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Rebbilled Oxpecker


Rebbilled Oxpecker
Photo Information
Copyright: Quinten Venter (voyager1) Silver Star Critiquer/Silver Note Writer [C: 12 W: 0 N: 45] (353)
Genre: Animals
Medium: Color
Date Taken: 2007-01-21
Categories: Birds
Camera: Pentax ist*DL, 70-300 Sigma
Exposure: f/6.7, 1/90 seconds
More Photo Info: [view]
Photo Version: Original Version
Date Submitted: 2007-01-29 7:38
Viewed: 878
Points: 6
[Note Guidelines] Photographer's Note
There I was not knowing, what to do,... post this as a Rhino or a rebilled oxpecker photograph, so if i am breaking any rules this is a photo of a rhino with redbilled oxpeckers on it, not that the rhino is a new specie but still a rhino, and not an ox, or let me stop there, i am also now a little confused.

The oxpecker consists of two species of bird which comprise the subfamily Buphaginae within the starling family Sturnidae (some ornithologists regard them as a separate family Buphagidae). Oxpeckers are endemic to sub-Saharan African savannah.

Oxpeckers are medium-sized starlings with strong feet. Their flight is strong and direct, and they are fairly gregarious. Their preferred habitat is open country, and they eat insects. Both the English and scientific names arise from their habit of perching on large mammals (both wild and domesticated) such as cattle or rhinoceroses, and eating ticks, botfly larvae, and other parasites which lodge in mammalian skin and must be dug out. This symbiotic relationship was once believed to be mutualistic.

However, their most favorite food is blood, and while they may take on ticks bloated with blood, they also feed on it directly, pecking at the mammal's wounds to keep them open to more parasites and disease. So, what was once thought to be a symbiotic relationship, may at the same time, be a parasitic relationship.

Their plumage is light brown, and the species can be distinguished by bill-colour. They nest in holes, often in walls, lined with hair plucked from livestock and lay 2-3 eggs.

The species are:

* Red-billed Oxpecker, Buphagus erythrorhynchus of east Africa
* Yellow-billed Oxpecker, Buphagus africanus of most of sub-saharan Africa.
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Critiques [Translate]

Hi Quinten
Nice captured Rhino in his natural environment. Details and colours are good. I think you need more space a round IMHO.
TFS
Ralf

  • Great 
  • Nilson Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Note Writer [C: 349 W: 0 N: 293] (2220)
  • [2007-02-16 15:58]

É impressionante esta imagem, muito boa os detalhes, os pássaros se alimentando do parasita, mesmo com uma tele objetiva tem que contar com a coragem para chegar perto,exelente.
Nilson.

'Allo Quinten,

Hierdie renoster lyk 'n mooi monument van cement. 'n Pragtig foto! This rhino seems to be made of solid cement! A massive monument! Interesting shot, it took me several looks to discover that there are at least four oxpeckers! It also looks as if apart from eating ticks etc. they "spraypaint" the rhino with the processed ticks et al.

A lotta detail you captured and presented Quinten, tfs, Jay

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