhibits/africa/discover/nathistory/veg.htm   (325 words)

  
 The Bird Site: Amazing Facts
Oxpeckers feed on ticks and blood-sucking flies that live in the hair of oxen, rhinos, and other large African mammals.
The oxpecker benefits by having a constant source of food.
Oxpecker tails are stiff like those of woodpeckers to help brace them on the sides of their mammal hosts.
www.nhm.org /birds/guide/pg021.html   (624 words)

  
 Oxpecker
The oxpeckers are part of the family Sturndidae, along with the starlings and mynas.
This is a group of passerine birds native to sub-Saharan African savannah.
Their plumage is light brown, and the species can be distinguished by bill-colour.
www.ebroadcast.com.au /lookup/encyclopedia/ox/Oxpecker.html   (93 words)

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