Red-billed oxpecker in Amboseli National Park, west of Namanga, Kenya

"Oxpecker common name for an African starling of the genus Buphagus. Also known as tickbirds, oxpeckers have very short legs and sharp claws, which aid them in perching on the backs of large mammals, both wild and domesticated. Oxpeckers use their broad, thick, laterally flattened beaks to pick at and feed on skin parasites such as ticks and embedded larvae. They also pick at scabs, often opening and enlarging wounds, and probably obtain their main nourishment from the blood from these wounds rather than from the ticks. Although these birds are valuable from the standpoint of ridding domesticated animals of ticks, they also feed on tick-free game and become debilitating parasites themselves. Nevertheless, they protect wild game from danger by setting up rattling cries, which alert the animals to the presence of predators. There are two species of oxpeckers, both about 9 in. (23 cm) long, with brown plumage and lacking distinctive markings. The slightly larger yellow-billed oxpecker (B. africanus) and the African red-billed oxpecker (B. erythrorhychus). Oxpeckers are classified in the phylum Chordata , subphylum Vertebrata, class Aves, order Passeriformes, family Sturnidae." [The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. Copyright 2008 Columbia University Press]. Red-billed ox-pecker, Amboseli National Reserve, Kenya. This photograph was taken when Eliot Elisofon was on assignment for American Broadcasting Company and traveled to Africa from June 1966 to early August 1966.