I had some flashbacks to PBS when we encountered these Red-billed Oxpeckers on the back of a donkey during our trip to Ethiopia. Livestock tolerate these birds because they eat tics that have been feeding on them but the dirty little secret is that the oxpeckers love to feed on blood. If they aren’t getting enough blood from engorged tics, they will peck wounds on the livestock to get the blood directly. I am told that oxpeckers wound pecking can be a problem because it spreads disease among the cattle.

www.texastargetbirds.com

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Buphagus erythrorhynchus