Yellow-billed oxpecker explained

The yellow-billed oxpecker (Buphagus africanus) is a passerine bird in the family Buphagidae. It was previously placed in the starling and myna family, Sturnidae.

It is native to the savannah of Sub-Saharan Africa from Senegal east to Sudan. It is least common in the extreme east of its range where it overlaps with the red-billed oxpecker, despite always dominating that species when feeding.

Taxonomy

In 1760 the French zoologist Mathurin Jacques Brisson included a description of the yellow-billed oxpecker in his Ornithologie based on a specimen collected in Senegal. He used the French name Le pique-boeuf and the Latin Buphagus.^[1] Although Brisson coined Latin names, these do not conform to the binomial system and are not recognised by the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature.^[2] When in 1766 the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus updated his Systema Naturae for the twelfth edition, he added 240 species that had been previously described by Brisson.^[2] One of these was the yellow-billed oxpecker. Linnaeus included a brief description, coined the binomial name Buphaga africana and cited Brisson's work.^[3] This species is placed in the genus Buphagus that was introduced by Brisson.^[4]

Two subspecies are recognised:^[5]

• B. a. subsp. africanus Linnaeus, 1766 – Mauritania and Senegal to northwest Ethiopia south to northeast South Africa
• B. a. subsp. langi Chapin, 1921 – Gabon, Congo, Democratic Republic of the Congo and west Angola

Behavior

The yellow-billed oxpecker nests in tree holes lined with hair plucked from livestock. It lays 2–3 eggs. Outside the breeding season it is fairly gregarious, forming large, chattering flocks. Non-breeding birds will roost on their host animals at night.

The yellow-billed oxpecker eats insects and ticks. Both the English and scientific names arise from this species' habit of perching on large wild and domesticated mammals such as cattle and eating arthropod parasites.^[6] It will also perch on antelopes such as wildebeest. In a day an adult will take more than 100 engorged female Boophilus decoloratus ticks or 13,000 larvae.

However, their preferred food is blood, and while they may take ticks bloated with blood, they also feed on it directly,^[7] pecking at the mammal's wounds until blood flows.^[8] Whatever the net result, mammals generally tolerate oxpeckers.

The yellow-billed oxpecker is long and has plain brown upperparts and head, buff underparts and a pale rump. The feet are strong. The adults' bills are yellow at the base and red at the tip, while juveniles have brown bills.^[9] Its flight is strong and direct. The call is a hissy, crackling krisss, krisss.

Further reading

• Birds of The Gambia by Barlow, Wacher and Disley,
• Starlings and Mynas by Feare and Craig,
• 10.1016/j.ympev.2006.05.007 . 16806992 . Nuclear and mitochondrial sequence data reveal the major lineages of starlings, mynas and related taxa . Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution . 41 . 2 . 333–44 . 2006 . Zuccon . Dario . Cibois . Alice . Pasquet . Eric . Ericson . Per G.P . 2006MolPE..41..333Z .

External links

• Yellow-billed oxpecker – Species text in The Atlas of Southern African Birds.

Notes and References

1. Book: Brisson, Mathurin Jacques . Mathurin Jacques Brisson . 1760 . Ornithologie, ou, Méthode contenant la division des oiseaux en ordres, sections, genres, especes & leurs variétés . 2 . fr, la . Paris . Jean-Baptiste Bauche . 437–439, Plate 42 fig 2 . The two stars (**) at the start of the section indicates that Brisson based his description on the examination of a specimen.
2. Allen . J.A. . Joel Asaph Allen . 1910 . Collation of Brisson's genera of birds with those of Linnaeus . Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History . 28 . 317–335 . 2246/678 .
3. Book: Linnaeus, Carl . Carl Linnaeus . 1766 . Systema naturae : per regna tria natura, secundum classes, ordines, genera, species, cum characteribus, differentiis, synonymis, locis . 12th . 1, Part 1 . Laurentii Salvii . Holmiae (Stockholm) . la . 154 .
4. Book: Brisson, Mathurin Jacques . Mathurin Jacques Brisson . 1760 . Ornithologie, ou, Méthode contenant la division des oiseaux en ordres, sections, genres, especes & leurs variétés . fr, la . Paris . Jean-Baptiste Bauche . Volume 1, p. 32

   Volume 2, p. 436

   .
5. Web site: Gill . Frank . Frank Gill (ornithologist) . Donsker . David . 2018 . Nuthatches, Wallcreeper, treecreepers, mockingbirds, starlings, oxpeckers . World Bird List Version 8.1 . International Ornithologists' Union . 11 May 2018 .
6. 10.7717/peerj.4520 . 29576981 . 5863707 . Large-scale assessment of commensalistic–mutualistic associations between African birds and herbivorous mammals using internet photos . PeerJ . 6 . e4520 . 2018 . Mikula . Peter . Hadrava . Jiří . Albrecht . Tomáš . Tryjanowski . Piotr . free .
7. Book: Feare, Chris J. . 2003 . Firefly Encyclopedia of Birds . Starlings and Mynas . Christopher Perrins . Christopher Perrins . 530–533 . Firefly Books . 1-55297-777-3 . registration . https://archive.org/details/fireflyencyclope0000unse/page/530 .
8. Book: Dr John Capinera. Insects and Wildlife: Arthropods and their Relationships with Wild Vertebrate Animals. 2011-09-13. John Wiley & Sons. 978-1-4443-5784-4. 538–.
9. Book: Roberts Birds of South Africa. 534 . G. R. . Mclachlan . R. . Liversidge . Illustrated by Lighton, N. C. K.; Newman, K.; Adams, J.; Gronvöld, H. 747 Yellow-billed Oxbecker. 1978 . 4th . The Trustees of the John Voelcker Bird Book Fund.